Slavery in CubaABAA
2484 resultados
1875ref. 231241875. Slavery Cuba Spanish colonial slave sale manuscript recording the transfer of thirty-eight enslaved individuals in Cuba in 1875 materializing the sheer scale and organization of enslaved labor within the island's plantation economy during the final decade before abolition. The document enumerates a large group of enslaved people including multiple family units with young children demonstrating how slavery functioned as both an economic system and a hereditary condition sustained through the sale and reproduction of enslaved populations. Created eleven years prior to the abolition of slavery in Cuba in 1886 the manuscript documents the continued legality and normalization of large-scale slave transactions despite decades of international pressure and earlier prohibitions on the transatlantic trade offering concrete evidence of how internal markets sustained the institution in its final phase. Official Cuban slave contract documenting the sale of thirty-eight enslaved individuals for the sum of 126000 pesetas formalized before a public notary or legal authority. Single manuscript leaf written in Spanish cursive in black ink on both recto and verso densely filled with names ages and relational identifiers. Measures 8.5" x 12.25". The text lists individuals sequentially including men women and children with repeated references to kinship structures such as mothers with multiple children indicating the sale of family groupings rather than isolated individuals. The script reflects extended passages detailing ownership exclusions and conditions of transfer. A partial watermark of the official coat of arms of Cuba is visible. By 1875 Cuba remained one of the last major slave societies in the Atlantic world with sugar production driving demand for large controlled labor forces. Even after Spain curtailed the official slave trade earlier in the century illegal importation persisted into the 1860s and alternative systems of coerced labor including Chinese indenture supplemented plantation workforces. The scale of this transaction demonstrates the consolidation and redistribution of enslaved labor within domestic markets while the inclusion of children underscores the long-term economic logic of slavery as a self-reproducing system. Moderate toning and foxing concentrated along the edges with numerous small closed wormholes a few affecting portions of the text. Light edge wear present. Overall in good condition. This document provides unusually extensive nominal data on a large enslaved population encompassing the roles of kinship valuation and labor organization in late Spanish colonial Cuba. unknown books
1870ref. 231191870. Slavery Cuba Spanish colonial manuscript documenting the late persistence of slavery in Cuba recording the sale of five enslaved Creole individuals including women and children 1870. Produced within the official bureaucratic framework of Spanish colonial governance the document reflects the legal normalization of slavery in Cuba even as abolitionist pressures mounted across the Atlantic world. The presence of multiple children within the transaction underscores the hereditary nature of enslavement and the commodification of family units offering direct material evidence of how slavery functioned socially and economically in its final decades on the island. Although Spain had formally ended the transatlantic slave trade earlier in the century illegal trafficking and internal slave markets persisted and slavery itself would not be abolished in Cuba until 1886 placing this document within a crucial transitional period marked by reform debates gradual emancipation laws and continued exploitation. Official Cuban slave contract recording the sale of five enslaved individuals identified as "criollos" including one adult woman and four children from Santiago Simón Fambi to Don Pedro Catasús for the sum of 1200 pesos on November 21 1870. Single page manuscript leaf measuring 8.25" x 12". The manuscript is written in Spanish cursive hand in black ink. The upper left bears a blind embossed crest of Spain while a circular black ink government seal is impressed at the lower left partially overlapping the text. The text enumerates the enslaved individuals with ages and names embedding human lives within the formulaic language of sale and valuation while the bold signatures of both seller Santiago Simón Fambi and buyer Pedro Catasús anchor the transaction in identifiable actors within the colonial economy. By 1870 slavery in Spanish Cuba remained central to the island's plantation economy particularly in sugar production which had expanded rapidly in the mid-19th century with industrialized mills and global demand. Enslaved people were primarily forced into agricultural labor under highly regimented and brutal conditions though others were used in urban domestic service skilled trades or as hired laborers generating income for their owners. This document exhibits light toning edge wear and scattered foxing throughout. A closed wormhole extends approximately two inches from the upper right margin inward not affecting legibility of the text. Minor losses and small tears along the edges. Overall in very good condition. Given that this document records a woman and four children the family was likely intended for a combination of field labor and domestic or auxiliary work with the children gradually incorporated into plantation labor as they aged reflecting the system's reliance on both immediate exploitation and the reproduction of enslaved labor over time. unknown books
