Tomás Herrán Papers
Collection
Identifier: GTM-000005
The Tomas Herran papers contain correspondence, cables, letter books, and related material dealing primarily with Colombian-U.S. relations in the period leading up to and just after the negotiation of the Hay-Herran Treaty (1903). The documents also concern Herran's duties as minister to the United States. Printed material deals largely with the Panama Canal and the Hay-Herran Treaty. Note: Click on "External Documents" below for a link to the finding aid for the collection.
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Tomas Herran (1843-1904) was a Colombian diplomat and educator. He was born on September 21, 1843 in Bogota, Colombia. Herran received a B.A. (1863), an M.A. (1868), and a LL.D. (1900) from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Both his father and grandfather were diplomats. In 1871, he founded the School of Mechanical Arts in Medellin. In that same year, he married Laura Echeverri Villa. Herran served as Consul in Hamburg, Germany beginning in 1892. In 1900, he became secretary of the Colombian embassy in Washington, D.C. On January 22, 1903, Herran signed, together with U.S. Secretary of State John M. Hay, the Hay-Herran Treaty which--if ratified--would have given the U.S. a lease in perpetuity on a six-mile wide strip of land across the Isthmus of Panama (at that time belonging to Colombia). The Colombian government did not ratify the treaty.
[Source: "Tomas Herran Mosuqera," "Encyclopedia Banrepcultural" online.; also: Georgetown University Student Files.]
2.5 Linear Feet (5 boxes)
English
Gift of Laura E. Herran, 1910
Part of the Georgetown University Manuscripts Repository