I’ve not checked into the Irish Migration Studies in Latin American site in quite a while, but thanks to a link on Archivalia I see that there is some interesting new stuff.

Besides the archives of their fascinating publication featuring dozens of articles about the Irish in Latin America, the Society for Irish Latin American has now released the digitized diary of Roberto Murphy, which is about life on a sheep estancia in the Buenos Aires province during the years 1887 - 1934.

The diary also includes a number of images of press clippings, old peso notes, and even a stamp such as this one from 1928.

From the Irish Migration Studies site:

Roberto Murphy (1855-1934) was born in Lobos, province of Buenos Aires, the youngest child of Michael Murphy (1807-1864) of County Offaly, and his wife, Elizabeth, née Scully (b.c.1830). Michael Murphy arrived in Argentina in 1829 and worked in sheep-farming in north-west Buenos Aires. In Lobos he owned two estancias (ranches) and 20,000 sheep. During the cholera outbreak of 1868, Roberto Murphy survived his brothers Eduardo (1844-1868) and Patricio (1854-1868), and his sister Isabel Tallon (née Murphy) (1851-1868); all of them died in February of that frightful year in the countryside of Buenos Aires. Roberto Murphy worked in the family estancias, and became a well-known public figure in the area. In 1887 he was appointed justice of the peace in Lobos district, and in 1896 was elected to the provincial parliament for the National Party (though his candidature was later withdrawn as a result of election manoeuvring). In 1895 he married Annie Morgan (1857-1898), daughter of George Morgan and Anne Gaynor, of San Andrés de Giles. They had two children. In 1902 he married Luisa Cunningham (1856-1926), daughter of Joseph Cunningham and Mary Murphy. Roberto Murphy died on 14 July 1934 in Cambaceres, near Ensenada, and was buried in the Recoleta cemetery of Buenos Aires.

For forty-eight years - from 28 February 1887 up to a few days before his death in 1934 - Roberto Murphy maintained a diary. Typically, daily entries include five to ten hand-written lines recording ranch business, family news, visits, local affairs, travel reports and remarks about the weather, market prices, movements of neighbours or political upheavals. Cash accounts close every year, and miscellaneous materials like press clippings or notes are occasionally inserted with some entries. Entries are organised in forty-eight volumes, using the Lett’s Diary N° 45, hard covers, 21 x 13 cm, with daily entries presented on weeks in facing pages. The volumes are in the private collection of the Murphy family of Buenos Aires.

Take a look and be sure to browse through the back issues of Irish Migration Studies in Latin America for some good reads.

I came across a posting about riding the bus as one of the things that tourists don’t do in Buenos Aires. I suspect that’s true for the most part. I highly recommend that visitors give the buses a chance.

But as everyone knows figuring out which bus to take is very confusing, but this post does a pretty good, illustrated job of explaining how to ride the bus in Buenos Aires.

The annual Buenos Aires book fair opens its doors to the public today and runs through May 7. It’s an excellent showcase for Argentine writings though not as much of an international scene as the fair’s sponsors would like to suggest. The main English language writer at the fair is Scott Turow, author of legal thrillers.

Contrast that to the upcoming Parati Literary Festival in Brazil where the headliner is Nobel prize winner J.M. Coetzee (one of my favorites) and an author whose works are readily available in Spanish here in Buenos Aires.

Though to be fair to the Buenos Aires book fair, the Parati festival is a very different kind of event. And there are a number of Chilean and Paraquayan writers who will be presenting at the Buenos Aires book fair, an opportunity that these writers are unlikely to find elsewhere.

A good guide to the Buenos Aires book fair comes as a supplement to today’s (Thursday) Clarín.

Even without going to any of the book signings or lectures, the book fair is a fun way to spend a few hours browsing among all the books and finding something to buy. Oddly, there’s no discount on books at the fair. Again, I have to raise the question as to why books are so expensive in Buenos Aires? The costs of printing in Argentina must be lower than it is in the U.S. but the books in Buenos Aires are as expensive, and often, more expensive than in the U.S.

Well, perhaps Buenos Aires is one of the few places where book publishing is still a good and profitable business to start.

Anyway, be sure to take some time and go to the Buenos Aires book fair, buy a book, and read it.

Reading is fun. All the cool kids are doing it!