History Seminar--20th Century Immigration: General sources on the border

SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON THE U.S. -MEXICO BORDER

1.  Books and encyclopedias.  Search NUGGET for specific topics.  We have over 1000 books with “border” and "Mexic*" appearing somewhere in the record; about 2200 with subject headings beginning "Mexico--History" and at least 400 that relate to history of Mexico in the 20th century.  The Southwest and Border Studies Collection is especially rich in these resources, with many books about El Paso and the U.S.-Mexico border.  Reference has several Mexican and Latin American encyclopedias, and provides access to several relevant databases.

2.  Government Documents.  Although most of the documents are listed in the on-line catalog, it is worthwhile to search special documents indexes, such as the GPO cumulative subject indexes, the Serial Set Index, and State Department indexes.  Some interesting documents are available only on microfiche, such as the FBI's Daily Reports on Latin America.

3.  Microfilm.  We have a lot of microfilm from the National Archives, including materials on Mexican immigration, consular despatches, and State Department documents.  We also have presidential papers of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.   Other materials on microfilm include some El Paso County records and Mexican archives such as the Municipal Archives of Cd. Juarez (MF513), the Judicial Archives of Parral, Chihuahua (MF546), the Carrizal Municipal Records (MF505), and other smaller collections.  We also have some manuscript collections on microfilm or fiche that relate to the border or the Mexican Revolution including Memorias del General de Division Marcelo Caraveo (MF 511) and the René Mascareñas Collection (MF499), among others.  Check our web page for more information.

4.  Newspapers and newspapers on microfilm.  Although the Current Periodicals and Microforms only keeps hard copies of newspapers for three months, we do have some on microfilm, including El Paso newspapers going back to the 1880s and the Periódico Oficial de Chihuahua.  Border newspapers including  El Continental, El Pais, and La Patria are available, as well as Spanish language US papers La Prensa of San Antonio and some issues of La Opinion from Los Angeles.  

5. Manuscript and photograph collections.   The UTEP Library has many collections from the 20th-century border, some of which are cataloged on-line.  Even more are listed on our web page.  Most relate to the El Paso region or Chihuahua, and the topics covered include women’s organizations, local government, education, mining, business, or ranching.  One of our largest collections is the Southern Pacific Company, Rio Grande Division, Records.  Other large collections include El Paso County Records, The Popular Dry Goods Records, the El Paso Herald-Post Records, and the National Catholic Welfare Committee Records.  Photographic collections include the Leona Washington photograph collection, Casasola Studio photographs, Samuel Fant photographs, and the Oscar Bernard photographs.  Some photographic collections may be viewed on-line, including the Gertrude Fitzgerald photographs and the Mexican Revolution photograph collection.  Lists and finding aids are available in Special Collections.  The web address is http://libraryweb.utep.edu/speccoll/