Map of Mexico, with UTSA's culinary tour destinations highlighted: Nuevo Leon, Sonora, Colima,Quintana Roo, Puebla, and Oaxaca

During the 2011-2012 schoolyear, UTSA Libraries, UTSA Rec Center, and student organization La Despedida have been collaborating to host a culinary tour of Mexico.  Each event includes a brief introduction to special collections and UTSA’s Mexican Cookbook Collection, an overview of La Despedida’s activities, and a hands-on cooking demonstration featuring recipes from CONACULTA’s La Cocina Familiar in el estado de… series.

The recipes in these cookbooks were originally originally gathered in the 1980s by Banco Nacional de Credito Rural and published in state-themed cookbooks with titles in the form Comida familiar en el estado de… In the early 2000s, the series was re-issued by El Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (Conaculta) and the publisher Océano.  Because the recipes were gathered directly from individuals and families in the various states, these books have something of the flavor of community cookbooks, including a mix of traditional, updated, and idiosyncratic recipes.

During the fall semester, we kicked off with appetizers from across Mexico, followed by flautas de pollo from Nuevo Leon, caldo de ejotes con calabacitas from Sonora. So far this spring, we’ve prepared Camarones a la Diabla from Colima and Enfrijoladas from  Quintana Roo.

Prepararing Camarones a la Diabla and Pomegranate Guacamole from Colima  (January Demo). Photos courtesy of Stephanie Sanchez, Communications Specialist.

Attendees have expressed appreciation for the chance to try recipes that are outside their everyday experience.  Nadya Meza noted that she has enjoyed “all the recipes I get to try that I never imagined would go so well, like the avocado and pomegranate guacamole,”  and Ernesto Olivarez mentioned that the dishes are “very unique” and that he’d like to see more of them.

La Despedida student Ana Navarro, who has been instrumental in organizing the series describes her experience of the series like this: “From the early stages of the planning for “A Culinary Tour of Mexico” I knew it would be exciting to expose UTSA students to the traditional foods Mexico offers. During the first cooking demo, students in attendance were so engaged and interested about learning not only about cooking, but culture. I feel like projects such as these tie education and recreation in a perfectly-tasty way.”

Preparing Enfrijoladas de Crema from Quintana Roo (February Demo).
Photos courtesy of Nayda Meza.

And more tasty education is coming up!  On March 7th, we’ll be journeying to Oaxaca with a hands-on demonstration of Estofado de miltomate.  This tomatillo-based chicken stew is richly flavored with capers, olives, almonds, and spices.  Join us from 5:30-6:30pm in the UTSA Rec Center Demonstration Kitchen.

The complete schedule of Culinary Tour Demo Kitchen events can be found at http://lacocinahistorica.wordpress.com/culinary-tour-of-mexico. These events are open to all UTSA students, faculty and staff. No RSVP required … just show up hungry and ready to cook! 

La Cocina familiar en el estado de Oaxaca (2000)

Front page of Verbands-Bote

From 1850 to 1900, German-Americans made up about 5% of the total Texas population, making them the third most populous ethnic group in Texas during the nineteenth century.  Because German immigrants gravitated towards enclaves in eastern and south-central Texas, their economic and cultural influence were greater than numbers alone might suggest.

Immigration to Texas began to be publicized in Germany in the late 1830s, and as the process gathered steam throughout the 1840s, an increasing number of travel accounts, guides, and fictionalized memoirs were published for readers both in Texas and Germany.  Through interupted by the Civil War, immigration resumed in the latter decades of the century and new German colonies continued to be established in Texas until the 1920s.

UTSA’s small but selective assemblage of German-American travel accounts, novels, and newspapers provides a valuable window into the motivations, challenges, and historical impact of German settlers in Texas. Through a Texas Cultures Online grant from the University of North Texas, several of these items have been digitized and are now available through The Portal to Texas History. These images will also be harvested and indexed by UTSA’s Library Quicksearch.

Travel Accounts

Cover of Amerikanische jagd-und reiseabenteuer... (1858)

Roemer, Ferdinand. Texas : mit besonderer rücksicht auf deutsche auswanderung und die physischen verhätnisse des landes nach eigener beobachtung geschildert : mit einem naturwissenschaftlichen anhange und einer topographisch-geognostischen karte von Texas. Bonn : Adolph Marcus, 1849. [Special Collections John Peace F391 .R71 1849].

