Guides: History of the Borderlands: Primary Sources

Special Collections @ University of Texas at El Paso

The C. L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department is located on the sixth floor at the University of Texas at El Paso Library. The book collections include the Chicano Collection, the Judaica Collection, the S. L. A. Marshall Military History Collection, the Southwest and Border Studies Collection, as well as collections of art and rare books. In addition to printed sources, the department has manuscript and archival collections available. There is also an oral history collection documenting the region.

Oral History Collections
The Institute of Oral History was established in 1972 for the purpose of "preserving the history of the region adjacent to the Rio Grande both in the United States and in Mexico." Since that time, the Institute has built one of the largest border-related oral history collections in the United States. Search oral history recordings by keywords.
Photographic Images Collections
Border History Manuscript Collections
A selected list of the approximately 565 manuscript collections held in the Special Collections Department of the University of Texas at El Paso Library.

Primary Sources

Mexican Migration Project
The Mexican Migration Project (MMP) was created in 1982 by an interdisciplinary team of researchers to further our understanding of the complex process of Mexican migration to the United States. The project is a binational research effort co-directed by Jorge Durand, professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Guadalajara (Mexico), and Douglas S. Massey, professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, with a joint appointment in the Woodrow Wilson School, at Princeton University (US).
SMU: Mexico: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints
The DeGolyer Library, SMU holds over 1,000,000 photographs and is especially rich in Western U.S. and Mexican photography. With more than 120 Mexican accessions, the DeGolyer has one of the most comprehensive collections from the period ca. 1865-1935 in the country totaling approximately 16,000 photographs and 3,000 negatives.
Library of Congress Mexican Revolution 1910-1920
“The Mexican Revolution and the United States in the Collections of the Library of Congress” tells the dynamic story of the complex and turbulent relationship between Mexico and the United States during the Mexican Revolution, approximately 1910-1920. The site features extraordinary items from many parts of the Library including letters from U.S. President William Howard Taft (1909-1913), photographs, books, manuscripts, and maps. Other materials covering the U.S. invasion of Veracruz in 1914 and the 1916 U.S. incursion in search of Pancho Villa led by General John J. Pershing, original film footage taken during the fighting, and sheet music and recordings of songs sung at the time in the U.S. and, thanks to Arhoolie Records, the marching songs of both Pancho Villa (“Adelita”) and Venustiano Carranza (“Valentina”).

Historic New York Times This link opens in a new window Historic New York Times Newspaper collection, 1851 to 2010.
Historic Los Angeles Times This link opens in a new window Historic Los Angeles Times Newspaper collection, 1881 to 1990.
Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window Selected full text coverage for 245 newspapers, newswires and other sources.
Latin American Newspapers This link opens in a new window Digital full-text of over 280 newspapers published 1805–1922; titles from more than 20 Latin American countries.
19th Century US Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Early American Newspapers Series 10 This link opens in a new window Provides more than 440 titles from all 50 present states. Included are more than 60 18th-century newspapers, and many more of the earliest 19th-century newspapers.

Chronicling America Selected Articles on Mexican Revolution
The links below provide access to a sampling of articles from historic newspapers that can be found in Chronicling America. You can further explore the topic of the "Mexican Revolution" using the following search strategies:

Use the following terms in combination, proximity, or as a phrase:
Álvaro Obregón, Emiliano Zapata, Francisco Madero, Pancho Villa, Porfirio Diaz, presidency, revolutionists, Venustiano Carranza, Vera Cruz, Victoriano Huerta
It is important to use a specific date range if looking for articles for a particular event in order to narrow your results.

Chicano Movement Oral Histories: View video online histories of Chicano Movement leaders in Washington State.
Chicano Movement Sacramento:Video oral histories of the Chicano Movement in Sacramento.
Tejano Voices: Audio oral histories and transcripts of leaders and activists in Texas interviewed by Jose Angel Gutierrez. Not all the collection is available online but transcripts are available from the University of Arlington Library Special Collections.
Guide to the San José State University Chicano Oral History Collection: A shelflist of oral histories at San Jose State University.
Betita Martinez -Voice of Feminism Oral History Project (PDF Transcript): A text based transcript of an oral history from Betita Martinez.
Mexican American/Chicano Oral Histories: This collection of oral histories includes online interviews on the Chicano Student Movement (in RealAudio format)
Mexican-American Oral History Project: In 1975 the Minnesota Historical Society began a two-year Mexican-American History Project under the direction of Ramedo J. Saucedo to collect oral histories.

List of Supplementary Primary Sources

UA Special Collections - Arizona-Sonora Documents Online: Arizona-Sonora Documents Online provides web access to digital images of archival collections relating to Sonora, Mexico.
UA Special Collections - Arizona, Southwestern, and Borderlands Photograph Collection Online: This collection contains photographs, from various sources, of Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico including places, people, events and activities, and dating from about 1875 to the present.
UA Special Collections - Morales de Escárgera Collection Online: The Morales de Escárcega Collection includes over 2000 books, just under 80 broadsides and manuscripts, as well as some photographs. Included in this digital collection are the manuscripts and broadsides included in the collection dedicated to Mexican history.
UA Special Collections - Raul Castro Papers Online: The Raul H. Castro Papers document his career in public service from his election as a Pima County judge in 1958 through three U.S. ambassadorships (El Salvador 1964-1968, Bolivia 1968-1969, and Argentina 1977-1980) as well as the governorship of Arizona (1974-1977).
UA Special Collections - Borderlands: These collections document the region's culture and history, from colonial period to present, including accounts of Native Americans and their ancestors, the impact of Spanish and Mexican settlement, and the influx of Americans and others into the region during the 19th century.
UA Special Collections - Arizona & Southwest: These collections document the region’s culture and history, including accounts of Native Americans, the impact of Spanish and Mexican settlement, and the influx of other groups into the region from the 19th century onwards.
Arte Público Hispanic Historical Collection: Series 1: Find historical content pertaining to U.S. Hispanic history, literature and culture from colonial times until 1960. The content is in Spanish (80%) and English (20%), and is searchable in both languages. Materials are drawn from the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project.
Mexican Heritage Project: The rich photographic collection of over 4000 images assembled by the Mexican Heritage Project has been accessible to researchers at Arizona Historical Society as individual photos since the mid 1980s.

Homeland Security Digital Library

The nation's premier collection of documents related to homeland security policy, strategy and organizational management. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, FEMA and the Naval Postgraduate School. Excellent coverage of border topics relating to security, drug trade, immigration, etc.