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Genaro García Collection, Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas at Austin
In 1921, a regent and a
faculty member of The University of Texas were in Mexico City on business.
Quite by accident they learned that a remarkable private library of books,
pamphlets, and manuscripts, pertaining primarily to the history of Mexico
from its beginning to 1920, was for sale. Recognizing the importance of
such a collection for research at
The University of Texas, the two men immediately set in motion the
negotiations which in 1921 resulted in the collection's purchase and
removal from Mexico City to Austin.
Genaro
García, the eminent Mexican historian, had formed the collection: it is
his bookplate that appears on the cover of this issue. García 1867-1919,
a lawyer by training, was interested in all phases of Mexican history; but
he was primarily concerned with, and wrote most extensively on, the
struggle for Mexican independence. The collection had been developed as
a working library for his own research during the twenty years or so
before his death. Many of the newspapers acquired by García are unique
examples of early Mexican publications; the earliest imprint in the
collection is a French missal printed in 1491. At the time his estate sold
the library to the University, the collection contained some 26,000 books
and pamphlets, 1,000
volumes of bound
newspapers, and 400,000 manuscript pages—an invaluable resource for
further scholarship.
The acquisition of the García collection had at least two
important results for the development of libraries at The University of
Texas. First, its acquisition was instrumental in loosening the purse
strings of one of the University's most important early benefactors, Major
George Littlefield, whose gifts, along with those of others, provided the
foundation for the University's world-renowned rare books collections.
Second, it formed the nucleus around which the University's Latin
American Collection was built. This library contains, and actively
collects, research material covering all of Latin America. It has been
developed by the acquisition of many other fine collections, but the
García purchase was its catalyst.
Today the Latin American
Collection contains over 350,000 books, pamphlets, and bound volumes of
newspapers, and approximately two million manuscript pages. It constitutes
one of the most important libraries for research on Latin America in the
world. The library has been renamed the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American
Collection after its recently retired director. Dr. Benson also served on
the faculty of the Graduate School of Library Science, and continues as
Professor of History.
Genaro García used his
bookplate only in those volumes which he personally valued. In addition,
he used a stamp, shown above, to mark those books which were rare and
valuable in the conventional sense. Both devices have been reproduced here
actual size. The head pictured in the stamp is a rendering of a statue of
an Aztec warrior. A copy of that statue is on exhibit in the rare books
reading room of the Collection. The Aztec figure in the bookplate is the
god Quetzalcoatl, the "white" god for whom Cortez was first mistaken
when he landed in Mexico. García's motto, "Saber para Obrar," which
appears on his bookplate, may be translated as "Know in order to Act." Philip A. Metzger Graduate
School of Library Science The
University of Texas at Austin [Originally published in Journal of Library History, vol. 12, no. 1 (Winter 1977): 71-72.]
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