This is a list that the LLILAS Benson Digital Scholarship Office maintains of free and open-source digital scholarship tools and platforms.
Digital Scholarship Tool List (Reference)
Genaro Garcia Manuscripts Collection (Primary Sources)
Manuscripts and archives acquired by Genaro García, Mexican historian, educator, lawyer, politician, and bibliophile, relating primarily to the history, politics, and culture of Mexico from the 16th-20th centuries, including archives of prominent Mexican political figures.
William B. Stephens Collection (Primary Sources)
Manuscripts and printed material related to the history of Mexico and southwestern United States (California, New Mexico, and Texas) before 1836. collected by geologist William B. Stephens.
Edmundo O’Gorman Collection (Primary Sources)
Collected by Mexican historian Edmundo O’Gorman, this collection is focused on central Mexico and contains documents mostly dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. The digitized documents primarily concern the activities of the Catholic Church and religious orders, primarily the Franciscans and the Jesuits, and their the treatment of Indigenous and Black people during the colonial period.
Benson Rare Book Collection (Primary Sources)
Digitized books in the Benson’s Rare Book Collection encompassing a wide variety of topics relating to Spanish and Latin America, including literature, histories, travel accounts, and secondary sources.
Geographic Accounts of Mexico and Guatemala Collection (Primary Sources)
Original manuscripts and maps created in response to the first survey of New Spain mandated by King Philip II. They include historical, cultural, and geographical information about the region in the 16th century.
Royal Archive of Cholula (Primary Sources)
The Royal Archive of Cholula contains the documentation of the old Corregimiento of Cholula, one of the nine “Cities of Indians” that existed in New Spain. This colonial institution functioned as a district seat and had the powers of government, law, finance, and war over Indigenous villages and the Spanish, Black, Mestizo, and Creole populations.
Women in Colonial Latin America (Unit)
Students will learn about how Indigenous and Spanish women navigated Spanish colonization and patriarchy in Latin America. This unit explores women’s agency through the figures of Malintzin (Malinche), Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, and Catalina de Erauso.
The Age of Exploration (Lesson)
In this lesson, students will identify the causes and consequences of the European Expansion. They will consider the importance of Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro in the Spanish conquest of the Americas.
Malintzin: Indigenous Women Discover Spain (Lesson)
In this lesson, students will analyze images to compare the role of indigenous women in Mesoamerica before and after the Spanish colonization. They will consider how Malintzin, a Nahua woman from Coatzacoalcos, contributed to this process and how women resisted or adapted to the changes introduced by the Spaniards.