Mexican Documents Collection

The collection contains photographs and documents pertaining to Mexico, and includes maps and brochures that promote tourism in Mexico from Barbachano's Travel Service, Dirección General de Turismo, Yucatan Trails Travel Agency, Mexicana Airlines, Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), National Railways of Mexico, American Airlines System, various hotels in Mexico, Illinois Central Railway, Simpsons Tours, and United Air Lines. The majority of the brochures are from PEMEX. The collection also contains photographs.

Barbachano's Travel Service was established by Fernando Barbachano Peón as Mayaland Tours in the 1920s. The agency changed its name to Barbachano’s Travel Service in the 1940s to promote tourism in southeastern Mexico. Fernando Barbachano was one of the first people to start the Yucatan tourism business in the early twentieth century. In 1944, he bought Hacienda Chichén with the Chichén Itzá archaeological site. Fernando Barbachano was also the owner of Mayaland Hotel, Mérida Hotel, Hacienda Chichén, and Hacienda Uxmal. Barbachano’s Travel Agency is one of the oldest tourism agencies in Mexico.

The Dirección General de Turismo was created in 1949 with the First Federal Law of Tourism (Ley Federal de Turismo), which stated that the Ministry of the Interior would study and solve tourism problems in Mexico through the Dirección General de Turismo. At that time, the Ministry of the Interior was in charge of tourism policies. The Dirección General de Turismo was located in Mexico City at Avenida Juárez 89 and had offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Antonio, and New York.

Yucatan Trails Travel Agency was the second travel agency created in Yucatán. It was founded in 1947 by Felipe Escalante Marín in Mérida. During the 1960s he opened Cunanchén hotel located in Chichén Itzá with his brother Manuel Escalante Marín. Yucatan Trails Travel Agency was a member of the American Society of Travel Association, Inc. (ASTA).

Mexicana Airlines was established in 1921 in Mexico City as Compañía Mexicana de Transportación Aérea. Mexicana Airlines was the first airline to receive the Mexican government permission to fly an air route from Mexico City to Tampico. In 1924 the airline’s new owners changed its name to Compañía Mexicana de Aviación (CMA) and mainly transported people and mail. In 1929, Mexicana Airlines' stocks were sold to Pan American Airways in the United States, and the company began operating international routes. From 1969 to 2010, due to competition from other airlines, the economic recession, and the H1N1 outbreak in 2009, the company suffered financial problems. Mexicana Airlines filed for bankruptcy in August 2010 and suspended all of its flights.

National Railways of Mexico (Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México) was founded in February 1908 by a government decree and merged the two biggest railroad companies of the country: Ferrocarril Central and Ferrocarril Nacional. National Railways of Mexico, was one of the most important railways systems in Mexico, extending from the United States border to the Guatemala frontier, and between principal ports on the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is a Mexican state-owned oil company that operates throughout Mexico. It was founded in July 1938 by President Lázaro Cárdenas by a Decree of the Congress of the Union. It was created for the exploration, exploitation, refining, and commercialization of oil, and its derivatives. PEMEX was the only company that could exploit and manage the oil deposits found in Mexican territory. Currently, PEMEX is one of the largest oil and gas companies in Latin America.