Paul A. Bartlett Drawings and Photographs of Mexican Haciendas

The Paul A. Bartlett Drawings and Photographs of Mexican Haciendas were purchased by the Benson Latin American Collection from Mr. Bartlett in 1973; additional materials were purchased from him in 1975. The collection was described by the Benson's Mexican Archives Project in August 1994.

The collection comprises 903 photographs, 294 drawings, 279 negatives, and 69 slides. Item lists are available in the library.

Mr.Bartlett's book, The haciendas of Mexico : an artist's record, published by the University Press of Colorado in 1990, was based upon the collection.

The suggested citation for the collection is "Paul A. Bartlett Drawings and Photographs of Mexican Haciendas, 1940-1973, Benson Latin American Collection, General Libraries, University of Texas at Austin."

Artist and author. Born July 13, 1909 in Moberly, Missouri; died April 19, 1990. Graduate of Oberlin College. Studied art at the University of Arizona, the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City, and the Universidad de Guadalajara. Bartlett's lifework focused on the haciendas of Mexico. Over a period of several decades he visited hundreds of haciendas throughout Mexico, photographing and drawing their buildings and decorative objects. Bartlett's published works include The Haciendas of Mexico : an artist's record; the novels When the Owl Cries and Adiós mi México; and many short stories.

Pen-and-ink drawings, photographs, slides, and negatives of Mexican colonial hacienda buildings. The images document architectural forms and details of approximately 300 haciendas, many of which no longer exist. Included are depictions of residences, chapels, furniture, statuary, and other features of the haciendas; also portrayed are things representative of hacienda operations, such as machinery, farm implements, barns, and other structures and objects. The following states (and haciendas) are covered extensively in the collection: Campeche (Castamay), Guanajuato (Puerto de Nieto), Hidalgo, Jalisco, Oaxaca (Blanca, San Felipe, Tenache), Puebla, Yucatán. Photographs and slides were made after 1941 during Bartlett's extensive travels in Mexico. An exception is a group of 13 photographs, given to Bartlett in 1954 by Ricardo Lancaster-Jones, depicting the haciendas El Cortijo (Colima) and Santa Cruz (Jalisco) from 1880 to 1940. The collection includes negatives for fewer than one-third of the photographs. Drawings were completed by 1973.

The Paul A. Bartlett drawings and photographs of Mexican haciendas are organized into two series: I. Drawings, and II. Photographic Material. The drawings are further divided into two groups and arranged numerically; the bulk of the photographic material is arranged alphabetically by state and thereunder by hacienda name.

I. Drawings

1. Group 1, items 1-221.
2. Group 2, items 1-72.

1. Prints and slides. Seven 8 x 10 prints, 69 slides, one box of small prints representing locations in Campeche to Zacatecas, and 13 photographs given to Bartlett by Ricardo Lancaster-Jones in 1954. The latter depict the haciendas El Cortijo (Colima) and Santa Cruza (Jalisco) from 1880 to 1940.

2. Negatives. Items 1-143 depict Baja California through Jalisco; items 144-274 represent Mexico state through Zacatecas.

Series	Subseries	Filing Unit	Box	Folder
Drawings	Group I	#1-35	1
		#36-70	2
		#71-110	3
		#111-148	4
		#149-193	5
		#194-208; #210-221	6
	Group II	#1-6; #8-16; #18-35	7
		#36-69; #71-72	8
Photographic material	Prints and slides	8 x 10 prints	9	1
		Slides	9	2
		Lancaster-Jones photos	9	3
		Small prints : Campeche-Zacatecas	10
	Negatives	PB #1-143 : Baja California - Jalisco	11
		PB #144-274 : Mexico (state) - Zacatecas	12

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