Zacatecas Archives and Libraries

The Historical Archive of the State of Zacatecas
This important archive contains an extensive documentary collection for the history of the region. This collection includes the years 1557 to 1940. It also includes the part of the file of the city council of the city of Zacatecas that was rescued after the fire of November 27, 1975. On that occasion, the historical archive was in the eastern part of the palace of government. Unfortunately, much of the documentation was destroyed, including civil registry books, testaments, donations and participations given by the miners to the king to exploit the wealth of the mines, historical documents of the Superior Court and the Supreme Court of Justice, as well as as invaluable books of theology, philosophy and the history of Zacatecas.

Much of the documentation that currently is in the historical archive includes the colonial and national periods. The documentation is quite varied, and includes several case files that refer to the real estate, town hall, township, mayor, quartermaster, and Indian villages. The documentation also includes cedularios, as well as a wide collection of notary and notary protocols. The file is chronologically classified into backgrounds, series, and sub-series.

The documents that this important archive protects are very valuable and contain abundant information about geography, language, registers, breeding of animals, agriculture, use of natural resources, manufacturing of raw materials, construction of buildings, trade, work, commercial and industrial organization, standard of living and daily routine, social stratification, kinship, family, community, territorial organization, state, governmental activities, political life, crimes and sanctions, justice, numbers, measures, and daily life of the indigenous groups of this region. It also has a small library with books and old publications.

The file is located at Calle Lomas del Calvario No. 105, Zacatecas, Zacatecas Phone: (492) 923-2409. The schedule is from 9:00 a.m. at 6:00 p.m.

The Historical Archive of the Municipality of Zacatecas
The Historical Archive of the Municipality of Zacatecas has a collection of five million documents that are a memory of the life of this important municipality. The effort that the authorities have made to modernize and promote this place is paying off, two years ago more than 800,000 pesos were invested in the acquisition of modern scanner equipment in order to digitally preserve the historic memory of this city. Some of the documents that are found there date from 1606 and 1612, years in which there was a strong mining activity not only in Zacatecas, but in other municipalities and even other regions of the country.

Among the many documents that can be found there are the cabildo books that contain very valuable historical-genealogical information. Several sections of documents referring to the town council and municipal administration of Zacatecas during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are kept in this file. In addition, there are collections referring to the political headquarters of Zacatecas, which had jurisdiction over other neighboring municipalities during the Porfiriato. At the same time, a complete collection of the Official Newspaper of the Government of the State of Zacatecas is preserved. The documents related to the colonial period of Zacatecas and even Fresnillo are few but valuable. The archives of the Grand Lodge of the State of Zacatecas Jesús González Ortega are on loan.

The interest of the Zacatecana community and all of Mexico in the digital preservation of historical documents is evidenced by the number of students in researchers who come to the facilities of the municipal historical archive of Zacatecas to use the services provided there. The address of this file is; Calzada Héroes de Chapultepec 1110, Col Lázaro Cárdenas. Phone: (492) 925-3785, with hours from 9:00 a.m. at 3:00 p.m. Monday to Friday.

The Archive of the Parish of Zacatecas
Here we can find the documentation related to the administration of the greater parish of Zacatecas. Its content is truly a treasure, since it contains books of baptisms, marriages, and burials, as well as those generated by the notary's vicar, that is to say, processes initiated to parishioners within the framework of the ecclesiastical law, and books of the brotherhoods of worship that existed in Zacatecas. There are also many books with sacramental records of other parishes in the state. One of the most important collections are the books that contain the chaplaincies, factories, and registers, since they contain a lot of valuable historical-genealogical information. This file is located in the Church of Santo Domingo in the square of Santo Domingo, just a few steps from the cathedral in Zacatecas, Zacatecas. Phone: (492) 922-0232

Museums
There are museums in  municipalities in the State of Zacatecas. Here is the website: State of Zacatecas Museums.