News & Updates

• Smith College’s “Teatro Antiguo Español” Collection Is Now Digitized and Accessible

  
  Date

  January 29, 2025
  Category

  Updates

  With the exception of one play, Smith College’s Spanish plays in the Mortimer Rare Book Collection are digitized and accessible through the Compass Digital Repository.

  Description of the Collection:
  The Teatro Antiguo Español collection consists of 900 plays (or sueltas) dating from 1732 to 1867. It primarily includes Comedias nuevas and Comedias famosas, as well as a significant number of sainetes, one- or two-act plays, piezas, bailes, autos, escenas unipersonales, entremeses, and soliloquios.

  Source: Arizpe, Víctor. The “Teatro antiguo español” collection at Smith College Library: A Descriptive Catalogue (Kassel: Reichenberger, 1996)

  Many thanks to Metadata & Technical Services Archivist Michelle Paquette for her role in making the digitization of these plays possible.

  So far, the completely digitized Smith College and University of North Carolina collections represent an invaluable asset to the study of Spanish literature and will support Hispanists across the field.

  Other institutions are working towards digitizing their early and unique items to enhance the digital collection, making it an even more valuable research resource.

  
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