A 16th century manuscript hand-written by Luis de Carvajal the Youngerdocuments the arrival of Jews on the New World-first stolen then found in anauction house 80 years later-then being returned to the Mexican NationalArchives. De Carvajal was a secret Jew, burned at the stake by theInquisition in Mexico, then a colony of Spain. His manuscript had resided inthe Mexican National Archives until it was stolen. Eighty years later itwas up for auction in London and sold for $1,500. Last year it appeared forresale and priced 50 times more than what it sold for in London-but it was astolen artifact. A benefactor of Judaica, financed the purchase, and inMarch the manuscript will be returned to the Mexican National Archives.Until March 12 it will be on display at the New York Historical Society partof its exhibit of the first Jews in North and South America, The FirstJewish Americans: Freedom and Culture in the New World. The exhibit followsthe forced expulsion of people from Europe and their Latin American homes toarrival in Nieuw Amsterdam in 1654 to the freedoms they gained in the UnitedStates. For more information on the exhibit see: http://tinyurl.com/ho6h5rrOriginal url:http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/first-jewish-americans-freedom-and-culture-new-worldTo read more about the De Carvajal manuscript and about Carvajal himself,his imprisonment, autobiography and being burned at the stake at age 30 forbeing Jewish see:http://tinyurl.com/j32rkezOriginal url:http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/01/arts/a-secret-jew-the-new-world-a-lost-book-mystery-solved.html