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Gilbert G. Gonzalez Collection 1864-2001

MSS-221

Biographical Note

Dr. Gilbert G. Gonzalez (Professor Emeritus and Historian at the University of California-Irvine, Chicano/Latino Studies) was one of eight children born to Mexican immigrant parents. Raised and educated in southern California, Dr. Gonzalez received his Ph.D. in United States history from UCLA in 1974. In 1971, Gonzalez was affiliated with the Program in Comparative Culture at the University of California-Irvine, where he established his interests in ethnic studies, U.S.-Mexico agricultural labor relations, Mexican consuls and public policy, segregation of Mexican children in the southwestern states, and Mexican immigration.

Considered by his peers as "one of the preeminent scholars of Chicano history and transborder studies", Gonzalez's work argues that Mexican migration since the late nineteenth century is the social and political consequence of United States' economic dominion over Mexico. Indeed, this theme permeates Gonzalez's scholarship. Currently, Gonzalez and a colleague, Vivian Price, are completing a film documentary titled Soldiers of the Fields: Forgotten But Not Silenced, a historical perspective on the lives, struggles, and sacrifices of the men and women of the U.S.-Mexico Bracero Program, which brought approximately 4.8 million Mexican agricultural workers into the United States over a twenty-two year period (1942-1964). Gonzalez also served as a Professor of Social Sciences and Director of the Labor and Studies Program at the University of California-Irvine.

Scope and Content Note

The Gilbert G. Gonzalez Collection consists of journal articles, book chapters, personal notes, newspaper articles, lesson plans, Mexican consulate records, bibliographic entries and citations, handwritten research notes, marginal notes, and numerous yellow "Post It" notes. Primary and secondary source materials in this collection are written in both English and in Spanish. There are no translations provided for the materials written in Spanish.

Series I: Personal Papers and Writings dates from 1970 to 2001 and includes several drafts of Professor Gonzalez's 1974 UCLA dissertation, The System of Public Education and Its Function Within the Chicano Communities, 1920-1930; handwritten research notes and drafts of manuscripts, including materials published as Progressive Education: a Marxist Interpretation (circa 1982), Chicano Education in the Era of Segregation (circa 1990), Labor and Community: Mexican Citrus Worker Villages in a Southern California County, 1900-1950 (circa 1994), and Mexican Consuls and Labor Organizing: Imperial Politics in the American Southwest (circa 1999); and preliminary notes for, and correspondence with, the publisher of Culture of Empire: American Writers, Mexico and Mexican Immigration, 1880-1930 (circa 2003).

Series II: Los Angeles Schools includes research notes taken from the Los Angeles School Journal (1920s); Los Angeles School Education Bulletin (1920s); Los Angeles School District Publications (1920s and 1930s); and Los Angeles School Board of Education Minutes (1950s).

Series III: Chicano Studies at the University of California at Irvine offers such primary source materials as annual reports, correspondence, and minority and academic personnel employment statistics produced by the Chicano/Latino Faculty Association and the Affirmative Action Committee at the University of California at Irvine, where Dr. Gonzalez held memberships (1980s and 1990s). Also included in this series are Dr. Gonzalez's lesson plans for his Chicano studies courses.

Series IV: Manuscript Materials contains numerous photocopies of selected book chapters from scholarly publications, articles published in trade periodicals, contemporary southwest monographs, and articles from the Spanish-language Mexican newspaper La Opinión, which was published in Los Angeles in the 1940s. Subjects discussed include the history of Mexico (1860s to 1890s), Mexican social life and customs (1900 to 1920s), the education of Mexican children in the southwest (1920s), the condition of Mexican agricultural laborers and Japanese growers in southern California (1930s), agricultural labor strikes and unionism (1930s and 1940s), and intelligence test scores of Mexican children (1940s and 1950s). Also included are numerous undated 5" x 7" and 3" x 5" index cards bearing Dr. Gonzalez's handwritten notes on such topics as the state of U.S.-Mexico history and thought, Mexican immigration, and Mexican culture and labor.

Arrangement

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or calling (480) 965-4932. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.

Copyright

The Arizona Board of Regents retains copyright to this collection for and on behalf of the Arizona State University Library. Requests to publish, display, or redistribute information from this collection must be submitted via our online application.

Access Terms

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Gilbert G. Gonzalez Collection, MSS-221, Arizona State University Library.

Provenance

The Gilbert G. Gonzalez Collection was donated to the Chicana/o Research Collection by Dr. Gilbert G. Gonzalez in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, and 2003. (ACC#’s 1994-01407; 1994-01409; 1994-01417; 1995-01603; 1996-01749; 1997-01881; and 2003-02632).

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