1898ref. 231301898. Spanish-American War stereoview archive circa 1898-1899 documenting how the war was pictured through mass-produced photographic views that followed U.S. mobilization battlefield action occupation and military life across both Cuba and the Philippines. These stereoviews preserves the visual system by which the war was circulated to American audiences showcasing camp organization troop movement burial hospital care naval power and overseas deployment. Particularly notable is the archive's coverage of the Rough Riders the Santiago campaign in Cuba and U.S. presence in Manila and Malate showing how stereoview photography helped normalize the war's expansion from anti-Spanish conflict into a broader American imperial presence. Archive of 21 stereoviews Various publishers. Spanish-American War stereoview archive. Cuba the Philippines and the United States circa 1898-1899. each measuring 3" x 7". The views are drawn from multiple phases and theaters of the war including camp and drill scenes in the United States embarkation and troop arrivals at Tampa battlefield and occupation imagery from Cuba and extensive and some grisly scenes from Manila and surrounding areas in the Philippines. Captions and images show soldiers in formation cavalry drill military reviews naval artillery hospital interiors encampments burial grounds and troops in active position. Cuban views include Morro Castle after bombardment dead and wounded on the battlefield of Santiago U.S. soldiers preparing to invade Cuba and troops dining near Cabañas Fortress. Philippine views include a departure for Manila American pickets routing a Filipino reconnoitering party the 18th Infantry engaged by Filipino outposts volunteers awaiting orders under the tropical sun Army Hospital Manila and "Our Boys in Camp at Malate P.I." One stereoview identifies Roosevelt's Rough Riders in the mobilization phase linking the archive to one of the war's most publicly mythologized units. As a group the stereoviews demonstrate the process by which the Spanish-American War was framed not simply as a short military victory over Spain but as a sustained structure of U.S. troop deployment and occupation extending from Cuba into the Philippines. The Manila and Malate scenes are especially important in this regard since they place American soldiers within the opening phase of the Philippine conflict where U.S. military presence quickly moved beyond liberation rhetoric into imperial control. The archive's mixture of battlefield casualties camp routine naval spectacle and celebratory review scenes shows how stereoscopic publishing converted war into a domestic viewing experience while reinforcing the legitimacy of American expansion abroad. Wear to mounts some toning; overall very good condition. A strong cross-theater visual archive of the Spanish-American War and the emergence of U.S. imperial power in Cuba and the Philippines. unknown books
1860ref. 234291860. Spanish colonial administration in Havana used port health regulation as a mechanism of commercial and maritime control with the Captaincy General directing military customs and sanitary officials through centralized orders. This December 6 1860 manuscript concerns the "Junta local de Sanidad" "víveres averiados" and Dr. Rafael Cortés placing damaged provisions public health authority and port enforcement within the same bureaucratic chain. The phrase "usando de las facultades que me competen" invokes the vested powers of the colonial government confirming that the matter was handled through Spanish imperial authority rather than local civic discretion. Gobierno y Capitanía General de la Isla de Cuba. Secretaría de Gobierno sección de Gobierno. Manuscript order. Havana Cuba: December 6 1860. Single folded manuscript document with printed colonial seal and heading docketed "Habana y Dic. 6 de 1860" and addressed to maritime or port authorities. The text instructs compliance with a petition or order involving the local Board of Health damaged provisions or foodstuffs and Dr. Rafael Cortés with official endorsements and large administrative signatures below. The verso bears docketing and filing marks consistent with bureaucratic circulation. The document belongs directly to Spanish colonial governance in Cuba where the Governor and Captain General exercised civil military and administrative power over the island until the end of Spanish rule in 1898. Its contents connect colonial rule to the management of ports food safety and public health all crucial areas in Havana's nineteenth-century Atlantic economy. Folded as issued with toning scattered foxing edge wear and original folds; seal heading date and principal manuscript text remain legible. Overall good condition. unknown books
1903ref. 6144Guanabacoa: Imprenta "El Progreso 1903. Good. 24; 12pp. One small pamphlet in original printed wrappers plus a bifolium stitched together with four small broadside flyers. Previously folded. Some moderate creasing and wear with a few scattered short closed tears. Light dust soiling and toning. An assemblage of six individually printed poems composed in the early 20th century by obscure Cuban poet Anastasio Orozco y Etienne. The first poem "Apologia de la Caridad." is in its own wrappers and dedicated to Susan Hammond Barney the noted prison reformer Christian writer evangelist and world traveler. She is one of the founders of the Prisoners' Aid Society of Rhode Island and for many years was the President of the Women's Christian Temperance Union in Rhode Island. The second lengthier work titled "Otro Lamento" is printed on a bifolium and also carries religious themes. Stitched with this bifolium are four small broadside poems printed from 1901 to 1903. One of these is a tribute to President McKinley following his assassination and is dated the day of his death September 14 1901. The titles of the broadside poems in full are as follows: 1 A MacKinley sic. La Gloria Es de los Redentores. 2 El 10 de Octubre. Reminiscencia. 3 En Memoria del Pundonoroso Capitán Don Federico Capdevila. 4 Al Rev. H.B. Someillán. Su Regresso. OCLC records an 1882 work by Orozco y Etienne Emblema de las Flores y de los Colores en Prosa y Verso but not the later ephemeral works collected here. Interesting literary printing from a small newspaper press in Cuba just after the Spanish-American War. Imprenta "El Progreso unknown books
