Documentary collection of the first printed works in the Americas. Given its great cultural value, this collection is included in the Regional Register of the Memory of the World, awarded by UNESCO, in conjunction with the National Library of Mexico. Tecnológico de Monterrey is the institution with the greatest number of volumes of a collection of this nature in the world.

Location: Campus Monterrey

Contact: coleccionesespeciales.mty@servicios.itesm.mx
(+52) 81 8358-2000, ext. 4066

Image: Alonso de Molina, Aquí comienza un vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana, 1555. G.R.G.  Conway Fund. "Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra" Special Collections Library. Memory of the World Register of Latin America and the Caribbean, UNESCO, 2002. Cultural Heritage of Tecnológico de Monterrey©

Photographic archive with the work of Mario Pani Darqui (Mexico, 1911-1993), one of the most important Mexican architects of the 20th century. Mario Pani was an ardent promotor of functionalism and international style in his works, as well as of Le Corbusier’s ideas in Mexico. His legacy encompasses 136 projects in which he approached all typologies: housing, schools, public buildings, hospitals, offices, hotels, offices, commercial buildings, airports, town plans. This collection is included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register - Mexico.

Contact: coleccionesespeciales.mty@servicios.itesm.mx
(+52) 81 8358-2000, ext. 4074

Link to Institutional Repository

Image: Guillermo Zamora, Ministry of Water Resources and Office Building: Av. Reforma and Lafragua, 1946. Mario Pani Darqui Personal Archive. "Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra" Special Collections Library. Memory of the World Registry of Mexico, UNESCO, 2015. Cultural Heritage of Tecnológico de Monterrey©

A set of rare books created during the infancy of the printing press. It contains seven printed works from between 1476 and 1500, which belong to the Ugarte, Conway, Robredo and Bernal Funds.

Contact: coleccionesespeciales.mty@servicios.itesm.mx
(+52) 81 8358-2000, ext. 3507

Image: Christopher Columbus, De Insulis nuper in Mari Indico repertis (Second letter from Columbus), 1494. Salvador Ugarte Fund. "Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra" Special Collections Library. Cultural Heritage of Tecnológico de Monterrey©

Collection of 32 original documents written in a diversity of Mexican languages between 1535 and 1821: Chinantec, Nahuatl, Kickapoo , Papantla Totonac, Otomi, Coahuiltecan, Pajalate, Tarasco, Cahita, Zoque, Opata, Tzotzil, Zapotec, Matlatzinga, and one in Otomi-Nahuatl.

Contact: coleccionesespeciales.mty@servicios.itesm.mx
(+52) 81 8358-2000, ext. 4066

Image: Author unknown, Prayer book in Zoque, 17th century. Salvador Ugarte Fund. "Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra" Special Collections Library. Cultural Heritage of Tecnológico de Monterrey©

Set of photographs that portray family, social, cultural and political life in Monterrey and Mexican society from the 19th to the mid-20th century. The Tecnológico de Monterrey Photographic Library houses photographs donated to the Institution since 1953, with approximately 51,500 individual pictures, including, positives, negatives, glass plate negatives and slides from the 19th century on. The most outstanding topics are family, social, cultural, religious, industrial and political life in Monterrey and Mexican society from the end of the 19th century through the mid-20th century.

Contact: coleccionesespeciales.mty@servicios.itesm.mx
(+52) 81 8358-2000, ext. 4074

Link to Institutional Repository

Image: Jesús R. Sandoval, Obrero, 1925. Sandoval-Lagrange Fund. Photolibrary of Tecnológico de Monterrey. "Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra" Special Collections Library. Cultural Heritage of Tecnológico de Monterrey©

Archive of architectural plans by Gustavo Aguilar Beltrán, renowned architect from Hermosillo, Sonora. The collection covers housing, stores, offices, gas stations, town planning works. The plans date from 1940 to 1980.

Location: Campus Sonora Norte

Contact: patrimonio_documental@servicios.itesm.mx

Image: Gustavo Aguilar Beltrán (with the collaboration of the drawing by Héctor Rivas Bringas), Draft of the Hotel Laval Cafeteria,   s/f. Gustavo Aguilar Beltrán Archive. Cultural Heritage of the Tecnológico de Monterrey.©

This is one of the principal archives in Zacatecas and houses documents related to taxes, mining and the economic activities of the viceroyalty (mainly 17th and 18th centuries). For decades, this collection was kept in the Clements Library at the University of Michigan and came back to Zacatecas in 1993.

