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Magnes acquires rare documents
The Judah L. Magnes Museum, located at 2911 Russell St., recently acquired a significant collection of original Spanish Inquisition documents.
The documents, which are over 1,000 manuscript pages, date from 1672 to 1739.
Some of the glimpses of lives affected by history in the documents include Three Jews captured on a Moorish corsair are investigated as conversos, A 15-year-old girl is convicted of “Judaizing,” April 24, 1678, and A teenage “relapsed” converso is “relaxed” to civil authorities for punishment.
The Magnes acquired this collection with the help of Thomas F. Schwartz and through the support of the Walter and Elise Haas Foundation and of Magnes trustees Dr. Marvin Weinreb and Harry Blumenthal and Magnes Director Emeritus Seymour Fromer.
Once the 16 packets of archival manuscript records are fully catalogued, they will be housed in the Magnes Museum’s Harry and Dorothy Blumenthal Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