1920ref. 227281920. Havana Cuba travel photo album circa 1920s documents an American visitor's encounter with Havana during the interwar years when U.S. tourism commercial presence and Spanish-American War memory shaped how many American travelers interpreted the city. The vernacular photographs record arrival by steamship harbor landmarks civic buildings commercial streets factories boulevards monuments cemeteries and guarded public spaces giving insight into both Havana's urban landscape and the traveler's assumptions about access history and spectacle. The album's references to the USS Maine and Spanish-American War memorials place ordinary sightseeing within a longer history of U.S. intervention in Cuba; the Maine exploded in Havana Harbor on February 15 1898 killing more than 260 sailors and intensifying the crisis that led to war with Spain. Approximately 25 sepia-toned silver gelatin photographs each about 3 x 5 inches mounted to black album leaves with detailed handwritten captions in white pencil. The sequence begins aboard the S.S. Kroonland with one caption reading "My first view of Havana from the deck. three miles out at sea in a dark storm" followed by a landing view captioned "where we landed in Havana Cuba." The S.S. Kroonland returned to Panama Pacific Line service in 1923 on a New York to San Francisco route via Havana the Panama Canal and Los Angeles supporting the album's interwar travel context. The photographs then trace Havana's maritime and civic topography: harbor views Morro Castle captioned "Famous during the Spanish-American War" the waterfront in front of the fortress the Court House the President's Palace a "600-year-old church" the Henry Clay Cigar Store Havana's factory district and public boulevards "where all streets have parks in the center." Other images include a cemetery visit captioned "All people in Cuba are laid to rest above the ground" and a restricted-view street or carriage scene captioned "Officer would not let me take picture but when he turned I took it anyway" a revealing note on tourist privilege and unauthorized looking. Several images directly record the ways American travelers consumed Havana through imperial memory and Cuban nationalist commemoration. One monument is captioned "This was given by the Cuban people to the American soldiers that fell in the Spanish-American War" while another marks "the spot where the Maine sank at the entrance of the harbor." The album was made after Cuba's formal independence in 1902 and during the long aftermath of the Platt Amendment framework under which the United States retained extensive influence over Cuban affairs and intervened repeatedly in the early twentieth century. Album leaves chipped at edges several with corner losses not affecting images; prints generally sharp with strong contrast and clear annotations very good overall. Socially revealing Havana travel album documenting how a U.S. visitor pictured Cuba through steamship tourism colonial architecture cigar commerce Spanish-American War remembrance and the everyday authority structures of an interwar Caribbean capital. unknown books
1908ref. 228161908. Ober Frederick A. A Guide to the West Indies and Bermudas. New York: Dodd Mead & Company 1908. First edition. First printing. 525 pages with five fold-out color maps and numerous black-and-white photographic illustrations. Original red cloth stamped in gilt as issued with no dust jacket. 8vo. An early 20th-century travel guide reflecting U.S. and European imperial tourism in the Caribbean at the height of American expansion following the Spanish-American War. Ober a prolific writer on the Caribbean and Latin America interweaves geography natural history and colonial ethnography offering a period perspective into the ways tourists imperial authorities and travel publishers framed the predominantly Black Afro-Caribbean and Creole cultures of the region during the Jim Crow era. This guide includes detailed chapters on Cuba Puerto Rico Jamaica Trinidad Barbados Guadeloupe Martinique and dozens of other island territories along with sections on "The Bermudas" "The Lesser Antilles" "The South Coast of Cuba" and "A Glimpse of South America." The contents pages visible here show Ober's systematic movement through the archipelago giving each island a discrete treatment with notes on climate agriculture transportation and colonial governance. As Ober writes in his introduction the West Indies form "a region of infinite variety" a phrase that reflects both genuine admiration and the period's exoticizing tone common to pre-WWI travel literature. The fold-out maps chart shipping routes railways ports and political boundaries at a moment when the United States had recently taken possession of Puerto Rico 1898 and solidified its influence in Cuba and the broader Caribbean basin. Light rubbing to cloth with slight sunning to spine; corners mildly worn. Five fold-out maps complete crisp and clean one with a minor tear near margins. Interior exceptionally bright with no writing or markings; binding tight. Overall very good condition. A well-preserved first printing of an important Caribbean travel guide valuable for scholars of U.S. imperial history Caribbean studies tourism studies and the racial-cultural representation of the West Indies during the early American century. unknown books
1950ref. 6261Havana 1950. Good. 389pp. plus 33pp. of ads. Original red publisher's cloth stamped in black. Dampstained at edges and spine extremities worn; rear cover soiled. Contemporary inscription on front pastedown. Foxed some scattered soiling. An interesting bilingual Cuban cook book with recipes in English and Spanish on facing pages. The introduction explains that this is not a volume of recipes for the beginner bride or a how to guide but rather "the compilation of favorite recipes hitherto unpublished yet well-known and highly regarded in important Cuban-American circles and other parts of the world where men and women of taste and discernment throughout the years have succeeded in regaling the palates of intimate friends and distinguished guests." Each recipe lists its contributor -- some of whom are noted as "Mrs." and some of whom are denoted as "Sra." Recipes range from Hot Grapefruit Cocktail to Sweet and Pungent Shrimp to Italian Spaghetti California Style and more. The St. Rita Guild is a Catholic parish organization designed to foster community. Fewer than ten copies in OCLC. A wonderful slice of domestic and social life in Cuba just before the Communist revolution. unknown books