Strubberg, Friedrich A. Amerikanische jagd-und reiseabenteuer aus meinem leben in den Westlichen Indianergebieten. Mit 24 vom verfasser nach der natur entworfenen skizzen von armand.  Stuttgart und Augsburg: Cotta’scher, 1858. [Special Collections PT2532.S3 Z462 1858 ]
Note: An English translation of this title is available in Special Collections: The backwoodsman : or, Life on the Indian frontier, edited by Sir C.F. Lascelles Wraxall [PT2532.S3 Z462 1864]

Menzel, Gottfried. Die vereinigten staaten von nordamerika mit besonderer aucthlichtaus deutsche auswanderung dahin nach eigner unschauung bescrhieben.Berlin, Reimer, 1853.[Special Collections E166 .M55 1853]

German Fiction set in Texas

Title Page from Part I of Die Auswanderer nach Texas (1841)

Belani, H.E.R. (Häberlin, Karl Ludwig).  Die Auswanderer nach Texas. Historisch-romantisches gemälde aus der neuesten Zeit. Leipzig : C. L. Fritzsche, 1841.[John Peace F390 .H3] Part I, Part II, Part III

Sealsfield, Charles. (Karl Postl). Das Cajütenbuch : oder nationale Charakteristiken. Stuttgart : Verlag der J.B. Metzler’schen Buchhandlung, 1846. [John Peace PT2516 .S4C35 1846].

Sealsfield, Charles and Ch. Fr. Mersch. The cabin book : or, Sketches of life in Texas. New York : J. Winchester, 1844. [John Peace PT2516 .S4C3513].Note: This is an English translation of the preceding title.

Hormann, P. Alto. Die Tochter Tehuan’s, oder, Texas im vorigen Jahrhundert. Cincinnati, O. : Benziger Brothers, 1866. [PZ3.H672 T63 1866]

Texas Newspaper (primarily German; includes some English content)

Verbands-Bote. Jahrg. 1-3 (Januar [1920]-Juli/August 1923) = Nr. 1-17. San Antonio, Tex. : Katholischer Staats-Verband von Texas, [1920]-. [BX1415 .T4 V47]. v. : ill. ; 27 cm. 423 pp. Issues 1-17 (January 1920-July/August 1923).

San Antonio is known for its celebrations.  Much has been written about the pageantry and parades connected with the various civic and religious festivals held throughout the year.  Other than a few newspaper articles and advertisements, there is little to tell us how Valentine’s Day was observed in the past. 

These photographs from UTSA Special Collections provide glimpses of Valentine’s Day at various times in the 20^th century.  They show examples of both community and private ways that San Antonio residents chose to express their affection for each other.

MS 362: 085-0079: Valentine’s Day party at the home of Dr. and Mrs. John W. Kenney on Poplar Street in Tobin Hill, ca. 1910.

MS 359: L-1760-K: Roy Hardin and Mary Louise Casey receive their marriage license and a box of Valentine’s Day candy from S. H. Wernette, marriage license clerk, 1938.

MS 359: L-2891-F: Shirley Kneupper gives Ronald Burns a defense stamp Valentine during World War II, 1942.

MS 359: L-4457-A: Linda Long eats chocolate candy from a traditional heart-shaped box, 1953.

MS 360: E-0052-044: Second annual YMCA Valentine’s Day dance for senior citizens, 1979.

MS 360: E-0086-033: Maria Garcia with a handmade card for her mother, 1982.

MS 360: E-2-13-89: Heart-shaped piñatas outside a West Side store, 1989.

Letter, Riegler Family, MS 370. UTSA Special Collections. Riegler Confections Co. was located at 231 Houston Street.

Manuscript Collections:

New:

• MS 389, Page (William K.) photograph collection, 1 om b/w photo & 41 4×5 color slides

Additions:

• MS 105, Charity Ball Association of San Antonio Records, 0.3 linear feet
• MS 160, Stubblefield (Joe) plans, 64 sets of rolled plans & rolled drawings
• MS 385, Denman (Fannie Lee) papers, 1 linear foot.
• MS 331, San Antonio River Authority records, 4 linear feet
• MS 151, Pan American Round Tables of Texas records, 3 scrapbooks
• MA 083, Planned Parenthood of San Antonio and South Central Texas, 1 linear foot

