Important Research Note:
While UTRGV Special Collections & Archives is tasked with access and preservation of our collections, we do not approve, endorse, or support the attitudes, prejudices, or behaviors found among these materials. Furthermore, we recognize materials contain offensive and racist language and imagery, especially in depictions of Mexican and Mexican-American people. This research guide attempts to avoid perpetuating inherent bias, power, and racism and promotes the researcher's candid evaluation and interrogation of the historical record.
This research guide seeks to introduce students and researchers to the Mexican Revolution and its impact on the Rio Grande Valley and United States. This guide also highlights which various digital and archival materials pertaining to the Mexican Revolution are available via UTRGV Special Collections and Archives.
The Mexican Revolution was a complicated transformation of Mexican society and politics that lasted from November 1910 to May 1920. The country broke up into competing factions initially to overthrow longtime dictator Porfirio Díaz. After Díaz resigned in May 1911 due to increased threats of violence against his regime, Francisco I. Madero was democratically elected to the position of president. However, once it became clear that Madero was not going to politically appoint or appease his supporters with changes such as land redistribution, revolution again ensued; Madero was ousted in a coup de tat in February 1913. Francisco “Pancho” Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Pascual Orozco, Venustiano Carranza, and other revolutionaries and politicians continued to define the rest of the decade until Álvaro Obregón was elected as president in 1920.
From John Randall Peavey Scrapbook, "Proclamation, $5,000.00 reward, Francisco (Pancho) Villa : also $1,000 reward for for arrest of Candelario Cervantes, Pablo Lopez, Francisco Beltran, Martin Lopez. Any information leading to his apprehension will be rewarded."
From the John Randall Peavey Scrapbook, p. 28.
Scrapbook page featuring three black and white photographs along with Peavey's typed commentary.
From John Randall Peavey Scrapbook, p. 41.
Three black and white photographs with Peavey's typed commentary about "Mexican bandits".
Black and white photograph. Mexican army soldiers on horseback riding through the streets of either Mexico City or Tehuacan, Mexico.
Black and white photograph. Soldier kneeling and waiting with a weapon in a foxhole. From Cheryl Shepherd's Ten Tragic Days Collection.
Black and white photograph. Soldier using a cannon during the Mexican Revolution on what appears to be a fort.
Black and white photograph. Ruins of a two-story building in Mexico City. An outdoor market is directly in front of the ruins.
Mexican border situation, border officer reports on the Mexican Revolution and its influences on immigration and refugee problem (1915 March - June). Folder: 001733 -005-0283. Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Series A: Subject Correspondence Files, Part 2: Mexican Immigration, 1906-1930 accessible via ProQuest.
The collection consists of photographs pertaining to the Ten Tragic Days (La Decena Trágica) of the Mexican Revolution collected by the grandfather of Cheryl Hollis Shepherd while living in Mexico City.
Scrapbook of John R. Peavey reflecting his days as a U. S. Border Patrolman in the Rio Grande Valley, includes notable people and events from the Mexican Revolution. Warning: graphic content. For more materials of the John Randall Peavey Collection, view the Finding Aid on ArchivesSpace.
Mexican Revolution and Related Border Violence, Military Events (U), Folder 5. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Special Collections and Archives, Edinburg Campus.
Lynching of General Pascual Orozco and Four Other Mexicans, Culbertson County, Texas, 1915, Container: 179, Box: 1, Folder: 15. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Special Collections and Archives, Edinburg Campus.
This collection includes a pamphlet outlining the command structure of the U.S. Naval forces involved in the 1914 Tampico Affair during the Mexican Revolution. The pamphlet contains the autographs of 25 naval participants, including Congressional Medal of Honor recipients Read-Admiral, later Admiral, Frank Friday Fletcher (1855-1928) and Lieutenant (j.g.), later Admiral, Jonas H. Ingram (1886-1952). There are also fleet orders in broadside format, from USS Arkansas, dated April 26 and May 4, 1914, at Veracruz, Mexico, both signed by Rear-Admiral Badger. "Official Signal" document from May 3, 1914, concerning the departure from the fleet of the USS Montana and an article from the Mexican Herald on April 28, 1914 titled "American Flag Floated above Veracruz Port".
The Tampico Affair relates to the US occupation of Veracruz and occurred when nine naval soldiers were arrested for trespassing into Tampico, Mexico. U.S. Naval Commander Admiral Henry Mayo, supported by President Wilson, argued that Mexican President Victoriano Huerta needed to punish those who arrested the U.S. Naval soldiers, as well as perform a 21-gun salute for the American flag in Mexican territory. Wilson received congressional permission to invade the Veracruz port that same year since the Mexican government did not follow U.S. demands, and this led to the overthrow of Huerta. Learn more from Britannica.
Honoring anniversary of Mexican Independence and beginning of the Mexican Revolution - H Res 1604, 2010, Container: 146, Box: 83, Folder: 90. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Special Collections and Archives, Edinburg Campus.