1930ref. 221561930. This Photo Album captures a series of trips across California Mexico Dominican Republic Cuba Panama and other U.S. and North American travel documents the coastal and cross-border tourist experience of an American social group during the 1930s through the early 1950s.The album records a continuous itinerary of domestic and international travel with dated captions such as "July 19 1938 / On Board S/S Dixie from New Orleans La" situating the group within organized steamship routes linking the United States to Caribbean destinations. Oblong photograph album measuring approximately 11.5 x 15.25 inches containing 218 silver gelatin photographs mounted on black pages with images ranging from approximately 2.25 x 2.75 inches to 4.5 x 5.5 inches. Photographs are captioned on album pages and occasionally on versos identifying locations and dates. California scenes include Los Angeles Hollywood Olvera Street Pasadena gardens San Diego Balboa Park Mission Beach La Jolla Catalina Island and the Hotel del Coronado with recurring images of beaches coastal views small boats and leisure activities such as bathing and sightseeing. Additional images depict San Francisco landmarks including Alcatraz Island and Muir Woods. Travel beyond the United States includes Tijuana Mexico; Havana Cuba; Santo Domingo Dominican Republic; and Panama City with scenes of street activity ruins courtyards and waterfronts. A sequence from Catalina Island emphasizes seaside recreation while Caribbean and Central American images show plazas tropical vegetation and urban environments including Afro-Caribbean individuals in public spaces. Additional photographs document travel to New Orleans Utah Salt Lake City Nova Scotia and a location labeled "Indian Island." This album documents patterns of American tourism during the mid-twentieth century when organized travel by rail and steamship enabled access to domestic resorts and international destinations across the Americas. The combination of coastal California imagery with Caribbean and Latin American scenes reflects a broader گردش of leisure travel that emphasized climate landscape and cultural difference within reachable distance of the United States. The presence of consistent captions and chronological markers provides a structured record of travel routes and destinations contributing to research on tourism history visual culture and cross-border movement in the pre-jet era. Light wear to album and photographs with minor handling marks; overall very good condition. A substantial visual record of American travel practices and geographic mobility across the Americas in the mid-twentieth century. unknown books
1986ref. 334591La Habana: Impreso en los Talleres del CC-PCC 1986. Pamphlet. 19p. stapled pamphlet 7.5x5.5 inches using copper staples printed cover in blue and red on alkaline white stock an unblemished copy: perfectly sound clean and unmarked. Impreso en los Talleres del CC-PCC unknown books
1909ref. 224671909. Soldier Harold Howard's person documentaation of service in the 11th U.S. Cavalry during the period of American military occupation and intervention in Cuba following the Spanish American War. These photographs place an enlisted cavalryman within the broader framework of U.S. expansionist policy in the Caribbean under the Platt Amendment when American troops were repeatedly deployed to Cuba to oversee political stability infrastructure and economic interests. The archive includes identified images of Sgt. Harold Howard and captures both formal military organization and informal daily life offering a ground-level record of U.S. cavalry presence during a period of continued occupation and reintervention including the second U.S. occupation of Cuba from 1912 to 1913. Archive of nine vintage silver gelatin photographs ranging approximately from 3.5 x 5 inches to 10 x 13 inches many mounted to original photographer boards and some annotated in ink or pencil. Two large-format formal group portraits depict Troop K 11th U.S. Cavalry at Fort Oglethorpe Georgia 1913 showing soldiers in full dress uniform arranged in tiered formation with visible regimental flag marked "11" and "K" with Howard identified in one image. Smaller photographs include a group portrait of U.S. cavalrymen in Pinar del Río Cuba dated 1908 showing soldiers in campaign dress posed near a stable as well as candid camp scenes featuring cooking areas barracks life and assembled troops. Two photo postcards function as personal correspondence with handwritten messages from Howard dated April 1 and September 9 1913 addressed to Mrs. A. L. Howard in Maine referencing weather conditions and upcoming exhibition drills providing direct evidence of mobility and routine within cavalry service. Additional images include a cabinet card of two uniformed soldiers and a scene depicting Black Cuban civilians posed near a thatched structure situating U.S. military presence within local social environments. Taken together the archive documents the lived experience of a U.S. cavalryman operating within the infrastructure of American imperial policy in the Caribbean linking domestic military bases such as Fort Oglethorpe with overseas deployment in Cuba. The photographs record both the formal visual culture of the U.S. Army and the everyday conditions of enlisted service while the inclusion of Cuban subjects and locations underscores the entanglement of military occupation with local populations. General edge wear throughout with occasional pinholes adhesive remnants and minor chipping to mounts; some toning to boards. Photographs remain clear and stable with annotations legible. Overall very good condition. unknown books