Transfers from Institute of Texan Cultures Library

• MS 365 Bullis (John) collection
• MS 366 ITC Vertical File collection
• MS 367 Coppini Academy of Fine Arts collection
• MS 368 Clem (John) Estate collection
• MS 369 Toudouze (Frank) collection
• MS 370 Riegler Family papers
• MS 371 Stinson (Jack) collection
• MS 372 Gennaro (Joseph P.) papers
• MS 373 Washington family collection
• MS 374 Cohen (Rabbi Henry) correspondence
• MS 375 Brown (Helen) papers
• MS 376 Maly (Fred) Medina Lake materials
• MS 377 Lundeleis family collection
• MS 380 Herff (A.P.) papers
• MS 381 Hardin Family papers
• MS 382 Schützenverein Gesellschaft records San Antonio Hunting and Shooting Club
• MS 383 Barber (George) papers
• MS 386 Reflections on Texas audiovisual materials
• MS 388 Ayres (Atlee B.) Papers

University Archives:

New:

• UA 99.0018, UTSA. Papers of Faculty and Staff: Jacobson, Rodolfo, 1.35 MB

Additions:

• UA 21, UTSA. Information Technology, Office of, 3 linear feet
• UA 21, UTSA. Information Technology, Office of, 5 GB
• UA 04.02.02, UTSA. Facilities, Office of, 0.5 linear feet.

Rare Books: 22 titles [January title list]

Highlights:

South-west stucco homes : a plan and style book of detached bungalows, two-story residences, duplexes, apartments for two, three and four families, double bungalows and apartment courts by E. W. Stillwell & Co. Los Angeles (1924)

Shortly after graduating from the University of South Dakota, E. W. (Elmer Wendell) Stillwell established his own architectural firm in Los Angeles around 1906.  He soon made a name for himself  by promoting bungalows housing in booklets such as Little Bungalows and West Coast Bungalows.  In this catalog, he offers photographs, line drawings, and floor plans of bungalows and other architectural styles to be constructed with stucco.

Aladdin Houses: “Built in a Day,” by the North American Construction Company (1917)

During the first decade of the 20th century, Aladdin Homes was among the first to premier kit houses or, as this catalog calls them “built in a day” houses. While the practices of selecting architectural plans from catalogs and mail-ordering blueprints had become common by the end of the 19th century, kit houses went a step farther by allowing customers to order pre-cut lumber to be delivered by rail car, thus theoretically allowing homes to be “built in a day”…or at least within a couple weeks.  This catalog from 1917 offers floorplans and illustrations of a range of “Readi-Cut” homes a decade after the concept first debuted.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts of the USA, Special Collections has launched an exhibition of materials from the San Antonio Area Council of Girl Scouts Records.

Included in the exhibit are materials documenting Camp La Jita, a Girl Scout camp on the Sabinal River near Utopia, Texas. Starting in 1926 summer camps were held in  New Braunfels, Boerne, Bandera and Comfort. The first permanent camps were not created until the late 1940′s. In 1946, the John F. Camp family donated the land to create a place for Girl Scouts to experience the outdoors. Camp La Jita rests on 236 acres of Texas Hill Country land along the Sabinal River, one hour and twenty minutes west of San Antonio.

Scrapbooks on display include Alamo Compañeras, a log of the 1959 Senior Roundup; 1962 Olmos Park Day Camp scrapbook created by staff; San Antonio Girl Scouts Senior Conference scrapbook, 1965 and 1966, maintained by troop historians – Lee Ann Hendryx and Kathy King; and the personal scrapbook of Jean Daniels, a Scout in Gulfport, Mississippi, that documents a Scout-sponsored tour of Georgia and Florida to visit the birthplace of Girl Scouts founder, Juliette Gordon Low, Daniels’ time as both a camper and counselor at Camp Tiak and trips to multiple Girl Scout conferences.

In addition, there are a number of photographs displayed documenting the council as far back as the 1940s as well as cookie wrappers, patches, badges, a Brownie knife and other assorted ephemera. The exhibition will be on display in the John Peace Library’s Special Collections Reading Room until late March.

We will begin today with the preliminary stages of a bill in the Texas Legislature to establish a branch of the University of Texas in San Antonio. The primary impetus behind the push to establish a four-year university in San Antonio was to ameliorate the lack of access to higher education in San Antonio and South Texas. In a presentation to the House State Affairs Committee in February, 1969, the President of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, John T. Steen, argued that only 5,789 students were enrolled in higher education—only .7% of the entire population of the city. He contrasts this with other areas in the state, such as Travis County, where 3.6 % of the population was enrolled in an institution of higher education.

