The Sociedad
Mutualista de Obreros Mexicanos records contain membership ledgers, record books, accounting
books, expense reports, meeting attendance ledgers, society rule books and guidelines,
correspondence, Spanish publications, audiovisual materials, and club flags.
Collection Number:
MS 742
Language:
Materials are
in Spanish.
Repository:
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/
E-Mail: LBRY-askspcoll@email.arizona.edu
Biographical Note
The Sociedad Mutualista de Obreros Mexicanos (Mutual Aid Society of Mexican Worker) was
founded in 1923 by Presciliano Rodriguez. Rodriguez was inspired to start the society after
his friend, a worker with Southern Pacific Railroad, broke both of his feet on the job.
Rodriguez and others at the Copper Queen Smelter began donating in order to help the injured
worker, as the company only covered the man's hospital stay (after he paid for the visit up
front!). As scholar Josiah Heyman explains, the "mutualista served an illness, injury, and
death-benefit function in an era when Mexican American industrial workers had little or no
work coverage and were subject to numerous assaults to their health" (198).
Mutualistas focused on creating a strong community bond, strengthening the rights of labor
workers, and fought inequality. Often opening lodges, mutualistas became popular and found
their memberships increasing throughout the 1920s through the 1940s. Sociedad Mutualista de
Obreros Mexicanos had a large following in the Douglas, Arizona region.
For further reading
see: "The Oral History of the Mexican American Community of Douglas, Arizona, 1901-1942."
Journal of the Southwest, Summer, 1993, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Summer, 1993), pp. 186-206.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40169884
Scope and Content Note
The Sociedad Mutualista de Obreros Mexicanos records have been divided into four separate
series. Series I, which makes up a majority of the collection, includes society records.
These records include membership ledgers, receipt books, membership forms, expense ledgers,
record books and acts, meeting attendance ledgers, and society related correspondence.
Series II includes a small collection of Spanish books and publications housed at the
Mutualista for reference. Series III includes 1/4" audiotape reels of interviews. Please
note, these reels have not yet been digitized and are not currently accessible. Series IV
includes ephemera, in this case, two flags that were hung outside of the Mutualista
building.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from theowner of the
copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees,
heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the
Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents
from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of
copyright.
This series includes records relating the the mutualista and its daily operations.
Items include membership ledgers (ledgers with names of enrolled members and their
payments to the society), expense ledgers (ledgers recording money coming in and out of
the mutualista), membership receipt books (slips that were given to members to show they
were active members -- most of the examples in the collection are blank), meeting
attendance books (ledgers with attending members and meeting dates), record books (books
containing multiple different types of previously mentioned records), correspondence
ledgers (ledgers containing letters discussing society business), and rules and
regulations pamphlets. Items within this series are arranged chronologically.
box
folder
1
1
Membership ledger, undated
1
2
Expenses ledger, undated
box
folder
3
12
Records book, undated
box
folder
4
17
Membership receipt book [blank], undated
4
12
Blank membership forms, undated
4
13
Statutes and regulations rule book, 1923
4
14
Regulations book, 1923
4
15
Statutes and regulations book (additional copies), 1923
box
folder
3
10
Membership ledger, 1923-1924
box
folder
1
3
Membership receipt book, 1925
1
4
Records book, acts, rules, etc., 1926
1
5
Membership ledger, 1927