The text of this House Resolution can also be read online via https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-resolution/1604/text
Alexandro Gomez, born in 1909, discusses what it was like to live through the Mexican Revolution. This interview was conducted in 1987 and recorded in Spanish.
Alicia Longoria was born in 1915 in Mission, Texas. This interview was conducted in 1993 and recorded in English. Longoria discusses her childhood and shares family stories, which include experiences in the Mexican Revolution. She references the Mexican Revolution beginning around 30:45 when explaining the Revolution is what led to her mother’s family immigrating into the United States.
She also describes the Revolution as disruptive to her father’s childhood since her grandfather constantly fought in the Revolution, beginning around 34:27. Lastly, Longoria recounts the participation of her husband’s grandfather in the Mexican Revolution and his troubles with Ft. Brown soldiers in Cameron County, beginning around 42:00.
Charles Edward Cameron was born in Gomez, Faria in 1906. This interview was conducted on March 2, 1988 and recorded in English. He talks of his life and discusses the Mexican Revolution throughout his interview. He first mentions it at 6:00, and explains how his family was forced to migrate because of the Mexican Revolution at 9:18.
Peavey’s experiences as a member of law enforcement in relation the Mexican Revolution are discussed throughout entire interview. Topics such as the Bandit Wars (and Peavey’s direct involvement in them), Carrancistas, and the Tampico Affair are discussed. This interview was conducted in December 1981 and recorded in English. There are a total of 9 parts of Peavey’s oral history interview.
Juan Gomez was born in 1900 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. This interview was conducted in 1986 and recorded in Spanish. Gomez discusses his experiences during the Mexican Revolution and life in Texas.
Manuela Barrios, born in 1888, discusses the Mexican Revolution and her family life in Matehuala, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. This interview was conducted in in 1987 and recorded in Spanish.
Leslie Torres is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in History with a minor in Anthropology, and a certification in Gender & Women's Studies. Leslie is also an anthropology course intern with the Special Collections and Archives for Summer 2021. Leslie plans to attend graduate school to work in higher education and study the histories of Texas and its borderlands.
The research guides compiled by UTRGV staff and students are intended to assist patrons who are embarking upon new research endeavors. Our goal is to expand their knowledge of the types of resources available on a given topic, including books, archival materials, and websites. In so doing, our compilers have taken care to include collections, digital items, and resources that may be accessed not only through UTRGV but also via other institutions, repositories, and websites.
We wholeheartedly respect the research interests of others. Therefore, please contact us if you wish to submit a resource for consideration, or if you have a question about or an issue with a specific cited resource.
The Aftermath of the Mexican Revolution by
The Mexican Revolution began in 1910 as a response to the failed land reform policies of Mexico's president, Porfirio Díaz. As charismatic revolutionaries such as Pancho Villa led the poor to action, the revolution came to encompass many other issues, including the separation of Church and State, improving education, ensuring voting rights for all Mexicans, protecting workers' rights, and ending foreign involvement in Mexican affairs. In the aftermath of the revolution--which subsided after the creation of a new Mexican constitution in 1917--many Mexicans enjoyed voting rights for the first time. with their newfound power, they worked hard to unite and to fulfill the goals of the revolution. Yet in the twenty-first century, many of the problems that led to the revolution of the early 1900s persist. Follow the dramatic story from Porfirio Díaz's failed land reform programs and the assassinations of numerous Mexican presidents to the creation of the 1917 Constitution, whose goals are yet to be fully attained.
Gender and the Mexican Revolution by
The state of Yucatan is commonly considered to have been a hotbed of radical feminism during the Mexican Revolution. Challenging this romanticized view, Stephanie Smith examines the revolutionary reforms designed to break women's ties to tradition and religion, as well as the ways in which women shaped these developments. Smith analyzes the various regulations introduced by Yucatan's two revolution-era governors, Salvador Alvarado and Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Like many revolutionary leaders throughout Mexico, the Yucatan policy makers professed allegiance to women's rights and socialist principles. Yet they, too, passed laws and condoned legal practices that excluded women from equal participation and reinforced their inferior status. Using court cases brought by ordinary women, including those of Mayan descent, Smith demonstrates the importance of women's agency during the Mexican Revolution. But, she says, despite the intervention of women at many levels of Yucatecan society, the rigid definition of women's social roles as strictly that of wives and mothers within the Mexican nation guaranteed that long-term, substantial gains remained out of reach for most women for years to come.