Sites offered for a state-supported college in Bexar County at no cost to the state, 1969.

He offered several locations in and around the San Antonio area that could be donated to the state as a possible location for the construction of a state-sponsored university.  Steen also pointed out that San Antonio was the largest metropolitan area in the United States without a four-year state- supported institution of higher learning.

Population of sixteen cities with state supported colleges and universities, 1969.

Only four months later, in large part to the canvassing of Steen and many other like-minded individuals and organizations, San Antonio would have its first public four-year university.

Additions:

• MS 104 San Antonio Junior Forum records, 0.15 linear feet.

University Archives: 

None.

Rare Books: 9 items [December title list]

Highlights:

Mary Rock: or My Adventures in Texas, by Percy B. St. John (circa 1860).
Fictionalized descriptions of travel in Texas by an English writer who had traveled in the American West and was known for his stories set in Texas, Florida, and St. Louis, Missouri.  This work includes chapters describing the San Saba gold mines, Galveston Island, the Brazos, the Texas Revolution, and Indians in Texas.

Hints to the Homebuilder by Walter J. Keith (circa 1905).
A short, 16 page pamphlet including plans, views, and drawings, as well as advertisements for a number of architecture books (also written by Keith).

New:

• MS 378 Texas Biomedical Research Institute Publications Collection, 2 linear feet.
• MS 384, Laxton (Rosalie) papers, 1.5 linear feet.

Additions:

• MS 331 San Antonio River Authority records, 38 linear feet.
• MS 151 Pan American Round Tables of Texas records, .5 linear feet.

University Archives: 

New:

• UA 19.04 UTSA. Athletics Department, 1 linear foot

Rare Books

10 items [complete title list for November]

Highlights:

• Razas indigenas de Sonora y la guerra del Yaqui by Fortunato Hernández (1902). An ethnographic study of the indigenous peoples of Sonora and a history of the Yaqui War (1896-1900), written by a strongly pro-Porfirio anthropologist and surgeon.
• El movimiento obrero Mexicano en el sur de Texas, 1900-1920 by Emilio Zamora (1986).  A study of the movement of Mexican workers into Texas in the early 20th century.

UTSA Special Collections recently digitized the Arbitration proceedings between the Ladies Dress and Waist Manufacturers’ Association and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union : held at the Bar Association, New York City, January 20th, 1917, at 1 P.M., a record of one of many negotiations between the Ladies Dress and Waist Manufacturers’ Association and The International Ladies Garment Workers Union.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth century New York garment industry predominantly employed immigrants, since knowledge of English was not a requirement for this type of labor. Due to seasonal conditions, there was not always work and the cost of production fluctuated. By 1917, the cost of living had risen significantly, as Mr. Hillquit points out in his introductory argument in these proceedings, yet workers were being paid the same as they had years before. A $27.50 weekly pay now had the same purchasing power as $22.00 weekly pay in the past. During a rush of production in a busy season, workers were expected to arrive early and were allowed little time for rest or even to eat during their 49 hour week. The workers weren’t even allowed to have the Sabbath off.  It was a petty system of exploitation, with the consequences of partiality further humiliating women in the workplace.

As discussed in these proceedings, the contracts and union protocol governing work at garment factories did not apply to subcontracting – work done outside of factories. A working woman might finish her work day at the factory and then take pieces to work on home, turning it into a sweatshop. Perhaps if she was a mother, she might ask her children to help her complete the work – or they would be subcontracted as “learners,” who were outside education and labor laws because they were “volunteers.” This system of subcontracting was to the advantage of the employer because it reduced his cost and increased his personal profit, which he would divide amongst his subcontracted workers.

