Latin America Collection
Gifts from the Mexican government, grants for materials from the Institute of Latin American Studies (from their Myer Foundation grant), and a large number of exchange agreements set up in the 1970s with overseas institutions specialising in Latin American studies, formed the nucleus of this collection. Some unusual materials included the microfilm back set of the Cuban weekly, Bohemia, 1956-1975, (previously not available in Australia), a formed collection of gaucho literature, and a donation of books on the Portuguese expansion in the New World (acquired in 1972).
In 1991, already noted as an Australian centre of excellence for Latin American materials, the Library signed an agreement with the National Library of Australia for a long term loan of 5 major collections of Latin American materials. In all, 14,000 volumes were transferred, and were added to the Library catalogue.
The collection was further enhanced by a set of books donated by the Instituto de Cooperacion in connection with the Columbus conference held here at La Trobe, and by a donation of some of the major works of Mario Vargas Llosa, presented during his 1993 visit to the University.
Examples of codices in the collection:
Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus 1, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien = History and description of the manuscript / Otto Adelhofer. Graz : Akademische Druck-und Verlagsanstalt, 1963.
Codice Magliabecchiano [manuscript]. Mexico : National Museum of Anthropology, 19--.
El Codice Florentino de Fray Bernardino de Sahagun. Mexico : Secretaria de Gobernacion, 1979.
The Badianus manuscript (Codex Barberini, Latin 241) Vatican Library : an Aztec herbal of 1552 / introduction, translation and annotations by Emily Walcott Emmart ; with a foreword by Henry E. Sigerist. Baltimore : The Johns Hopkins Press, 1940.