Civil Archives A411 
general inventory of the older papers entitled “ Ynventario general de todos 
los instrumentos, documentos y papeles de toda clase correspondientes al 
Archivo de esta Ciudad de Nuestra Sefiora de la Purisima Concepcion de 
Monterrey, Capital de la Provincia del Nuevo Reino de Leon, formado por 
el Br. D" Juan Bicte. de Arispe por orden del Yluste Ayuntamiento”. The 
documents are arranged chronologically inlegajos and numbered consecutively. 
The settlement of Monterrey dates from the later sixteenth century. The 
exact date of its beginning seems to be in doubt, but the formal founding of 
the city occurred in 1596. The earliest documents referred to in the “ Ynven- 
tario general” of the archive are for 1608, and these are the earliest which 
I personally encountered. But from the investigations of others it is evident 
that there is a small quantity, at least, of still earlier documents, which are not 
listed in the inventory or preserved in the regular files.’ 
CLASSES OF DOCUMENTS. 
The archive is not confined to local matters, but contains important data for 
nearly all phases of the colonial history of the frontier province. Among the 
general classes of documents of most interest for that period are: autos of 
the founding of settlements in various parts of the province, documents relat- 
ing to repartimientos and encomiendas, with reference to individual Indian 
villages, reports of official inspections (visitas) of the province, municipal 
court records with reference to land grants, probate records, registry of stock 
brands, pledges (fianzas), criminal proceedings, reports of mining operations, 
Indian depredations, censuses (padrones). The nature of these classes of 
documents is more fully illustrated by the following notes on the earliest 
legajos. 
ILLUSTRATIVE ITEMS. 
Legajo 1. 
1. Grants of solares (town lots). 1608-1610. 
2. Provisions of the justicia mayor, Alonso Lucas el Bueno, concerning 
the management of Indians. 
4. Autos of the founding of Monterrey by Governor Martin de Zavala. 
6. Id. of Villa de Cerralvo. 
11. Order of Governor Zavala to investigate the management of Indians 
at Estancia de Cerralvo. 
Legajo 2. 
12. Autos of three grants to Alonzo de Leon, Cadereyta, 1636. 
Legajo 3. 7 
21. Diligencias “en que consta la ratificacion de nueva fundacion de la 
villa de Almaden Prov? de Coahuila por el S® Gov antiguo D. 
Martin de Savala”. 1644. 
_ (Printed by Gonzalez, op. cit., pp. 91-105. See note there concerning the 
manuscript which he used.) 
Legajo 4. 
5. Diligencias enacted before Governor Zavala concerning the submis- 
sion of various tribes. 1651. 
*See Gonzalez, Noticias y Documentos para la Historia del Estado de Nuevo Leén, 
pp. 60-62; and Testimonio de las Constancias Relativas 4 la Fundacion de la Ciudad de 
Monterrey (Monterrey, 1897), p. 33. 