Throughout the arbitration proceedings between the Ladies Dress and Waist Manufacturers’ Association and The International Ladies Garment Workers Union, there are many referrals to the Protocol (union conditions). Mr. Morris Hillquit, Counsel, and Mr. William Klein, Counsel, each sought to ensure that the methods used to make changes in the garment industry were in adherence to the Protocol. The Protocol, as established in 1913, had four main purposes as outlined in Louis D. Brandis’s essay “Purpose of the Protocol.” The primary purpose was to ensure that grievances were presented to the Board rather than a court or through a strike. Secondly, the Protocol strengthened the Employers Association and the Union to ensure compliance to agreements between the two. Thirdly, the Protocol ensured just treatment of employees and stipulated that the provisions would apply to both parties democratically.  Lastly, the Protocol sought to safeguard industrial democracy and business by preventing shut-downs, while still protecting workers. By the Union’s adherence to the Protocol, it renounced its power to strike, giving the Board the means to hold the employer responsible for securing fair and reasonable treatment to the full extent possible.

Mr. Hillquit (representing the Ladies Dress and Waist Manufacturers’ Association) and Mr. Klein (representing The International Ladies Garment Workers Union) discussed all of the following during the proceedings:  the increase of pay for all workers—whether part time or full—by 20%, a weekly hour amount not to surpass 48, and only occasional work on Sundays. The sessions of this arbitration ran from the 20^th and 21^st of January to the 27^th of that month.

An interesting aspect of the proceedings is that each counsel speaks and presents his case as though the other were unfamiliar with the Protocol and with the terms of their debate. At the end of the proceedings, they even begin to interrupt one another with their own interpretations.

Provisions agreed upon at the end of this arbitration made remained subject to the supposed difficulties of the industry and employers retained the right to give work to those who they felt were most suitable.

Additions:

• MS 022 Women’s Overseas Service League Records, 2.1 linear feet

University Archives: 

Additions:

• UA 01.03 UTSA University Archives Vertical File, .1 linear feet
• UA 04.03 UTSA. Vice President for Downtown Operations, Office of the, .5 linear feet
• UA 04.05 UTSA. Institutional Effectiveness, Office of, 2.3 linear feet
• UA 05.01 UTSA. Library. Office of the Dean, .5 linear feet
• UA 01.01 UTSA. General Information and University History, .8 linear feet
• UA 01.03 UTSA. University Archives Vertical File, .1 linear feet
• UA 03.02 UTSA. Faculty Senate, .5 linear feet

Rare Books

100 items [Complete Title List for October]

Highlights:

• Architecture of Allen and Youngby Glenn Allen & Charles H. Young (1927?)This relatively uncommon title includes photographs of 124 buildings designed by the firm of Glen Allen and Charles H. Young, including 49 in Texas.  Structures include municipal and county buildings, schools, churches, hotels, commercial buildings, residences, and more.
• Diccionario De Cocina, ó El Nuevo Cocinero Mexicano En Forma De Diccionario, que contiene todos los procedimientos empleados en la alta, mediana y pequeña cocina, la lista normal de los platillos que deben componer las distintas comidas, con que variedad de nombres se hacen en el dia, el método de aderezar los platos y de disponer los diferentes servicios de una mesa. Y lo mas selecto de las artes del pastelero, del bizcochero, del confitero, del destilador, y del nevero, con todo lo relativo a la repostería by Mariano Galván Rivera (1845).

  One of relatively few Mexican cookbooks with a lengthy publication history, this work was initially published in 1831 as El cocinero mexicano, ó, Coleccion de las mejores recetas para guisar al estilo americano : y de las mas selectas segun el metodo de las cocinas española, italiana, francesa e inglesa.  Our newly acquired copy is from the extensively re-organized and re-titled 1845 edition printed in Mexico City.  In future, we hope to also acquire examples of later editions to support study of the evolution of Mexican cooking over the course of the eventful 19th century.

• History of Mexico: collected from Spanish and Mexican historians, from manuscripts and ancient paintings of the Indians, illustrated by charts and other copper plates ; to which are added, critical dissertations on the land, the animals, and inhabitants by Abbé D. Francesco Saverio Clavigero. Translated by Charles Cullen (1787).

  This is the first English edition of Clavigero’s Storia Antica del Messico.  Mexican-born Jesuit Francesco Saverio Clavigero was expelled from Mexico with the rest of his order in 1767 and wrote most of his treatises in Italy, based on notes and recollections of manuscripts he studied in Mexico as well as research in Italian archives.  The first Spanish edition of this work did not appear until 1826.  In addition to text, notably sympathetic to the indigenous peoples peoples of Mexico, the History includes  two oversized, folding maps engraved by T. Conder, a geneaological chart showing the descent of Mexican Kings from the 13th century, and numerous engravings depicting artifacts, costumes, wildlife, and architecture in Mexico.