Scope and Content Note
The papers of José Ignacio Rodríguez (1831-1907) span the years 1860-1907 and consist of correspondence, legal papers, notes, drafts, and other literary papers, newspaper clippings, and miscellany. The papers are in Spanish and English. The papers are organized into the following series: Correspondence , American Spanish Claims Commissions , United States and Venezuelan Claims Commission , Claims Against the Dominican Republic , Costa Rica and the United States Joint Commission , American-French Claims Commission , Claims Against the Military Government of Cuba , Bureau of American Republics , Legal Cases and Clients , Puerto Rico , Writings , Personal , Newspaper Clippings , and Other Papers .
The collection contains Rodríguez's legal papers and correspondence mostly concerning claims against the governments of Cuba and the Dominican Republic and cases involving individuals and governments before claims commissions. They include the Spanish and American Claims Commission, the French and American Claims Commission, the Joint Commission of Costa Rica and the United States, the United States and Mexican Claims Commission, and the Bureau of the American Republics. Case files in the American-Spanish Claims Commission treat Cuban political figures such as Néstor Ponce de León and Julio Sanguily and cases involving confiscation by Latin American governments of property of wealthy individuals such as Cuban immigrant Antonio Maximo Mora.
Other files pertain to individual litigations stemming from the legations of Chile, Colombia, Salvador, and Uruguay. Also in the collection are papers of the Legation of Salvador relating to the establishment of a legation in Washington, D.C. (1894), and to the extradition of Salvadorean refugees (1894-1895). The Other Papers series includes the papers of José Manuel Mestre (circa 1860-1870), the archives of the Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País, Cuba (1853-1869), and material relating to the Cuban Junta of New York (1868-1870).