Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia (BNAH)

Overview

The Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia (BNAH), officially named the "Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia Dr. Eusebio Dávalos Hurtado," is the national specialized library of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) of Mexico. Located on the first floor of the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City's Bosque de Chapultepec, it is considered the most comprehensive library in Latin America in the fields of history, anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, ethnohistory, and related disciplines.

History and Founding

The library's origins trace to 1825, when President Guadalupe Victoria founded the Museo Nacional de México, reserving space for a collection of manuscripts and printed works. In 1865, Emperor Maximilian de Habsburgo reorganized the museum's holdings into three departments, one of which was a formal library. The library was formally inaugurated on December 22, 1888, under Porfirio Díaz, with the historian Francisco del Paso y Troncoso presiding. From 1939, with the creation of the INAH, the library became the institute's central library. It moved to the current Museo Nacional de Antropología building in 1964 and received its current name honoring Dr. Eusebio Dávalos Hurtado (1909–1968), a physical anthropologist and INAH director who promoted national cultural identity. In 2003, the BNAH was declared a "Patrimonio Cultural de la Nación" (National Cultural Heritage). A digitization laboratory was installed in 2021.

Collections and Holdings

The BNAH holds a general collection of approximately 500,000 volumes, maintained in continuous growth, plus a Fondo Reservado (rare books room) with European incunabula and thousands of books printed from the 16th century through the first half of the 20th century. The Fondo Conventual houses over 28,000 titles from colonial convents and schools. A Hemeroteca Histórica holds more than 6,000 periodical titles and 250,000 issues of national and international journals and newspapers. The library's Colección de Códices Mexicanos is the most important collection of Mesoamerican and colonial codices in Mexico, comprising 105 originals and 89 copies, including the Codice Boturini (Tira de la Peregrinación) and the Codex Badianus. The Archivo Histórico comprises 58 documentary collections including the Fondo Franciscano, the Colección Antigua, and records from the Inquisición de México and the Compañía de Jesús. An oral history program holds 836 interviews and ethnomusicological field recordings.

Access and Usage

The BNAH is open Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 9:00pm, with free entry. It serves researchers, academics, and university students specializing in anthropological and historical sciences. Its closed-stack system requires in-person catalog requests. A digitization laboratory launched in 2021 is expanding online access to the collection.