La caricatura política mexicana del siglo XIX como fuente documental. Una aproximación desde La Orquesta (1861)

All research work must use the review of documentary sources, since these serve to approach the subject of study, especially when they are related to a historical period prior to the date during which the research is being carried out. Students of the history of Mexico in the 19th century can appreciate the richness represented by the documentary heritage kept by the National Newspaper Archive of Mexico (HNM). Many works have drawn from their heritage: books, articles or essays published in magazines, exhibitions, courses, theses, databases. These documentary sources deserve special attention for the revelation in their illustrated pages of the interests of the elites and the recomposition of political groups in different political scenarios throughout the 19th century. The nineteenth-century satirical press was established as an instrument to question the actions of the government in power. The drawings on the pages of the weekly newspapers with their images and texts were a discursive and political communication resource. For this reason, the pages of these sources are invaded by caricatures that represent a wide catalog of the anatomy of society, a repertoire of attitudes and ideals. The presence of political caricature as a resource in journalistic activity managed to acquire its own character in the framework of Mexican public life, in such a way that it soon became an instrument in partisan struggles for power.