The IHR Library holds a wealth of resources for the history of Mexico-United States relations, covering the period succeeding the Mexican-American War up until the twentieth century. A range of sources, such as, treaties, diaries, autobiographies and letters, are included in English, Spanish, Portuguese and other languages.
Read the first blog post in this series: The Mexican-American War.
Following the ongoing reclassification project for the Latin American collection and the upcoming Mexico-U.S exhibition, some interesting volumes have been discovered within the library’s holdings. This blog post is the second in a series that will focus on the IHR Library’s holdings of material concerning the history of Mexico-U.S relations, focusing on the rule of Porfiriato Díaz.
The rule of Porfirio Díaz (1876–1911) was dedicated to the rule by law, suppression of violence, and modernisation of all aspects of the society and economy. Diaz was an astute military leader and liberal politician who built a national base of supporters. To avoid antagonising Catholics, he avoided enforcement of anticlerical laws. The country’s infrastructure was greatly improved, thanks to increased foreign investment from Britain and the US, and a strong, stable central government.
The first work being highlighted in this blog post is an electronic resource titled Creating Mexican
consumer culture in the age of Porfirio Díaz by Steven B. Bunker. This work focuses on the Mexican experience of consumerism under the Porfiriato regime. Steven Bunker’s study shows how goods and consumption embodied modernity in the time of Porfirio Díaz, how they provided proof to Mexicans that “incredible things are happening in this world.”
Estadísticas económicas del porfiriato : Comercio exterior de México, 1877-1911 – Colegio de México
This volume gathers the statistics of Mexican foreign trade in the years from 1877 to 1911. The data was compiled by the Seminar of the Modern History of Mexico. Prepared as part of the research on the economic life of the country during the Porfiriato, these statistics are also provide a useful study on the economic development of the country under the regime.
Archivo del general Porfirio Díaz, memorias y documentos : prólogo y notas de Alberto María Carreño by Porfirio Díaz.
The IHR library holds 30 volumes of this series of Porfirio Díaz’s documents and memoirs, published in collaboration with the Institute of History at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. These epistolary works contain military correspondence, photos, maps and illustrations.
Letter from General Porfirio Diaz to Don Casimiro del Collado, asking for an opinion about his memoirs. vol. 1, pg.9
1. Manuel Iturribarria, Governor of the State of Oaxaca and Director of its Institute of Sciences. 2. Arms of the first Marquis of Montserrat, Don Joaquin Vasconcelos, who impelled the young Porfirio Diaz to pursue a literary career. Vol. 1, pg. 69
For more information on the IHR Library’s holdings on Latin American and United States history more generally, please refer to the following guides:
United States History in the Institute of Historical Research Library
Mexican History in the Institute of Historical Research Library