CALAFIA (California Cooperative Latin American Collection Development Group)

The Cooperative Latin American Collection Development Group, better known as Calafia, is a consortium of libraries in California, Oregon, and Washington. Libraries from Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and/or Montana may also join. Calafia currently enjoys the support and strength of the libraries at Stanford University, the California State University and the University of California Systems, the University of Oregon, the University of Southern California, and the University of Washington. The combined Latin American holdings of the Calafia group number more than one million volumes and are surpassed only by the Library of Congress’ Latin American Studies Collection.

History About Calafia & The Mythical Queen of California

Calafia takes its name from the Fifteenth Century “libro de caballería” of Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, Las Sergas de Esplandían. Rodríguez de Montalvo wends his chivalric warriors through lands of adventure and the unknown. Some of his tales captivated the hearts of his contemporary audience to such a degree that the boundaries of myth and reality were often confused. Such is the case with Calafia, Queen of the island California.

Now I wish you to know about the strangest thing ever found anywhere in written texts or in human memory. […] I tell you that on the right-hand side of the Indies there was an island called California, which was very close to the region of the Earthly Paradise. This island was inhabited by black women, and there were no males among them at all, for their life style was similar to that of the Amazons. The island was made up of the wildest cliffs and the sharpest precipices found anywhere in the world. These women had energetic bodies and courageous, ardent hearts, and they were very strong. Their armor was made entirely out of gold—which was the only metal found on the island—as were the trappings on the fierce beasts that they rode once they were tamed. They lived in very well-designed caves. They had many ships they used to sail forth on their raiding expeditions and in which they carried away the men they seized and whom they killed in a way about which you will soon hear. On occasion, they kept the peace with their male opponents, and the females and the males mixed with each other with complete safety, and they had carnal relations, from which unions it follows that many of the women became pregnant. If they bore a female, they kept her, but if they bore a male, he was immediately killed. The reason for this, inasmuch as it is known, is that, according to their thinking, they were set on reducing the number of males to so small a group that the Amazons could easily rule over them and all their lands; therefore, they kept only those few men whom they realized they needed for their race not to die out.
 

*Text taken from The Labors of the Very Brave Knight Esplandían, by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, translated by William Thomas Little.

Member & Observing Institutions

California State Library – Sutro Library
California State University, Fullerton
California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Northridge
The Claremont Colleges Library
The Huntington Library
Saddleback College
San Diego State University
Stanford University
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Davis
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Merced
University of California, Riverside
University of California, San Diego
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Cruz
University of Oregon
University of San Diego
University of Southern California
University of Washington

Contact Information

Co-chair (2024-2026)
Ashley Larson
Special Collections Public Services Librarian
The Claremont Colleges Library
ashley.larson@claremont.edu

Co-chair (2023-2025)
Erika Quintana
Collection Strategist Librarian for Area Studies
University of California, Riverside
erika.quintana@ucr.edu

For CALAFIA website related changes, please contact ashley.larson@claremont.edu.