Archivos y falsarios: producción y circulación de documentos apócrifos en el México borbónico

According to Anthony Grafton, forgers and critics are as inseparable as Laocoon and his serpents. Their eternal struggle to outwit each other has had a decisive influence on the development of various strategies and instruments of critical analysis. Grafton's argument could be easily applied to the battle between archivists and forgers, for it is undeniable that their agonic relationship had an impact on the emergence and use of new strategies of criticism, comparison, and documentary control. This article analyzes the relationship between archivists and forgers in New Spain based on the study of a notorious case of documentary falsification that took place in 1730 in Puebla and Mexico City. By studying the production, and most importantly, the circulation of spurious instruments, the author shows that false documents acquired value at the margins and with the help of mechanisms of authenticity used by the state.