1915ref. 224781915. Polk George Washington Jr. Havana and rural Cuba photo archive 1915 documents Cuba through the viewpoint of an American military traveler during the Platt Amendment era when U.S. power shaped Cuban sovereignty port security naval access and commercial movement. The photographs record ships in Havana Harbor coastal fortifications rural dwellings Cuban farmers agricultural landscapes and colonial plazas providing insight into how U.S. military personnel visually encountered Cuba just before American entry into World War I. The Platt Amendment gave the United States broad authority to intervene in Cuban affairs and required Cuba to lease land for naval stations remaining central to U.S.-Cuba relations until its repeal in 1934; this archive therefore places vernacular travel photography within a larger framework of military oversight and commercial access. Polk George Washington Jr. Havana Cuba vernacular photo collection. Havana Cuba: unpublished December 1915. Twenty-eight silver gelatin photographs pasted to album pages with some loose or partially detached ranging from approximately 2 x 2½ inches to 4½ x 3½ inches many with handwritten ink annotations dated December 22 to 29 1915. The images include vessels anchored in Havana Harbor harbor views from on board ship Morro Castle and other coastal fortification views colonial civic plazas local laborers and civilians thatched rural huts or bohíos sugarcane fields and agricultural scenes captioned "Orange Trees & Coconut Palms Near Havana." One photograph is captioned "Cuban Farmer & Son Near Havana Dec 22 1915" giving the archive direct documentary value for rural family life and American observation of Cuban agricultural communities. Other captions identify boats as "U.S.C. 5th Protectors off Havana" and refer to the United Fruit Company steamer Abangarez on the Havana-Colon route; the Abangarez was a United Fruit Company passenger and cargo vessel completed in 1909 and later brought under United States registry during World War I. The photographs combine military commercial and rural subjects in a compact record of U.S.-Cuban contact. Polk's annotations and the repeated Potchernick-Birdsong Co. Kodak Place San Antonio Texas stamps on versos indicate that the images were developed in the United States after the trip or sent home for processing preserving the path by which overseas military travel became a personal photographic record. Polk's later military service is supported by burial and veterans' records identifying George Washington Polk Jr. as born May 13 1889 died July 27 1976 and buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery; the supplied description identifies him as later a Colonel in the U.S. Army Air Corps and instructor in the early U.S. Air Force. Most photographs lightly pasted along one edge to scrapbook leaves with some detached or partially affixed; a few corner creases otherwise sharp images with strong contrast good to very good overall. Focused 1915 Cuba archive linking Havana Harbor rural Cuban labor vernacular architecture United Fruit maritime movement and American military observation during the U.S. protectorate period. unknown books
1920ref. 224751920. Cuba Havana landmarks and urban development real photo post card archive ca. 1920s-1940s. 11 color and sepia real photo postcards of iconic civic and cultural architecture in Havana Cuba. Each measure 4" x 6". Many with captions identifying the locations in the negative or en verso with some printed in English and others in Spanish signaling their intended audience of both locals and foreign tourists. A compelling photo archive documenting early 20th-century Havana's architectural and political aspirations this collection showcases prominent landmarks that symbolized Cuba's nationalist identity international cosmopolitanism and American-influenced modernization in the decades between independence from Spain and the Cuban Revolution. The archive includes silver gelatin and printed color views of the National Theatre Cuba's Capitol Building Central Railway Station Gran Casino Nacional National University and the grand gateway of Havana's Colón Cemetery. Other views depict Paseo de Martí one of Havana's most iconic boulevards lined with vintage American cars and flanked by ornate colonial facades and new Art Deco-style hotels evidence of the influx of U.S. capital and tourism during the Batista era. Havana in this period was rapidly transforming into a showcase city of the Caribbean its urban core reflecting both Spanish colonial heritage and American urban planning models. The presence of monumental buildings like El Capitolio constructed between 1926 and 1929 and modeled after the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. points to Cuba's alignment with American political aesthetics and aspirations toward modern statehood. Similarly the University and Gran Casino Nacional represent both the intellectual elite and leisure-class investment that typified pre-revolutionary Cuban society. The mixture of European and U.S. architectural influences ranging from Beaux-Arts to Art Deco speaks to the layered colonial legacy and new economic dependency forged during the Platt Amendment era. Some mild edge wear. One card with a small corner crease others clean. Overall very good condition. This archive captures Havana in the midst of dramatic urban renewal and internationalization before the massive ruptures brought on by the 1959 revolution. unknown books
1962ref. 4785Various locations in Cuba Europe and the United States 1962. Very good. 113 leaves of scrapbook cardstock illustrated with 388 photographs chiefly silver gelatin photographs several colored or in color in mounting corners. Most captioned in Spanish. Square folio. Contemporary brown cloth spring-loaded spine cover gilt. Joints split but holding well moderate rubbing and dust-soiling. Light foxing handful of images lacking some images slightly browned or with mild edge wear. An extensively-annotated vernacular family photograph album centering on the German-Cuban Coyula-Moeller family picturing their lives family members travels and more in Cuba the United States Germany and other locations in Europe mainly during the 1920s and '30s. The album was likely compiled by Gerardo Coyula y Moeller who was born in the early-1920s and attended Aloisiuskolleg in Bad Godesberg in the late-1930s. The album includes numerous pictures of Coyula y Moeller as a toddler young man and teenager traveling with his mother and various family members attending school and more with numerous photographs featuring the family and their environs in Cuba and Germany. The caption to a family photograph indicates that the Coyula family were shareholders in the German Club "Club Aleman" in Havana from 1939 to 1960. Other family members identified through the profuse captions include Aunt Merci Aunt Hortensia Uncle Gustavo Estela grandfather Enrique Moeller grandmother Rosa Gelpi and others. The album also contains several photographs relating to the Nazi Party in Germany before the war as well as two photographs with captions poignantly noting one young man who would die in a concentration camp in Germany. One of the latter