Baptismal Register, Mexico, San Sebastian parish in Mexico City, Mexico, 1768-75, Manuscript on paper in limp leather binding with fore-edge flap and ties, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, MS 05100

Baptismal Register, Mexico, San Sebastian parish in Mexico City, Mexico, 1768-75, Manuscript on paper in limp leather binding with fore-edge flap and ties, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, MS 05100

This 18th-century register records the names and baptism dates of Indigenous children in the Mexico City parish of San Sebastian. In the colonial period, Catholic Church parishes kept separate record books for communities of Indigenous, African, Spanish, and mixed descent. Entries in the register, which covers the period from 1768 to 1775, also note information about the baptized children and their families, including the child's date of birth, their parents' profession and marital status, names of their godparents, the priest who performed the baptism, and the neighborhood in which the family lived. These details provide insight into the social history of various communities in the period. The register is handwritten on paper, most likely imported from Spain, and like other documentary books of colonial North and South America, it features a characteristic elongated cover flap related to the account books and Islamic-style envelope flap bindings of the Iberian peninsula. At the beginning of the register, an index of names appears on A-Z tab pages similar to those used in modern address books.

San Sebastian Parish, Mexico

Dimensions: 30.3 x 22.3 x 2.4cm (+10.9 for flap)

Material: Manuscript on paper in limp leather binding with fore-edge flap and ties

Fisher MS 05100

Mexico, Mexico City, San Sebastian Parish

Photographer credit: Courtesy of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

1768-75

Spanish

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

Baptismos de Indios desde Henero de 1768 hasta Agosto de 1775: Baptismal Register, San Sebastian Parish in Mexico City