Current and Future Research Plans
When I complete my dissertation on the early modern Carvajal family in spring 2008, I intend to extend my research to include the family’s 16th century expansion into colonial Spanish America. By incorporating research on the family’s transatlantic migration to Nueva España (colonial Mexico) and their failed expeditions to the southern tip of Rio de la Plata (colonial Argentina and Chile), my enhanced book manuscript will trace the continued evolution of the family’s occupational and social status, as well as speak to the nature of first contacts between Europeans and Americans.
My primary research on the Carvajal family in colonial Mexico is already complete. I previously finished this research at the Archivo General de Indias (Sevilla, Spain) and at the Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico City, Mexico). Specifically, I reviewed and ordered reproductions of over 177 individual historical folios (approximately 28 linear inches of documents) relating to the colonial Mexican family. My research on the family’s failed voyage to Rio de la Plata is complete, with the exception of securing reproductions of a few additional documents from Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Valladolid (Valladolid, Spain). After collecting these supplemental research materials, I anticipate completing two additional chapters on the Carvajal family in the Americas by January 2009.
I plan to spend 2009 focusing on further revising my dissertation, and incorporating these two additional chapters into a book manuscript. It is my goal to submit my book manuscript to prospective publishers by the end of 2009. Additionally, I expect to convert my dissertation chapter on the creation of the Carvajal and Santa Maria family confederation into an article for publication.
During the summers of 2008 and 2009, while preparing my book manuscript for publication, I plan to return to Spain to begin a new research project on the family, cultural, religious, and economic relations of Extremaduran Jews, Muslims, and Christians during the 13th through 15th centuries. During my dissertation investigations in the cathedral and municipal archives of Zamora, Plasencia, Caceres, and Trujillo, I encountered a limited, but rich collection of documents (family, local administrative, and royal) that illuminates the lives of Jewish and Muslim religious minorities in medieval Christian Castile. Other than Haim Beinhart’s seminal work, Trujillo, a Jewish Community in Extremadura on the Eve of the Expulsion from Spain (1980), there is limited scholarship on this topic. Unlike the extensive research on the relations of these three faiths in the more cosmopolitan Crown of Aragon, there are no Castilian corollary studies. By exploring Castile’s sparsely populated periphery, where royal power was weak and local authority ruled supreme, my research will generate new insights into the nature of the medieval co-existence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Research Experience
In the course of conducting my dissertation research, I have accumulated extensive research experience in multiple archives, libraries, and museums in Spain, Mexico, and the United States. These institutions include:
SPAIN
BURGOS
Archivo Municipal de Burgos
Archivo Historico de la Catedral de Burgos
CACERES
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Caceres
LEON
Archivo Municipal de Leon
Archivo Historico de la Catedral de Leon
Archivo Historico Provincial de Leon
Archivo del la Basilica de San Isidoro
MADRID
Real Academia de la Historia
Archivo Historico Nacional
Biblioteca Nacional
Museo Naval
PLASENCIA
Archivo Municipal de Plasencia
Archivo de la Catedral de Plasencia
SALAMANCA
Biblioteca y Archivo de la Universidad de Salamanca
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Salamanca
SEVILLA
Archivo General de Indias
TALAVERA DE LA REINA
Archivo Municipal de Talavera de la Reina
TOLEDO
Sección Nobleza del Archivo Histórico Nacional
TRUJILLO
Fundación Xavier de Salas, Convento de La Coria
Archivo Muncipal de Trujillo
VALLADOLID
Archivo de la Real Chancilleria – Valladolid
Archivo General de Simancas
ZAMORA
Archivo de la Catedral de Zamora
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Zamora
MEXICO
Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico City, Mexico
UNITED STATES
Benson Latin American Library, Austin, TX
Center for American History, Austin, TX
Huntington Museum, San Marino, CA
New Mexico State Research Center, Santa Fe, NM
When I complete my dissertation on the early modern Carvajal family in spring 2008, I intend to extend my research to include the family’s 16th century expansion into colonial Spanish America. By incorporating research on the family’s transatlantic migration to Nueva España (colonial Mexico) and their failed expeditions to the southern tip of Rio de la Plata (colonial Argentina and Chile), my enhanced book manuscript will trace the continued evolution of the family’s occupational and social status, as well as speak to the nature of first contacts between Europeans and Americans.
My primary research on the Carvajal family in colonial Mexico is already complete. I previously finished this research at the Archivo General de Indias (Sevilla, Spain) and at the Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico City, Mexico). Specifically, I reviewed and ordered reproductions of over 177 individual historical folios (approximately 28 linear inches of documents) relating to the colonial Mexican family. My research on the family’s failed voyage to Rio de la Plata is complete, with the exception of securing reproductions of a few additional documents from Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Valladolid (Valladolid, Spain). After collecting these supplemental research materials, I anticipate completing two additional chapters on the Carvajal family in the Americas by January 2009.
I plan to spend 2009 focusing on further revising my dissertation, and incorporating these two additional chapters into a book manuscript. It is my goal to submit my book manuscript to prospective publishers by the end of 2009. Additionally, I expect to convert my dissertation chapter on the creation of the Carvajal and Santa Maria family confederation into an article for publication.
During the summers of 2008 and 2009, while preparing my book manuscript for publication, I plan to return to Spain to begin a new research project on the family, cultural, religious, and economic relations of Extremaduran Jews, Muslims, and Christians during the 13th through 15th centuries. During my dissertation investigations in the cathedral and municipal archives of Zamora, Plasencia, Caceres, and Trujillo, I encountered a limited, but rich collection of documents (family, local administrative, and royal) that illuminates the lives of Jewish and Muslim religious minorities in medieval Christian Castile. Other than Haim Beinhart’s seminal work, Trujillo, a Jewish Community in Extremadura on the Eve of the Expulsion from Spain (1980), there is limited scholarship on this topic. Unlike the extensive research on the relations of these three faiths in the more cosmopolitan Crown of Aragon, there are no Castilian corollary studies. By exploring Castile’s sparsely populated periphery, where royal power was weak and local authority ruled supreme, my research will generate new insights into the nature of the medieval co-existence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Research Experience
In the course of conducting my dissertation research, I have accumulated extensive research experience in multiple archives, libraries, and museums in Spain, Mexico, and the United States. These institutions include:
SPAIN
BURGOS
Archivo Municipal de Burgos
Archivo Historico de la Catedral de Burgos
CACERES
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Caceres
LEON
Archivo Municipal de Leon
Archivo Historico de la Catedral de Leon
Archivo Historico Provincial de Leon
Archivo del la Basilica de San Isidoro
MADRID
Real Academia de la Historia
Archivo Historico Nacional
Biblioteca Nacional
Museo Naval
PLASENCIA
Archivo Municipal de Plasencia
Archivo de la Catedral de Plasencia
SALAMANCA
Biblioteca y Archivo de la Universidad de Salamanca
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Salamanca
SEVILLA
Archivo General de Indias
TALAVERA DE LA REINA
Archivo Municipal de Talavera de la Reina
TOLEDO
Sección Nobleza del Archivo Histórico Nacional
TRUJILLO
Fundación Xavier de Salas, Convento de La Coria
Archivo Muncipal de Trujillo
VALLADOLID
Archivo de la Real Chancilleria – Valladolid
Archivo General de Simancas
ZAMORA
Archivo de la Catedral de Zamora
Archivo Histórico Provincial de Zamora
MEXICO
Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico City, Mexico
UNITED STATES
Benson Latin American Library, Austin, TX
Center for American History, Austin, TX
Huntington Museum, San Marino, CA
New Mexico State Research Center, Santa Fe, NM