examples pictures a young man named Gerd Wolf with the Spanish caption translated as "Rabbi Fidellis eating bananas - He was with the Resistance and died in the Dachau concentration camp." Notably an antecedent of the family was apparently friends with a German individual who is documented as later helping usher Hitler into power and the album records two additional Nazi individuals who "visited grandfather's house" and "fled to Brazil" to escape the consequences of their war crimes. Yet another family photograph shows a group of adults posed in a garden with the caption reading: "Nuestro amigo: Resulto ser Himmler" "Our friend: turned out to be Himmler". Indeed the image shows the man third from right is clearly Heinrich Himmler. In addition to pictures of the family at home in Cuba the album captures them in various locations in Germany mainly Bonn Hamburg and the aforementioned Bad Godesberg. The family also traveled to New York in the United States and Southampton England among other places with several photographs documenting their travels in each location. The album is also replete with identified photographs of a legion of family friends and acquaintances providing ample opportunity for deeper research into the connections within the family but also to the family's larger community. According to a previous owner the album came out of the noted Weber family in Cuba. An exceptional and well-preserved collection presenting the lives of this noted German-Cuban family. unknown books
1924ref. 184851924. Photograph album 1920s-1930s documenting travel across the American Southwest and Cuba with images capturing landscapes infrastructure and communities during a period of regional development and increased mobility. Early photographs depict desert environments with saguaro cacti and yucca followed by rural farms mission-style buildings and roadside scenes including a family traveling by wagon in Texarkana. One image records the recently constructed Coolidge Dam in Arizona completed between 1924 and 1928 situating the album within contemporary efforts at water management and agricultural expansion in the Southwest. Additional photographs show individuals in domestic and rural settings including an African American man seated outside his home before transitioning to scenes of coastal and subtropical environments. The final portion of the album documents Cuba including street life harbor views with ships and fishing vessels and architectural landmarks such as Morro Castle reflecting the circulation of American travelers in the Caribbean during the interwar period. Photograph album containing 69 black and white silver gelatin photographs most measuring approximately 5.75 x 3 inches with one larger earlier portrait at the beginning measuring approximately 9.5 x 6 inches. The images are mounted in a cloth-covered board album with gilt lettering reading "Photographs" secured by a cord binding and measuring approximately 10 x 8.25 inches. The photographs are uncaptioned and arranged sequentially suggesting a travel-based compilation spanning multiple regions including Arizona Texas the Gulf South and Havana Cuba. 69 photographs mounted in original album; images clear and well-preserved. Light wear to album consistent with age; overall very good condition. A cohesive visual record of travel and regional life across the American Southwest and Cuba during the early twentieth century. unknown books
1888ref. 3032Guanabacoa 1888. About very good. Broadside approximately 12 x 17 inches. Previously folded. Contemporary manuscript rubric and small ink stamp. small patch of ink burn causing separation along rubric line. A few tiny wormholes slightly affecting text. Light tanning minor foxing. An otherwise unrecorded 19th-century Cuban broadside decree announcing the rules for celebrations in Guanabacoa during "las fiestas de su Patrona" taking place on August 14 & 15 1888. The patron saint of Guanabacoa then a small town just outside Havana and now an outlying district of the city is Our Lady of the Assumption and August 15 is the Feast of the Assumption. This broadside prints eight articles the first of which allow games and "diversiones públicas" but prohibit games of chance and gambling of any kind and authorize the erection of food and drink stalls in public places that do not impede public traffic. Permission must be obtained from the municipal magistrates for balls and parties in private houses; shooting guns rockets and fireworks is still strictly forbidden but the lighting of torches is allowed during the saint's procession. Other rules regulate vehicular traffic cafés and restaurants horse races ball games and theatrical performances. A very interesting document of municipal regulation for popular religious events in Cuba during the late-19th century. unknown books
1872ref. 3066Havana 1872. Very good. Manuscript form approximately 8.5 x 6.25 inches. Minor wear at edges; a few small worm holes. Contemporary ink stamp. Light tanning and offsetting. This 1872 manuscript form from a Havana jail the Celaduria de la Punta notes the death there of an "Asiatico" a Chinese indentured servant with the given name of Juan Macao and orders the transfer of the body to the mortuary for cremation. Indentured servants found themselves jailed for several reasons including suspicion of theft and other crimes recapture following runaway or mere suspicion of abandoning a contract. unknown books
1909ref. 85268New York: n.p. 1909. Paperback. Very Good. 4 photos in the 1907 report 27 27 27p. Softcovers in original wrapper. 26 cm. Later string ties. Business card for Jose Merla Manager of Royal "M. C." Lines laid in one of the reports. n.p. paperback books