Location: Campus Zacatecas

Contact: patrimonio_documental@servicios.itesm.mx

Image: 2nd Zacatecas Lancers Corps, 1863. Historical Archive Fund of Real Caja de Zacatecas 1576-1936. Collection of the Society of Friends of Zacatecas, A.C. on loan to Tecnológico de Monterrey©. Memory of the World Registry of Mexico, UNESCO, 2021. Cultural Heritage of Tecnológico de Monterrey©

Most of the three-dimensional pieces are abstracts, belonging to art period in Mexico in which particular importance was placed on public spaces. There are monumental works by Jesús Mayagoitia, Sebastián, Salvador Manzano, Yvonne Domenge. The medium-sized pieces are a creation from Irma Palacios, Kyoto Ota, Juan Soriano, Josefina Temín, Ernesto Álvarez, Jorge Yazpik, Gabriel Macotela, among others. In addition, each campus’s collection often includes a sculpture of the emblem that identifies the Tec team, Borregos, usually created by Miguel Peraza and Jesús Moreno, among other artists. A total of 231 sculptures represent one of the most abundant groups of art pieces in Tecnológico de Monterrey’s art heritage.

Image: Jesús Mayagoitia, Cuatro torres, 1991. Painted steel, 45 x 50 x 35 cm. Campus Estado de México. Cultural Heritage of Tecnológico de Monterrey©

The collection includes almost 300 graphic art pieces, mostly lithographs, serigraphs, xylographs, monotypes and drypoint.

The artists whose works and careers have earned them a place in Mexico’s history of art and who are present at Tecnológico include José Guadalupe Posada, Rufino Tamayo, José Luis Cuevas, Vicente Rojo, Manuel Felguérez, Alfredo Zalce, Leonora Carrington, Carlos Mérida, Alberto Gironella, Jan Hendrix, Carmen Parra, José Castro Leñero, Boris Viskin, Santiago Rebolledo, Luis Nishizawa, Pablo O’Higgins, Vlady, among others.

Image: José Luis Cuevas, La carta, s/f. Lithography, 70 x 90 cm. Campus Estado de México. D.R© José Luis Cuevas/SOMAAP/México/2023. Cultural Heritage of Tecnológico de Monterrey©

The 100 works on paper represent an assorted group of artists, such as Arnold Belkin, Boris Viskin, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jorge González Camarena, José Chávez Morado, José Luis Cuevas, Carla Rippey, Fernando Leal Audirac, Flor Minor, among others. Several of these pieces are drafts for murals, as is the case of the drawings of the model that appeared in several of Camarena’s murals. A particularly interesting work, given its dimensions and quality,is Coatlicue by Arnold Belkin, a drawing in wax crayons and colored pencils.

Image: David Alfaro Siqueiros, Movimiento, s/f. Lyrical drawing made with acrylic paint on paper. Campus Estado de México. D.R.© David Alfaro Siqueiros/SOMAAP/México/2023. Cultural Heritage of Tecnológico de Monterrey© 

This group of objects contains some examples of Mexico’s creative traditions, such as feather art, papel picado (tissue paper with cut-out shapes), and textiles. Of particular note is the work by popular artist Aurelio Franco, who has devoted his work to promoting the feather art technique used profusely by pre-Hispanic cultures and, inspired by the ancient codices, has created works that are rich in colors, textures and history.

Image: Aurelio Franco, Chimalli, n.d., Mosaic of natural feathers on metal, 35 cm diameter, © Tecnológico de Monterrey Cultural Heritage Collection.

Both emerging and established contemporary artists are represented, such as Carlos Orduña, Alejandra Zermeño, Violeta Islas, Miguel Ledesma, Hazael González, Hugo Lugo, Humberto Valdés, Ernesto Walker, Natalia Rodríguez, César Polack Ugarte, among others.

Image: Arnold Belkin, Two summits of America, n.d. Serigraphy, s/n, 34 x 91.5 cm. D.R.© Arnold Belkin/SOMAAP/México/2023. Cultural Heritage of Tecnológico de Monterrey.©