Imagining the Mexican Revolution by
“Mexico’s 1910 Revolution engendered a vast range of responses: from novels and autobiographies to political cartoons, feature films and placards. In the light of the centennial commemorations, contributors to this original collection evaluate the cultural legacy of this landmark event in a series of engaging essays. Imagining the Mexican Revolution is a rich resource for those interested in ways in which literary and visual culture mediate our understandings of this complex historical phenomenon.”– Professor Andrea Noble, Durham University“This collection of essays by leading and emerging Mexicanists is a distinct and welcome contribution that enhances public and academic understanding of Mexico’s rich revolutionary heritage. It makes available some of the most cutting-edge thinking from the field of Mexican cultural studies on the literary and visual representations produced over a period of one hundred years in Mexico and in other countries.”– Dr Chris Harris, University of Liverpool“In fascinating detail, the essays of this landmark book examine the complexity of the post-revolutionary years in Mexico. But the findings also have applications for other cultures of the world where ideologies of fascism and socialism have competed and media manipulation has existed. Among the volume’s many excellent features are its illustrations.”– Professor Emeritus Nancy Vogeley, University of San Francisco
The Mexican Revolution by
The Mexican Revolution was the first great popular upheaval of the 20th century, beginning modestly as an attempt to reform the state, but building into a complex and violent struggle. Adolfo Gilly has written the definitive study of a critical stage in Mexico's history. The Mexican Revolution is the classic account of the revolution that set the stage for a century of socialist revolt.
The Mexican Revolution, 1910-1940 by
This judicious history of modern Mexico's revolutionary era will help all readers, and in particular students, understand the first great social uprising of the twentieth century. In 1911, land-hungry peasants united with discontented political elites to overthrow General Porfirio Díaz, who had ruled Mexico for three decades. Gonzales offers a path breaking overview of the revolution from its origins in the Díaz dictatorship through the presidency of radical General Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940) drawn from archival sources and a vast secondary literature. His interpretation balances accounts of agrarian insurgencies, shifting revolutionary alliances, counter-revolutions, and foreign interventions to delineate the triumphs and failures of revolutionary leaders such as Francisco I. Madero, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Alvaro Obregón, and Venestiano Carranza. What emerges is a clear understanding of the tangled events of the period and a fuller appreciation of the efforts of revolutionary presidents after 1916 to reinvent Mexico amid the limitations imposed by a war-torn countryside, a hostile international environment, and the resistance of the Catholic Church and large land-owners.
Rebellion in the Borderlands by
Sandos (history, U. of Redlands, California) examines the Plan of San Diego, by which Mexicans and Mexican Americans sought to liberate Texas from American rule by exterminating all adult North American males in the lower Rio Grande Valley.
War Scare on the Rio Grande by
Brownsville photographer Robert Runyon's pictures document the development of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. His coverage of the bandit raids in 1915 and the U.S. military buildup along the border in 1916 is of great historical importance, as are his photos of the revolution in northeastern Mexico in 1913-1914.Samponaro and Vanderwood, using the Runyon collection of nearly 13,000 negatives and prints, shed new light on the history of the U.S. and Mexico. War Scare is a must for anyone interested in U.S. or borderlands history, or the history of photography. Number one in the Barker Texas History Center Series.
World of Our Mothers by
World of Our Mothers captures the largely forgotten history of courage and heartbreak of forty-five women who immigrated to the United States during the era of the 1910 Mexican Revolution. The book reveals how these women in the early twentieth century reconciled their lives with their circumstances--enduring the violence of the Revolution, experiencing forced labor and lost childhoods, encountering enganchadores (labor contractors), and living in barrios, mining towns, and industrial areas of the Midwest, and what they saw as their primary task: caring for their families. While the women share a historic immigration journey, each story provides unique details and circumstances that testify to the diversity of the immigrant experience. The oral histories, a project more than forty years in the making, let these women speak for themselves, while historical information is added to support and illuminate the women's voices. The book, which includes a foreword by Irasema Coronado, director of the School of Transborder Studies, and Chris Marin, professor emeritus, both at Arizona State University, is divided into four parts. Part 1 highlights the salient events of the Revolution; part 2 presents an overview of what immigrants inherited upon their arrival to the United States; part 3 identifies challenges faced by immigrant families; and part 4 focuses on stories by location--Arizona mining towns, Phoenix barrios, and Midwestern colonias--all communities that immigrant women helped create. The book concludes with ideas on how readers can examine their own family histories. Readers are invited to engage with one another to uncover alternative interpretations of the immigrant experience and through the process connect one generation with another.
Alexander Street: Mexican Revolution (1910-1920)
Streaming video for Mexican Revolution includes eight videos relating to the revolution and notable figures like Pancho Villa and Zapata.
The Mexican Revolution: Corridos, by Guillermo Hernández
Four compact disc (CD) set of corridos, including Disc 1. Outlaws & revolutionaries, Disc 2. The Francisco Villa cycle, Disc 3. Local revolutionary figures, and Disc 4. Post Revolutionary corridos & narratives
Explore the links below:
Maximize your time and effort. Let our staff assist you with finding and accessing resources online.
We also invite you to schedule an appointment to meet one-on-one with a member of our Special Collections & Archives staff. Schedule an on-campus research visit or choose to meet online (video chat).