Ludwig Lauerhass Mexican Broadsides and Leaflets

Ludwig Lauerhass Mexican Broadsides and Leaflets Collection (1826-1851; undated) contains twenty-five broadsides and leaflets printed by Mexico’s historic publishing house, Abadiano y Valdes. The content highlights Mexico’s post-independence themes of religion, politics, and class. It also showcases Spanish and European literary influences on 18th century Mexico’s social economic elite. The collection includes broadsides and leaflets displaying Catholic traditions that include orations, celebratory sonnets, ballads, and ejaculatory prayers for: Christ, St. Cecilia, St. Joseph, St. Alenjo, and St. James Matamoros (St. James the Moor-Slayer). The collection also highlights European influence in Elite Mexican culture through literature. Within the collection there are Spanish romance ballads like "Verdadero Romance De Lucinda Y Belardoand" and “Nueva Relacion, en que se da cuenta de los notables arrojos y valientes arrestos que hizo Doña Josefa Ramirez, natural de la ciudad de Valencia, y felicidad con que salio de todos ellos” that perpetuate Spanish influence and values to Mexican elites within post-independence Mexico. The collection also includes affluent classical literature that can give an overview on what elite Mexican citizens read such as Pietro Metastasio’s sacred drama, “Isaac, Figura del redento. Drama Sagrado De Metastasio” and a monologue from Shakespeare’s “Othello”. The bulk of the collection is dedicated to Mexico’s social and political conflicts. The satirical poem “El Currutaco Por Alambique”, by Manuel Gomez Marin reflects the tension between Europeans and Mexicans as well as social and racial hierarchy in Mexico. The highlight of the collection is the fourteen volumes of post-independence liberal periodical, “El Quebrantahuesos”. “El Quebrantahuesos” aimed to satirize the prominent conservative periodical, “Hay Va Ese Hueso De Roer”, advocacy of conservatism and Catholicism by invoking the enlightenment. This collection is in Spanish.