1
6
Membership ledger, 1927
1
7
Expenses ledger, 1927
1
8
Membership ledger, 1927-1928
1
9
Membership ledger, 1928
1
10
Expenses ledger, 1928
1
11
Expenses ledger, 1929-1932
1
12
Meeting attendance ledger, 1929-1934
1
13
Records book, acts, rules, etc., 1930
box
folder
3
9
Correspondence ledger, 1930s
3
13
Policies/beneficiaries paperwork, 1930s-1940s
3
11
Membership receipts, 1931-1932
3
14
Correspondence ledger, 1931-1932
box
folder
1
14
Membership ledger, 1931-1932
1
15
Expenses ledger, 1931-1932
1
16
Records book, acts, rules, etc., 1931-1932
1
17
Expenses ledger, memberships, 1931-1932
box
folder
3
15
Correspondence ledger, 1933
box
folder
4
1
Correspondence ledger, 1934
box
folder
1
18
Records book, acts, rules, etc., 1935
1
19
Expenses ledger, 1935-1937
1
20
Membership ledger, 1935-1937
box
folder
2
1
Records book, acts, rules, etc., 1935-1937
2
2
Expenses ledger, 1936
2
3
Expenses ledger, memberships, 1936
2
4
Membership ledger, 1936
box
folder
4
2
Correspondence ledger, 1936
box
folder
2
5
Records book, acts, rules, etc., 1937-1947
2
6
Correspondence ledger, 1940s
box
folder
4
3
Correspondence ledger, 1940s
4
4
Correspondence ledger, unbound, 1940s
box
folder
2
7
Membership ledger, 1941-1942
2
8
Membership ledger, moves/transfers, 1941-1942
2
9
Membership ledger, expenses, 1942
2
10
Records book, acts, rules, etc., 1942
2
11
Expenses ledger, 1942-1943
2
12
Expenses ledger, 1944
2
13
Records book, acts, rules, etc., 1945
2
14
Expenses ledger, 1945
2
15
Expenses ledger, 11946-1948
2
16
Membership ledger, 1947
2
17
Membership ledger, 1951-1952
2
18
Meeting attendance ledger, 1951-1952
2
19
Records book, acts, rules, etc., 1952
box
folder
3
1
Membership ledger, 1952-1953
3
2
Membership ledger, 1954-1955
3
3
Expenses ledger, 1954-1955
3
4
Meeting attendance ledger, 1957
3
5
Records book, acts, rules, etc., and membership ledger, 1957
This series includes a grouping of books that were housed at the Douglas location and
pertain to labor issues. These materials are in Spanish. Items are arranged by author's
last name.
box
folder
1
18
Caldas, Julio Cuadros. Catecismo Agrapio, second edition, 1924
box
folder
4
19
Comision Nacional de Irrigacion. Resumen de las Opiniones y Comentarios de
Instituciones Cientificas, Periodicos, Profesionistas, y Particulares, "Irrigacion
en Mexico"
, 1932
4
20
El Libro y el Pueblo, no. 3, 1931
4
21
El Libro y el Pueblo, no. 4, 1931
4
22
George Lauterer Company. Banners and Flags
, undated
4
23
Leroy, Maximo. El Derecho Consuetudinario Obrero
, 1922
4
24
Loria, Francisco. Nociones de Economia Rural
, 1911
4
25
Navarro and Velazquez. El Problema de la Apropiacion de la
Tierra
, 1923
4
26
Pani, Alberto J. La Higiene en Mexico, partial, undated
4
27
Perez, Juan Garza. Sistema Mexicano de Escritura Vertical
, 1900
4
28
Ponton, Luis Sanchez. Lad Deudas Exteriores
, 1934
4
29
Roa, Fernando Gonzalez. El Caracter de la Legislacion Colonial EspaƱola en
America
, 1933
box
folder
5
1
Secretaria de Educacion Publica. Buletin, no. 6, April 1931
5
2
Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores. Correspondencia
Oficial
, 1926
5
3
Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores. La Doctrina Continental en el Senado
de Mexico
, 1941
5
4
Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores. Indice de los Informes
Comerciales
, 1931
5
5
Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores. Indice de los Informes
Economics
, 1932
5
6
United Steelworkers of America. Making Your Local Union Work through
Planning Organization Action
, 1986
5
7
Villegas, Daniel Cosio. Aspectas Concretos del Problema de la Moneda en
Montevideo
, 1934
This series includes a group of 1/4" audiotapes on 7" reels all labeled "Bicentennial".
Due to the fragile nature of the reels, there are not accessible to researchers. There
are no digital copies of these tapes avialable at this time. Please contact an archivist
for further questions.
This series includes two flags that were hung outside of the Mutualista building. One
flag is a hand painted Mexican flag. The second flag is a large flag with the Mutualista
name and embriodery.