THE MILITARY ARCHIVES is located at the San Juan National Historic Site. The 75-acre park site is composed of Fort El Morro and Fort San Cristóbal, the two largest Spanish colonial forts under US jurisdiction and among the five largest fortifications in the Western Hemisphere; Fort El Cañuelo, a smaller detached fort on the West side of San Juan Bay; the city walls and bastions that surround Old San Juan; the open glacis of El Morro, the "Esplanade", and the San Cristóbal outworks. This historic fortification system was build to protect the San Juan Bay and surround the nearly 500-years-old city. In 1984 the Park was designated a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO for its outstanding historic significance. The Military Archives was established to support the Interpretative Mission of the Park and to serve as an international information center on Caribbean Spanish colonial military history, based on primary source materials gathered from all the world. Our collection is composed of approximately 5,000 maps and plans, 10,000 historical photographs, 2,000 reference books, 200 accessioned rare documents, 1,000 miscellaneous graphic materials, 100 microfilms of over 10,000 volumes of primary source documents related to Spanish colonial military history of Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and Latin America as well as information pertaining to the Spanish Colonial Parks of the National Park System. Our collection was acquired from archives in England, France, Holland, Spain, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela, and Washington D.C. As the size and importance of the collection grows the Military Archives is becoming a major international facility for the study of Spanish colonial military history in the New World benefiting Latin America and the Caribbean in general, as well as all unit of the National Park Services participating in the celebration of the Quincentennial. Research Hours: Monday to Thursday - 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. By appointment only: 729-6653, 729-6777 The documents in the specialized collection on the military history of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean under Spanish domination, as well as the history of the establishment of the Fort Brooke military base in San Juan after the American occupation of Puerto Rico in 1898, make the Archives the only facility of its kind on the island. Its collection covers the period of history from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, from the Spanish settlement of the Island of San Juan Bautista, to the present management of the fortification system of San Juan by the United States National Park Services. The collection includes the following sections: Maps and Plans Photographs Documents Microfilms Rare Books Military Records Library Audiovisual Periodicals Miscellaneous   Back To Top