The Department of Spanish and Portuguese of the University of Wisconsin has at present a student enrollment of over two thousand and a faculty numbering fifty-six. Its phenomenal growth has been due, in no small part, to the dynamic leadership and organizational ability of one of its former chairmen-Sr. Joaquin Ortega, now director of the Institute of Inter-American Relations at the University of New Mexico. It was through Sr. Ortega's influence that the late Antonio G. Solalinde was brought to Wisconsin to establish the Seminary of Medieval Spanish Studies. This Seminary is housed in a separate building off the campus. It is provided with special photographic equipment for the reproduction of rare books and manuscripts, literature and general linguistics, a fairly complete reference library of books on medieval and philological subjects, and a large collection of photostats and films. Solalinde's work on the General Estoria brought him world fame and attracted to this field of study at Wisconsin many eminent scholars. In the time allotted for this paper I have decided to limit myself to a discussion of