Francisco Frejes Ensayo Sobre La Reduccion Y Colonizacion De Las Tribus Barbaras Del Continente

This collection contains the complete unpublished manuscript of 38 leaves, a scribal copy with the author's signature at the conclusion entitled "Ensayo Sobre La Reduccion Y Colonizacion De Las Tribas Barbaras Del Continente." It is largely an account of the activities of the Church in 16th century Mexico relative to the indigenous population. In many instances, the author refers to the situation in the territories of Texas and California.

Francisco Frejes was a Mexican historian born in 1784 in Guadalajara where he became a noted pulpit orator in his vocation as a Franciscan friar. He transferred to the convent of Zacatecas, where he would die in 1845, to utilize its library, which contained many manuscripts from the time of Spanish conquest. In 1835 he was appointed chronicler of the convent and, in 1838, became its superior.

The original materials are held by the Woodson Research Center in Fondren Library. Search the finding aid/inventory for the "Ensayo Sobre La Reduccion Y Colonizacion De Las Tribas Barbaras Del Continente," MS 0042.