Private Land Claims in New Mexico: Letter from the Secretary of the Interior

[Washington, D.C.]: (n.p.), 1874. First Edition. Pamphlet. Very good. A printed report on three claims to large tracts of New Mexico based on 18th century Spanish land grants: a claim from the Native Zia, Santa Ana, and Jemez pueblos and two claims by old New Mexican families, one near Santa Fe, the other in Navajo territory. Each claim includes a printed transcript of the original Spanish manuscript, an English translation of these documents, and testimony from various witnesses, almost all of whom are nuevomexicanos.

This and similar 19th century land grant cases are some of the only places in the historical record where Spanish-speaking New Mexicans tell their own story. Even though the context is a constrained legal proceeding, details of their life story, occupations, literacy, and family structure are revealed.

28 pages. First edition. Bottom margin of first page dusty, else generally very good or better in original condition: stitched gatherings, never bound.