Latorre Collection
on the Kickapoo Indians of Mexico

The Latorre Collection on the Kickapoo Indians of Mexico was donated to the Benson Latin American Collection by Felipe A. and Dolores L. Latorre in 1983. The Latorres made additional gifts of material in 1993 and 1994. The collection was described by the Benson's Mexican Archives Project in August 1994.

The collection's physical extent comprises 16 linear feet. Its materials are primarily in English with bulk dates of 1960-1975.

The following publications were based upon the collection, as were several articles:

The suggested citation for the collection is "Latorre Collection on the Kickapoo Indians of Mexico, 1898-1986, Benson Latin American Collection, General Libraries, University of Texas at Austin."

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Contents Note

Series List

Container List

Anthropologists Felipe Latorre (born 1907 in Chile) and Dolores Latorre (born 1903 in Spain) graduated from the Institute of Latin American Studies at The University of Texas at Austin (1953); they also studied at Columbia University (1951) and the School of Anthropology of the National University of Mexico (1957). From 1960 to 1972 they lived in Múzquiz, Mexico, and conducted an ethnological field study of Kickapoo Indians in the Mexican state of Coahuila; they published The Mexican Kickapoo Indians in 1976.

Field notes, manuscripts and galley proofs, correspondence, photographs, travel diaries, clippings, and assorted materials, primarily about Kickapoo Indian culture in El Nacimiento, Mexico. Field notes and card files record the Latorres' observations during their study of the Kickapoo; they include a roll of tribe members from 1960-1972 and a Kickapoo dictionary. Photographs (1898-1973) depict the Kickapoo in Coahuila and their homes in Shawnee, Oklahoma, with scenes of their daily life, traditions, and artifacts. Correspondence from 1928 to1976 illustrates Indian life and efforts by the Latorres and earlier researchers to document it; correspondents include Sarah McKellar, Bessie Williams, and Kenneth W. Porter. Other correspondence includes that of the Kickapoo with the Mexican government, some documenting efforts to oust renters from Kickapoo lands (1961-1968); other correspondence of the Kickapoo and by the Latorres with and for the Kickapoo (1961-1971); and the Latorres' general correspondence (1962-1986), some concerning their publications.

Manuscripts and galley proofs are mostly from the The Mexican Kickapoo Indians; others are from Mrs. Latorre's book, Cooking and curing with Mexican herbs and several articles. Research materials include microfilm, articles, clippings, and printed material about Kickapoo and other North American Indians. Travel diaries record trips to South America in 1958-1959 and Spain in 1978 and 1979. Materials about Chile consist primarily of letters and newspaper clippings. The collection also holds college term papers by the Latorres and assorted materials, including a bust of the Kickapoo chief, Papícoano.

The Latorre Collection on the Kickapoo Indians of Mexico was arranged into nine series by the staff of the Mexican Archives Project. The processing of the collection was completed by the project staff in August 1994. The series are:

I.	Ethnological study of Kickapoo Indians in Mexico, 1960-1972, 3.8 linear feet.

1. Subseries, Field notes, 1960-1968, 1.4 linear feet. Thirty-three stenographic notebooks comprising the Latorres' daily record of Kickapoo research; typescripts of information from stenographic notebooks numbers 13 and 6-24; and notes and dictionaries kept by Dolores Latorre.

2. Subseries, Other notes and compilations of study information, 2.4linear feet. Notes on the Kickapoo, including notes for the Kickapoo dictionary and tribal roll; censuses of Kickapoo by age, livestock ownership, and automobile ownership; Kickapoo dictionary. Card files contain the Kickapoo tribal roll, listing members from 1960-1872; the "Kickapoo plant file"; and the "Mexican plant file."

II.	Correspondence, 1923-1986, 10 inches.

1. Subseries, Correspondence between Kickapoo/other Indians and other parties, 1961-1971, 16 folders.

2. Subseries, Correspondence between the Latorres and the Kickapoo, other Indians, and persons related to Indians, 1961-1970, 8 folders.

3. Subseries, Correspondence and supporting documents relating to the effort to oust renters from Kickapoo lands, 1961-1968, 5 folders.

4. Subseries, Williams-McKellar-Latorre correspondence, 1928-1976, 9folders. Major correspondents include Mrs. Clay T. (Bessie) Williams (daughter of Yakapita), Sarah McKellar, Kenneth W. Porter, and Dolores Latorre. The letters illustrate Indian life and efforts by the Latorres and earlier researchers to document it.

5. Subseries, Assorted correspondence, 1923-1986, 12 folders. Includes correspondence between the Kickapoo and government officials; other Kickapoo correspondence; letters to the Latorres from Gaines Kincaid, passing on information he had gleaned from the Austin Statesman about the Kickapoo and other Indians; and the Latorres' correspondence with Dorothy Reed of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, the U.S. Department of Interior, Nelson C. Reed, Sara Valdes, the Milwaukee Public Museum about the sale of the Latorres' Kickapoo artifacts, and Troy Crisp.

III.	Photographs and visual material, 1898-1973, 318 items (5 inches). Photographs, negatives, and a few drawings depicting the Kickapoo in Coahuila and their homes in Shawnee, Oklahoma, with scenes of their daily life, traditions, and artifacts.
IV.	Publications resulting from the Kickapoo study, and associated material, 5 linear feet.

1. Subseries, The Mexican Kickapoo Indians, 4.6 linear feet. Includes manuscripts, galley proofs, preliminary drafts, correspondence, and publishers' catalogs featuring The Mexican Kickapoo Indians.

2. Subseries, Cooking and curing with Mexican herbs, 2 inches. Contains the manuscript, correspondence relating to the publication and its publicity, clippings, and notes pertaining to Cooking and curing with Mexican herbs.

3. Subseries, Other publications and works by the Latorres, 3.5 inches. Includes manuscripts, reprints, drafts, correspondence, and notes relating to the following publications:

   "Plants used by the Mexican Kickapoo Indians"

   "The ceremonial life of the Mexican Kickapoo Indians"

   "How to have, to hold, and to free oneself of a lover"

   "A Mexican folk interpretation of schizophrenia and their attempts to cure it"

   "To what extent have the Kickapoo Indians become integrated into the folk and modern medicine of Mexico?"

   "A decade and more in Coahuila, Mexico : 1960-1970"

V.	Research materials from archival and printed sources, and related correspondence, 1832-1972, 13.5 inches and 2 reels of microfilm. Correspondence, articles, photocopies, card files, microfilm, clippings, printed material, bibliographies, and catalogs. For further detail please consult the container list which follows.
VI.	Travel diaries, 3.75 inches, 1958-1959 and 1978-1979. Notebooks recording the Latorres' 1958-1959 tour of all South American countries except the Guianas, and their trips to Spain in 1978 and 1979.
VII.	Materials about Chile, 1956-1970s, 1.75 inches. Letters, clippings, and articles about Chile.
VIII.	College papers, 1951-1962 and undated, 12 folders (2.25 inches). Term papers, bibliographies, syllabi, articles, and essays from the Latorres' student days.
IX.	Assorted materials, 7 folders (1.75 inches) plus 1 artifact box and a bust. Clippings, printed material, maps, essays, and a bust of the Kickapoo chieftain, Papícuano.

Return to Mexican Archives Project-Index