MEXICO CITY.- The Historical Archive of the Former Bishopric of Michoacan is one of the most important ones due to its size and contents. Created in the New Spain epoch, it counts on a reserved fund with documents written by Jose Maria Morelos. A new seat and installations designed to conserve and consult it will be ready by the end of 2009.

The heap is integrated by documents from the second half of 16th century to early 20th, and was part of the former Valladolid Ecclesiastical Administration. It contains documents related to Independence heroes as well as religious administration ones.

The archive is lodged in Casa de Morelos Museum, in Morelia, Michoacan, in the 18th century building where Morelos lived. The new installations are part of the integral renovation project conducted by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

Jaime Reyes Monroy, director of the museum, declared that the equipment includes a ventilation system that allows regulating temperature, modern bookshelves and the creation of a database to manage and consult documentation.

Documents have already been classified by fund, series, subseries and section; although they are still in boxes, information has already been captured in the digital database.

“Historical Archive of the Former Bishopric of Michoacan lets us know the history of the state and its inhabitants, as well as late 18th and early 19th centuries historical facts, related to the Independence process. Names such as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon and other related to the 1809 Valladolid conspiracy are found in the files”, commented Reyes Monroy.

He mentioned that the conservation state of the archive is good, because it was preserved at the Valladolid Ecclesiastical Administration; since the 1930’s decade it has been lodged at Casa de Morelos Museum, where storage conditions are adequate. The material undergoes preventive actions conducted by students of the National School of Conservation, Restoration and Museography (ENCRyM).

Documentation was mainly hand scripted, but there were some printed material, such as Inquisition Edicts, which were posted on the streets to make public ecclesiastical authority instructions.

The most important Inquisition Edict of the archive is the one which condemns Insurgents: “Those who by deceit or at their own should sum up to the Independence movement will immediately be excomulgated”, signed, sealed and published by Inquisition authorities in October 1810, when Hidalgo recruited people in Valladolid.