Cervantine Library: 70 years housing the heritage of humanity

Books printed on the first printing press in the Americas, Quixotes in different languages, and documents signed by Hernán Cortés are just some of the objects housed in Tecnológico de Monterrey’s Cervantine Library.

The Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Special Collections Library celebrated its 70th anniversary of opening its doors on the Monterrey campus and held a series of activities to celebrate the occasion, showcasing its treasures and history.

“Here we have the heritage of humanity. We hold two UNESCO Memory of the World records,” said Marcela Beltrán, Director of the Cervantine Library (as it’s more commonly known).

The opening

The Cervantine Library’s foundation began when Carlos Prieto, an advisor to Tec de Monterrey, donated his collection of Quixotes to the institution.

Eugenio del Hoyo, the Library’s first director, was a professor of Humanities at the time. He noticed that these and other donated books were in Classroom Building I, which sparked his interest, and he asked permission to explore them.

Eugenio del Hoyo Briones, son of the first director, gave a talk on the 70th anniversary of the Cervantine Library in which he recounted that his father was looking at the books one day when Eugenio Garza Sada entered the room where they were kept and asked him what he was doing.

His father replied: “I’m discovering treasures,” recalled Del Hoyo Briones.

The Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Special Collections Library was founded on November 5, 1954, with several books donated by different people. Over the years, more books have been added.

The collection

The Cervantine Library includes 28 document collections, said Beltrán.

“We call them document collections because we not only have books but also manuscripts, photos, documents, and objects that belonged to someone’s personal library, which they later donated to the Tec,” she added.

The collection includes just under 200,000 books, more than 13,000 archaeological pieces, and 358 iron pieces from the conquest.

Seven of these books are considered incunabula, as they were printed in the first 50 years after Johannes Gutenberginvented the printing press.

Some of its main collections are:

• George Robert Graham Conway: the incunabula History of Florence, Book of Psalms, Mexican prints from the 16th century, and historical documents such as the title of the land grant made by Hernán Cortés to his steward in 1536.
• Pedro Robredo: books such as El Ferrocarril Mexicano (The Mexican Railroad), magazines such as Revista Azul (Blue Magazine), and unique copies of miscellaneous viceroyalty carols.
• Salvador Ugarte: holds a letter of Christopher Columbus from 1491 and the complete collection of the Mexican Gazette, among other books.
• Carlos Prieto: Includes 840 books on Cervantine works, as well as Quixotes in different languages.
• Guajardo Brothers: 419 works by foreign authors who visited Mexico.
• Ignacio Bernal: historical documents of importance to Mexico dating back to the 19th century.
• Conde-Zambrano: antique albums and books of prayers and miscellaneous copies of New Spanish Christmas carols.
• Tec Memory: stores Tec de Monterrey historical documents.
• Microfilm collection: Eugenio del Hoyo microfilmed parish books from northeastern Mexico and Zacatecas. Includes baptismal and nuptial settlements, as well as wills and sacramental reports from colonial times to the 19th century.
• Periodicals collection: newspapers and magazines from the 19th to the 21st century.
• Iron pieces from the conquest: 359 metal objects from the XVI century found in Zacatecas.

The Cervantine Library also holds two UNESCO Memory of the World records, the first in Latin America for the collection American Incunabula: Mexican Printed Works of the 16th Century, and the other in Mexico for thePersonal Archive of the Architect Mario Pani Darqui.

After Eugenio del Hoyo, the directors that followed were Ricardo Elizondo, Daniel Sanabria, and Marcela Beltrán.

“Here we have the heritage of humanity” - Marcela Beltrán.

Anniversary Celebration

The second Conference of the Mexican Association of Cervantists was held during the Cervantine Library’s anniversary week at the beginning of November. Scholars of Don Quixote attended to discuss Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s most representative work.

“After doing a little bit of research, we realized that the same thing had been done in 1954, with an event where Quixote specialists were talking about Quixote. So, we replicated it with the second conference of the Mexican Association of Cervantists at 70 years,” she said.

Participants included María Stoopen, a Mexican academic specializing in Quixote, and Roger Chartier, a French historian, among other experts on the subject.

A toast was held in the lobby of the Library on November 5, and a lecture was given by Eugenio del Hoyo Briones.

In addition, there is an exhibition at the Cervantine Library where some of the books and documents from its collection are presented, which will be on display until December of this year.

The Cervantine Library is located on the third floor of the Rector’s Building and is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

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