HISTORIC ARCHIVES

The archives of the Metropolitan Council of Lima are kept in the cathedral. This is the set of documents produced by this body of capitulars, consisting of the papers from its various institutional functions, which initiated September 17, 1543, with the Act of Construction of the Cathedral of Lima. According to this act, the bishop Jerónimo de Loayza chose the members of his council without the presentation of the king and with the authorization of Pope Paulo III.

Nevertheless, the oldest reference to the capitular archives is dated May 18, 1571, when the members of the council read a royal decree and charged the secretary Hernando de Ribera to keep the decree in the church's archives.

In the same documents one sees the need the capitulars had to maintain the archive in order and catalog it with indices so that the documents would always be available for use by the capitulars. One of the most important milestones in this effort was at the end of the 16th century, when the chapter secretary Francisco Núñez Sedano made an inventory of the various documents and stored it in the Chest of Three Keys.

Likewise, the statutes of May 7, 1593 state that the secretary must keep the book of chapter matters as well as the registry of accounts. In the 17th century, the need to do a new inventory was seen. This work was taken on by several capitulars. The earthquake of 1687 did not stop the labor of the capitulars, who busied themselves recovering lost documents. Later, in the 18th century, painstaking care had to be given to the archives in situations such as the conflicts between the capitulars and the archbishop of Lima, Pedro Antonio de Barroeta y Angel.

The 19th century was fundamental for the current structure of the archives. Several canons stand out. José Manual Bermúdez bound documents, recorded the chapter members of the time, and made annotations which facilitated the reading of the volumes. Carlos Orbea did a new inventory that covered from the aspects of the institution's matters to other very specific points, such as those referring to the music. Pablo Ortiz reordered the archive, reuniting the documents in volumes and elaborating an inventory that facilitated consultations and avoided disorder in the archives.

At the end of the century, the chapter secretary Carlos García Irigoyen once again arranged the archives and bound papers. He then invited the historian José Toribio Polo to order and catalog the archives. With this help, José Toribio Polo created the foundation of the chapter archives' organization based on the foundation provided by José Manuel Bermúdez and Pablo Ortiz's work.

Today, the care of the Metropolitan Lima Chapter Archives is under Mons. Ricardo Wiesse Thorndike, archivist and chapter treasurer. He is responsible for the cataloging work and care of the archives along with Lothar Busse Cárdenas, Fernando López Sánchez and Álvaro Sialer Cuevas, historians from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

ARCHIVE BACKGROUND

The organization of the Metropolitan Lima Chapter Archives can be considered along two axes. First there is a group of loose volumes, each about different subjects. Then, there are documents, some bound and some in files, which form part of different series arranged according to subject.

The richness of the documentation is that not only does it provide documents about the history of the Metropolitan Chapter and the church as an institution, but it also provides information about economic activity, political officials and leaders, architects, artists, musicians, the indigenous reality, and many other subjects due to the variety of problems and matters in which the institution was involved.

Because of this, the archives' usefulness calls to historians as well as linguists, men of letters, anthropologists, students of art and music, and all those who know how to see the archives with creativity. For these people, the archives are a mine of investigative material.

The archives are currently being cataloged, but today consists of four parts.

First: composed of 15 series
Second: composed of 16 independent volumes
Third: composed of 36 pontifical letters
Fourth: composed of 42 choral books.

The series are the following:

1. Series A: Chapter Agreements (40 volumes)
2. Series B: Royal Documents, Correspondence (18 volumes)
3. Series C: Files and Folders, Various Papers and Folders (10 folders)
4. Series D: Various Papers, Various Books, Folders, Printed Matter, Quadrant Papers (60 folders)
5. Series E: Account Documents (1 volume)
6. Series F: Factory Account Books (73 volumes)
7. Series G: Accounts Folders (51 folders)
8. Series H: Payrolls (7 volumes)
9. Series I: Chaplaincy, Pious Works, Good Memories, Account Reports, Various Papers (27 volumes)
10. Series J: Budget, Budgeted Incomes, Incomes and Gratuities (20 volumes)
11. Series K: House of Santa Rosa's Practices (55 volumes)
12. Series L: Three Key Chest, Inventories, Various Accounts (29 volumes)
13. Series M: Consecutive Documents between the Chapter and Providers, Statue Book, Judicial Demonstrations (3 volumes)
14. Series N: Copying Book (4 volumes)
15. Series Ñ: Agreement Index, Resolutions of the V.C.M., Index Book (3 volumes)

OPERATING RULES

1) The archives are open to the public Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

2) All researchers who would like to consult the archives must fulfill the following prerequisites:

a) Present a letter to the archivist of the Metropolitan Lima Chapter specifying the subject to be investigated and the institution to which he or she belongs. Students must present a letter from their educational institute.
b) Pay a fee for the right to research: S/.5 for students and S/.10 for professionals. The right to research will be valid for one year. After this one year, the researcher must pay the fee again.

3) Upon entering the archives, the user must leave his belongings in the place designated by the attendant. Only the use of loose sheets, notebooks, pencils, and portable computers is allowed.

4) The user must keep in mind the following rules for the preservation of the documents:

a) Do not support yourself on the documents.
b) Do not underline nor write on the documents.
c) Do not change the order of documents in the dossiers and volumes.

5) The user shall solicit the documents required using a ticket. The ticket must contain the following information: name and surname, the volume code, the research subject and the date of the consultation. After filling in the ticket, the user must hand it in to the attendant with his identity document. The identity document will be returned at the end of the consultation.

6) The archive does not provide photocopying services. If the user wants to photograph a document, he must pay S/.10 for each photograph.

7) If the researcher publishes a paper, it should include credits to the Metropolitan Lima Chapter Archives. The author must also provide a copy of the publication to the archives.

Questions
Telephone: 426-7056
E-mail: acml@viabcp.com, flopez@perucultural.org.pe