Conde de Montemar Letters (1761-1799)

Tabbed

Description & Rationale

This project consists of digitizing the first two boxes (roughly 50 letters) and creating a virtual portal containing the original mages, semi-diplomatic transcriptions, comprehensive metadata scheme, and different historical essays that will contextualize the letters in Andean and Spanish American history.

Reasons for consideration:

The letters from the family of Don Diego José Carrillo de Albornoz (1724-1789), V Conde de Montemar, date from 1761 to 1799. This family, descendants of Spanish Conquistadors, was one of the most powerful in the Viceroyalty of Peru and in Spanish nobility. During this time period, the Carrillo de Albornoz siblings held more titles than any other family in Peru. The letters where written by his brother, Don Pedro José Carrillo de Albornoz (d.1799), although there are a few written by the Don Diego and his brother in law Don Francisco Manrique de Lara. In total, there were sixteen siblings in this generation. The close to 280 letters travelled between Lima, residence of Pedro, Trillo, and Madrid, where Don Diego moved as part of belonging to the Spanish Royal Court.

The Conde de Montemar estate, later linked to the heir of the Conde de Monteblanco, grew to probably being the wealthiest of the Viceroyalty, which by the end of the eighteen and beginning of the nineteenth century had surpassed one million pesos. The content of the letters vary in theme and length. Topics range from greetings and family updates of marriage, to professional careers, army and security, vice-royal affairs and politics, trade and commerce, nobility, Indian affairs, the inherited estate of the Ducado (mayorazgo), and others. Several people are mentioned, from their third grandfather’s estate, to noble aunts and cousins, to local priests and bishops. Travel routes and inter viceroyalty itineraries are mentioned.

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Author(s):

Montemar family

Source Format:

Paper

Target Format:

Digital

Program:

LARRP

Resource Types:

Archival materials

Regions:

Latin America and Caribbean

Countries of Origin:

Peru

Spain

Proposal Contributors:

Antonio Sotomayor, University of Illinois

Posted:

Oct 2, 2018 4:03pm

Updated:

Mar 1, 2019 10:33am

Source Details

Major Languages:

Spanish

Holding Institutions:

University of Illinois

Source and Holdings Notes:

The length of the letters varies, ranging from 1 to 16 leaves. There are 25 or 30 letters per box and 10 boxes for a total of around 277 letters, which equates to roughly 2,500 pages. The letters are in good preservation status. The ink is bold and the paper sound. In consultation with the Rare Book and Manuscript Library faculty member, the letters are a good candidate for digitization due to the sturdiness of the pages.

Intellectual Property Considerations:

Because the letters were written between 1761 and 1799, they are considered to be too old to be covered by copyright laws. These materials can thus be made widely available for research and educational purposes.

Activity

Status	Current	Description
Flagged	no	The proposal is flagged for further research.
Vetted	no	The proposal has been examined and vetted.
Ballotted	no	The proposal is currently on a committee ballot.
Approved	no	The proposal has been selected for reformatting. Reformatting efforts are pending.
Reformatted	yes	The proposal has been reformatted and access information is now posted.
Inactive / Declined	no	No longer under consideration for reformatting.