Scope and Content Note
The papers of William Robert Shepherd (1871-1934), largely in Spanish, are organized into three parts: personal papers; notes for his Guide to the Materials for the History of the United States in Spanish Archives (1907); and transcriptions of documents in Spanish archives. The personal papers, 1912-1931, contain little correspondence with the bulk made up of notes and drafts of articles and speeches. There are newspaper clippings of articles and speeches by Shepherd in Spanish and English as well as articles about him. The subject of the articles and speeches is primarily Latin American affairs.
The bulk of the collection relates to Shepherd’s activities in Spain while collecting data for his Guide to the Materials for the History of the United States in Spanish Archives. Included are notes for the guide and copies of documents in the archives. The material contained in the notes and the transcriptions was collected from the Archivo General de Indias, Seville, Spain; Archivo General de Simancas, Simancas, Spain; and Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid, Spain. Archives, and the General Archives of the Indies.
Most of the copied materials pertain to the continental United States with a great deal of correspondence by such figures as William Augustus Bowles and James Wilkinson along with such Spanish officials as José Moňino y Redondo Floridablanca, Bernardo de Gálvez, and Esteban Rodríguez Miró.
Much of the same material was later photocopied for the Library of Congress. The collection includes more specific references than are included in the published guide, but the guide is also useful as a reference.