Hispanic Heritage Project · History
History
How a 1998 effort to put Spanish-language history on the shelves of a public library in Escondido, California, became the public archive at panes.info.
The idea to help the Hispanic community become more aware of its cultural and ancestral history began in 1998 with the birth of a Hispanic History project to purchase Hispanic history and genealogy books for the Escondido Public Library.
It was not long before the Project became aware that a colonial archive in Mexico needed help, which evolved into the development of this website, panes.info.
Hispanic colonial documents represent the largest source of history in the western hemisphere. Their importance cannot be overstated. The vast majority of those records are not easily accessible. panes.info is addressing that problem.
The name is an acronym for Portal de Archivos de Nueva España, meaning Gateway to the Archives of New Spain. It is a website that hosts digitised archival documents which, in time, will be searchable.
Without question this work sits among the most unique and consequential historical projects in the western hemisphere.