Government buys historic Minorcan documents from US consul agent

The Balearic council for Culture has reached an agreement to acquire, for 3.5 million pesetas, a part of the collection of historic documents belonging to the United States consul agent in Minorca, James Maps. The collection covers a period of the history of Minorca from the 18th century until the 19th century, and includes decrees by Richard Kane, letters of the sindicates of the General University, records of trials by the British court against the governor, Philip Anstruther, and manuscripts by the historian Joan Ramis i Ramis. The documents acquired have been incorporated into the historic archives of the Public Library of Maó, confirmed the director general for Culture of the Balearic government, Pere Munoz. This library is controlled jointly by the government, the insular council and the ministry for Culture. Negotiations for the acquisition of Maps' collection have been handled by the council for Culture. The collection was valued at 3.9 million pesetas, however, Maps quoted a value of 5.5 million pesetas and after negotiations, the council for Culture opted to buy only three of the lots of documents, at a cost of a little more than three million pesetas.