1884ref. 1574Habana 1884. Good plus. 2496 i.e. 498pp. Quarto. Contemporary calf gilt a.e.g.; rebacked with original spine laid down. Corners repaired with later black buckram; boards scuffed spine chipped. Hinges cracked repaired with later cloth and renewed endpapers. Minor scattered foxing and toning to text. Accomplished in a neat highly legible hand. A very attractive manuscript translation into Spanish of Pierre Larousse's well-known work on eminent and historical personages Fleurs Historiques des Dames et des Gens du Monde in a contemporary Cuban gilt goatskin binding. The manuscript connects three figures in the upper social echelons of Cuban society. José Fernandez Pellon the scribe of this volume is recorded as the Grand Master of Cuba's freemasons lodge the Gran Logia Unida de Colón y la Isla de Cuba. The translator Aurelio Almeida helped to found the organization in 1875 and at this time served as the Lodge Secretary. The initials E.D. gilt at the foot of the spine and the dedicatory inscription "A Eugenia Desvernine" refer to Eugenia Desvernine y Galdós b. 1865 daughter of the famous Cuban pianist Pablo Desvernine and Carolina Galdós y Echániz. She was also the niece of Benito Pérez Galdós the Spanish realist novelist who some authorities consider only second in stature to Cervantes. A contemporary social register remarks that Eugenia was one of the most beautiful women in Cuba perhaps an inspiration for the painstaking production of this manuscript. The original work by Larousse was a loose collection of religious parables classical myths biographies of ancient and modern historical figures. The title of the manuscript advises that is an extract and in the brief introduction Almeida explains his selection process writing that "He suprimido algunos artículos sobre cosas muy sabidas de la historia sagrada; y otros sobre la de Francia que mencionan frases ó personas casi ninca citadas ó citades solamente por las escritores francesas." He also notes several alterations and additions more relevant to Spanish history saying "En Cambio he agregado algunos artículos sobre historia de España que no están en el original y he tomado unos pocos de otra obra del mismo Mr. Larousse y de libros diversos." The result is an original amalgam of biographies historical episodes and religious parables. Interestingly we find no recorded printed editions of Larousse's work in Spanish so that the present manuscript is also an entirely original work of translation. A fascinating product of the cultural interests and mores of Cuban high society near the end of the Spanish colonial period. unknown books
1869ref. 5608Various places in Cuba including Bejucal Havana Matanzas & Sagua la Grande 1869. Good plus. Sixteen broadside broadsheet and bifolium forms completed in manuscript. Previously folded with some short separations along old folds; one longer closed tear from lower left corner of one form. Some chipping and wear at edges not affecting text. Contemporary ink stamps. Varying degrees of tanning and foxing. A group of sixteen contracts for Chinese indentured laborers in Cuba executed during the 1860s. The importation of Chinese labor to Cuba began in earnest in 1853 and in 1860 a law passed by the colonial government essentially enjoined Chinese workers to renew their agreements. The forms present here are sixteen such contract renewals signed by Chinese workers who had completed their initial term of indentured servitude but had no recourse to fairer forms of employment or means to leave the island. "The new law required a change in the contract that required coolies who completed their original term of service to recontract with the same or another master. Otherwise they were obligated to leave Cuba within two months. There is no doubt that the Cubans issued the recontracting regulation in order to keep as many as possible of this captive alien labor force on the plantations knowing full well that very few of the coolies could have saved enough from their meager wages to pay for their passage home" - Hu-DuHart. The present group dating from 1862 to 1869 includes five renewals from Havana; four from Matanzas; three from Colon; two from Guanabacoa; and one apiece from the towns of Sancti Spiritus and Sagua la Grande. Each form gives the adopted Spanish name of the laborer his age place of birth the new and old masters in some cases the same and the duration of the new indenture from six months to two years. The forms also state that the laborers are signing fresh contracts in compliance with the law of 1860 and give the terms for worker and employer including daily hours to be worked amount of food provided weekly shelter if any and meager salaries amongst other stipulations. One contract is signed in Chinese but the preponderance are signed by "witnesses" or "interpreters" for the workers. Fascinating primary documents of the exploitative Chinese labor system in Cuba during the mid-19th century. Elizabeth Hu-Duhart "Chinese Coolie Labor in Cuba in the Nineteenth Century" Contributions in Black Studies 12 1994 pp. 43-46. books
1866ref. 4747Havana: July 10 1866. Good. 3pp. on a bifolium. Separated at fold. Some wear to edge of first leaf cause some minor loss to text. A few scattered tape repairs and reattachments. Some offsetting. A colonial Spanish manuscript slave manifest for the steamship Cristobal Colon carrying dozens of enslaved Africans from Bailen to Partido del Cano both in Cuba. The text at the head reads as follows: "Nomina de los Africano bozales que conducten el vapor Cristobol Colon embarcado hoy a las siete de la mañana por el muelle de Bailen con destino al Partido del Cano unos de la propridad de D. José Rafael Diaz y otros de D. José Garcia y por encargo de sus dueños los custodia D. Juan Antonio Sanchez Bustamante y este individuo tiene biencia annal del Partido de Consolacion del Sur." Bailen is on the southern coast of Cuba north of the Isle of Pines; "El Cano" seems to have been a plantation outside of Havana while Consolacion del Sur is coastal town in the Pinar del Rio region of Cuba. The manifest lists 133 "Africanos bozales" that is slaves who could not speak Spanish in two or three columns separated between men "varones" and women "hembras" - their assigned names are given generally of Christian origin but with some range e.g "Ciforiana" "Liborio" and "Dionisia." Their ages are given one as young as nine several in their late thirties but most in their teens to early thirties. An additional leaf signed from Manila and dated July 10 1866 notes that although 133 people were sent only 115 survived the journey and lists the names of those who perished. July 10 books
