This page explains the sources of information in the database for 1843, 1844, 1845, and 1857. It also includes a short description of 1850-1854 data which is not currently incorporated, but can be downloaded in an excel file.
1843
Data from 1843 emerges from Lucas Alamán’s Documents diversos (inéditos y muy raros) Vol. 2, a collection of works from Alamán that detail industry and agriculture in Mexico in the early Republic.[1] Copies of this work are held in select libraries in the United States.[2] Lucas Alamán was a Mexican textile factory owner and statesman, who led La dirección general de industria, a governmental organization which oversaw the industrial development of the country. Under the direction of this organization, the data from 1843, 1844, and 1845 was collected. It is not exactly clear how the data was collected, although it probably emerged from government officials or reporting from ownership. Alamán’s volume presents a large amount of data on the textile industry, especially production numbers by region. The following picture shows an example of the 1843 data:
The data has 14 categories listed (as written in document): Nombres de las fabricas, Donde estan siutuadas, Dueños, Husos Establecidos, Idem en errecion (Husos), Total (Husos), Numeros de telerares, Horas que trabajan, raya semenaria, quintales algodon semanarios, precio a que compran el algodon, hilaza de algodon, manta idem. Idem., and moto. All prices are listed in dollars (either Spanish or U.S. dollars, the same during this period).
1844 and 1845
The data for 1844 and 1845 also appears in Alamán’s Documentos diversos, but lacks many of the same data categories. Here is an example in the picture below:
The data categories listed are (as written in document): Nombres de las fabricas, Dueños, Dónde están situadas, Husos en accion en 1844, Husos en acicon en 1845, and Husos sin accion en 1845. As compared to the 1843 data, there is a lack of price information and specifics on the operation of the factory.
1857
The 1857 data emerges from Luis Robles Pezuela’s Memorial del ministro de Fomento L. Robles Pezuela: año 1865.[3] Pezuela was the Minister of the Interior for Mexico and the data emerges from a government collection of the development department under the Maximilien regime. The full data can be accessed via Hathi Trust. Unlike the other data organized into tables, this was recorded in a list in a more narrative format and is not structed. It also includes far less data than the 1843 version. A sample of the data is pictured below.
Although not specific in categories, the region, name of factory, type of factory, ownership and number of looms are all present here. The document specifies it includes those factories that met “el decreto de 4 de Augusto de 1857.”
1850-1854
In addition to the 1843, 1844, and 1845 data in this database, very detailed data from 1850-1854 exists that provides valuable information about factories, including factory workers. This data also emerges from the development department and was collected compiled in 1854, in the volume Anales de ministerio del fomente: Industria agrícola, minera, fabril, manufacturera y comercial, y estadística general de la República Mexicana.[4] A sample of the data can be seen below:
The categories for this data include (as written in document): departamentos, nombres de las fábricas, puntos en que están situadas, sus duénos, husos en actividad, en ereccion (husos), teleraes de poder, id. de. Mano (husos), quintales de algodon que consuman anualmente, libras de hilaza que producen anualmente, piezas de manta que producen anualmente, costo del algodon puesto en la fábrica, precio á que venden en ella las hilazas (lib.), precio de tejidos (pieza), númro de empleados y operativos que tiene, valor de los sueldos y rayas anualmentes, costo total del edificio y maquiniaria, exsistencias, potencia, and fecha que dieron las noticias. This data is potentially far more useful for analyzing working conditions and the technology utilized in the factory than that from 1843-1845 of 1850-1854. However, as it is reported annually it does correspond with the data from other years. Weeks and years cannot be so easily extrapolated to each other, since workers in Mexico worked fairly inconsistently and festivals often interrupted regular work. For this reason, I have put this data in an excel sheet.
[1] Lucas Alamán. Documentos diversos: (inéditos y muy raros), Volume 2. Editorial Jus, 1945.
[2] I acquired this through Interlibrary Loan.
[3] Robles Pezuela, Luis. Memorial del ministro de Fomento L. Robles Pezuela : Año 1865. México : Andrade, 1866.
[4] Anales del Ministerio de Foment: industria agrícola, minera, fabril, manufacturera y comercial, y estadística general de la República Mexicana. Impr. de F. Escalante y Comp. (México); I accessed this data via Sabin Americana.
