Mexican Academy of History

The Mexican Academy of History, corresponding to the Royal Academy of Spanish History based in Madrid, was created on September 12, 1919 on the basis of the Academy of History which had been founded three years earlier (1916). At the time of its foundation it had twenty-four number seats, in 1990 the number was increased to thirty.

History

The first Academies were founded in France in the 17th century, the idea to establish similar ones in Spain arose when the first monarch of the House of Bourbon, Philip V, assumed the throne. In this way, in the 18th century, the Royal Spanish Academy was created in 1713 and the Royal Academy of History in 1738.

In Mexico, the first antecedents of the foundation date back to 1836, when the Mexican government decreed the foundation of the Academy of History, but the political instability of the country prevented the project from being consolidated. In 1867, when the Second Mexican Empire fell and the restoration of the Republic was achieved by the liberals, stability was achieved in the country, which provided conditions to resume the project of founding an Academy.

On November 24, 1870, the Royal Spanish Academy began to establish academies in Latin America, in this way, the Mexican Academy of Language was established in 1875. Very shortly after, negotiations began with the Royal Academy of the History in Madrid to create the corresponding ones in America, however, it was not until 1888 when the regulations for the affiliated academies were drawn up. In that year, the history academies of Buenos Aires, Bogotá and Caracas were established, but the Mexican project was not consolidated, most likely due to the existence of an anti-Hispanic current in the country's historiography.

In 1901, during the Porfiriato, the Marquis of Prat—at that time Minister of Spain in Mexico—managed the project again, however, despite the fact that meetings were held and Nicolás León was elected as secretary, the project was not recognized by the Madrid Academy. In 1916, the columnists and collaborators of the Magazine Magazine revived the project independently, creating the Academy of History. Manuel Romero de Terreros traveled to Spain and made the first contacts and negotiations with the Madrid Academy to seek recognition of the project. It was then that he was named corresponding member, but he had to return to Mexico. Father Mariano Cuevas continued the procedures, in this way on June 27, 1919 by motion of the members, the Duke of Alba, the Marquis of San Juan de Piedras, Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Julio Puyol, Ricardo Beltrán and Juan Pérez de Guzmán, the project was finally approved. On September 12, 1919, the Mexican Academy of History was inaugurated with the 1888 regulations that had been drafted for the Academies of America and contemplating being established with twenty-four seats.

Founding members

The founding members in 1919 who occupied the first twelve seats were Francisco Sosa, Francisco Plancarte y Navarrete, Ignacio Montes de Oca y Obregón, Luis García Pimentel, Francisco A. de Icaza, Mariano Cuevas, as treasurer Manuel Romero de Terreros, Jesús García Gutiérrez, Jesús Galindo y Villa, as first director Luis González Obregón, as censor Juan B. Iguíniz and Genaro Estrada. A month later Juan Francisco Molina Solís joined.

Headquarters

With no established headquarters, the meetings were held in the house of the first director González Obregón, in the facilities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Library, the Bar Association, the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics, the Colegio de las Vizcaínas and a social club in the Historic Center of Mexico City. At the initiative of Atanasio G. Saravia and Manuel Romero de Terreros, a trust was established with the support of several businessmen and the National Bank of Mexico. Thus the construction of a building began, for this the old façade of the residence of the Counts of Rábago was used, which was located on Capuchinas Street and which had been demolished a short time before. On December 9, 1953, the official headquarters was inaugurated in Carlos Pacheco Square, which commemorates the memory of General Carlos Pacheco Villalobos.

Publications

In 1942 the Academy published for the first time its Memories of the Mexican Academy of History corresponding to Real de Madrid, a quarterly edition, which was interrupted in the early 1970s. From 1970 to 1989, only volumes XXXI and XXXII were printed, reestablishing their daily publication in 1990.

Current members

Through the foundations of the National School of Higher Studies, El Colegio de México, the National Institute of Anthropology and History, the Institute of Aesthetic Research and the Institute of Historical Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, new Generations of researchers in the study of the History of Mexico have consolidated themselves.

The Academy was initially made up of twenty-four seats, this number was expanded to thirty in 1990 through the resolution of an extraordinary meeting. Twenty-two members reside in Mexico City and eight in the states. Historians have different specialties, in political, ecclesiastical, social, economic, women's, art, anthropology, archeology and historiography; as well as different periods such as the pre-Hispanic, colonial, XIX century, Revolution and contemporary history. It is currently directed by Dr. Javier Garciadiego Dantan, researcher at the Center for Historical Studies of El Colegio de México.

Number members

National correspondent members

In addition, the following national members are: Víctor Manuel González Esparza and Luciano Ramírez Hurtado in Aguascalientes; Edna Aidé Grijalva Larrañaga and Araceli Almaraz in Baja California; Adriana Rocher Salas, José Abud Flores and Antonio Benavides Castillo in Campeche; Victor Orozco and Jesús Vargas Valdez in Chihuahua; Ana María Parrilla Albuerne in Chiapas; Fernando Serrano Migallón, José Ramón Cossío Díaz, Francisco Pérez de Salazar, Raúl Figueroa Esquer and Francisco Morales in Mexico City; David Wright and María Guevara in Guanajuato; Xavier Noguez Ramírez and Teresa Jarquín Ortega in the State of Mexico; César Morado Macías and Cecilia Sheridan Prieto in Nuevo León; Octavio Herrera Pérez in Tamaulipas; Gabriela Solís Robleda and Pedro José Bracamonte y Sosa in Yucatán; Esperanza Ramírez Romero, Nélida Ester Sigaut, Moisés Guzmán Pérez, José Alfredo Uribe Salas, Carlos Salvadro Paredes Martínez and Thomas Calvo in Michoacán; Mariana Terán Fuentes and Manuel González Ramírez in Zacatecas; Tomás Bustamante Álvarez in Guerrero; Rocío Ruíz de la Barrera in Hidalgo; Angélica Peregrina Vázquez and Elisa Cárdenas Ayala in Jalisco; Horacio Crespo in Morelos; Eduardo Merlo Juárez and Alicia Tecuanhuey Sandoval in Puebla; Lorena Careaga Viliesid in Quintana Roo; María Isabel Monroy Castillo in San Luis Potosí; Arturo Carrillo Rojas in Sinaloa; José Marcos Medina Bustos in Sonora; María Elizabeth Jaime Espinosa in Tlaxcala; and Felix Baez Jorge, Sara Ladrón de Guevara González and Bernardo García Díaz in Veracruz.

Foreign correspondent members

In addition, there are sixty-four foreign correspondent members in the United States, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal, Chile, Great Britain, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Spain, Venezuela and Japan.