1796ref. 5074Mexico City: May 13 1796. About very good. Broadside 17 x 12.25 inches. Old fold lines. Slight separation and loss at center fold slightly affecting a few letters. Minor wear else. Proclamation made by the Viceroy of New Spain authorizing trade between Cuba and the United States. The Caribbean was in tumult in the 1790s with Toussaint L'Ouverture overthrowing the French colonial government and outlawing slavery. Likewise in Cuba there was a similar revolt against slavery demanding abolition and equality -- both revolutions were of substantial concern to slaveholders in the American South. Specifically the present decree mentions flour and other vital foodstuffs as a measure against shortages in Cuba intended to prevent further trouble. "Para precaver la escasez de viveres y con especialidad de harinas que verosimilmente causaria la guerra concedio El Rey Permiso por Real Orden de 25 Junio de 93. para que los Anglo-Americanos.pudiesen conducirlos a la Havana pagando los derechos los puertos habilitados de España." The Viceroy at the time was Don Miguel de la Grua Talamanca de Carini y Branciforte First Marques de Branciforte. The Marques was notoriously corrupt even for colonial Spain having gained position through marriage to the Prime Minister's sister. He made sure to make some profit on everything that passed through his hands including taking advantage of the war in Cuba to remove the French from their lands and sell them to his benefit. A rare and interesting decree. We locate a single copy in OCLC at the University of Minnesota. May 13 unknown books
1867ref. 3978Macau: April 6 1867. Very good. 6pp. on large folio partially-printed forms printed in two columns completed in manuscript. Old folds with minor losses at a few spots along the horizontal fold. Five hundred and fifty Chinese laborers bound for Cuba aboard the Spanish galley "Cervantes" are listed by name with their age and town or city of origin given. The laborers hail from several different cities in China and their ages range from 18 to 36 with the majority of the men in their 20s. The end of the document is signed and dated on the final page by José de Aguilar the Spanish consul at Macau. The left side of the final page contains two separate lists one with five numbers and the other with four numbers keyed to the manifest. The list of five names has an "x" next to each number perhaps noting that these men did not in fact make the trip to Cuba; each "x" could also signal that these men died during the voyage from Macau to Cuba which was a common-enough occurrence that it is often noted on manifests of this kind. Chinese indentured servitude in 19th-century Cuba was an insidious practice tantamount to slavery which flourished in Cuba even after the abolition of the peculiar institution in the British West Indies. With their free source of labor no longer available plantation owners in Cuba looked elsewhere; and they looked east. From around 1848 to the mid-1870s over 100000 Chinese indentured servants made their way to Cuba often sailing to Cuba in large groups. Once they arrived Chinese laborers indentured themselves to Cuban masters for terms of at least five years. The treatment of Asian indentured servants in Cuba varied widely with reports of some particularly ill-treated laborers ending their lives by suicide. "Some contemporaries and later historians.have condemned the servitude of the Asians as a thinly disguised revival of slavery. These critics have pointed to a variety of abuses to which the Asians were subjected both legally - with severe laws governing absenteeism vagrancy and insufficient work - and illegally in the form of harassment by vicious masters. Yet other observers have defended the system as a boon to the Asian workers. Voluntary reindenture at the end of their terms was common among the migrants suggesting that many Asians judged the system to be beneficial to them" - Drescher. Seymour Drescher & Stanley L. Engerman editors A Historical Guide to World Slavery New York 1998 pp.239-42. April 6 unknown books
1867ref. 3977Havana: August 3 1867. Good. 7pp. on pre-printed folio forms completed in manuscript. Later staple. Moderate tanning and edge wear short separations along some folds. A manuscript manifest listing of 285 Chinese field hands who undoubtedly signed up as indentured laborers in their quest to escape the hardships of China in the vain hope of a better life in Cuba. The document begins "Lista de los colones que fueron embarcados en China." with the name of the French ship on which they were transported "barca francesa nombrada Ephrem" filled in and the captain noted as Boucand. The Chinese name of each "colono" settler is given and also their adopted Christian name as well as age ranging from 18 to 35 sex all men and profession all field laborers "campo". Seven of the listings have an "X" next to them along with "Falleco" passed away written in the column headed "Defuncion." Among those who died on the voyage is a 26-year-old man named Ping Chiong given the Christian name of "Angel." Formal slavery persisted in Cuba until 1886 but from the mid-19th century it was accompanied by a significant population working in indentured servitude. Cuba's massive sugar industry had consumed huge imports of African slaves in the 18th century. The abolition of the slave trade in 1808 vigorously enforced by the British Navy meant that a new source of labor was necessary. Indentured servitude became the predominant source for labor in the region. Unlike the earlier waves of European immigrants who travelled to the New World as indentured servants Asia was now the primary source. Between 1848 and 1874 125000 Chinese indentured servants arrived in Cuba alone - a figure outstripped only by the number who indentured themselves in California. A high percentage of these laborers were kidnapped from their homeland with many unable to survive the long passage from China to Cuba as the present document illustrates in sad detail. If these Chinese indentured laborers were fortunate enough to survive the voyage to Cuba these men quickly found out that their working life in the coffee and sugar fields was tantamount to slavery. August 3 unknown books
1908ref. 96370Washington: Oficino del Censo de los Estados Unidos 1908. Hardcover. Good. frontis maps charts photos index 707p. Original cloth. 24 cm. Some cover soiling browning and wear but still quite sound. Oficino del Censo de los Estados Unidos hardcover books
