Compiled and edited by
Adán Benavides  &
Agnes L. McAlester

Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection
General Libraries
The University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin General Libraries and its Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection have preserved on microfilm 227,930 pages from 560 Mexican newspaper titles which date primarily from 1900 to 1929. The project, which ran from October 2000 through September 2002, was supported, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PA-23563-00).

The majority of the newspapers (326, 58.2%) were published in the Distrito Federal; but a substantial number (234, 41.8%) were published in Mexican cities from twenty-eight states. Of particular interest are the titles that were published during the pivotal decade of the Mexican Revolution, 1910 through 1919, many of which are from cities other than Mexico City. These newspaper issues are rarely held in U.S. libraries, and some are uniquely held in the Benson Collection-489 newspaper titles in this set came from its holdings. The Library of Congress, Tulane University, Harvard University, and Boston Public Library provided other titles and supplementary issues. Tulane University alone supplied 61 unique titles, principally newspapers from Chiapas and Yucatán. The Library of Congress lent several unique titles as well as many supplementary issues, especially from the Distrito Federal. Well-known, long-running newspapers were omitted from the project if they were available on microfilm through U.S. research institutions.

The arrangement of the newspapers within the microfilm is alphabetical by state and city thereunder (reels 1 to 125) with newspapers published in the Distrito Federal following (reels 125 to 344). Addenda and errata appear in reel 345. This guide follows that arrangement and also contains an alphabetical list of the titles, which serves as an index to the newspapers. The reel and frame number in the alphabetical list refers to the first issue microfilmed and, if applicable, to the reel of addenda and errata; different newspapers with the same title are listed separately.

The microfilm is available for purchase or through interlibrary loan.

The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection

The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection is a research library for area studies whose mission is to acquire and provide access to materials on Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the Hispanic presence in the United States. The Collection serves the students and faculty of the University of Texas at Austin as well as the national and international research community. Named in honor of Nettie Lee Benson, its director from 1942 to 1975, the Collection contains over 800,000 books, periodicals, and pamphlets, 2,500 linear feet of manuscripts, 19,000 maps, 21,000 microforms, 11,500 broadsides, 143,500 photographs, and 38,000 items in a variety of other media (sound recordings, drawings, video tapes and cassettes, slides, transparencies, posters, memorabilia, and electronic media). See the Benson Collection web site: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/benson/ for additional information.

The Benson Collection is regarded by many as the preeminent Latin American library in the United States. Initially endowed with a superb collection of rare books and manuscripts relating to Mexico, the Benson Collection now maintains important holdings for all countries of Latin America with special concentrations on the countries of the Río de la Plata, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Central America. The Mexican American Library Program (MALP), a unit of the collection, has gathered extensive research materials in all subject areas related to the U.S. Southwest and Latino culture in the United States. The book collection of the Benson Collection represents approximately ten percent of all of the volumes in the University of Texas at Austin libraries, which together constitute the sixth largest academic library in the United States. While the purchase of private libraries laid the foundation for the Benson Collection, the acquisition of current publications is now the major factor in its growth. Researchers come to consult materials accumulated from all parts of the world, in many languages, dating from the fifteenth century to the present.

The Benson Latin American Collection is particularly rich in out-of-the-ordinary monographs and serials-newspapers among them-issued in small print runs, many difficult to acquire when first published and impossible to acquire today. Such a collection is of particular importance to the humanities and is widely consulted in a range of disciplines. The collection is supplemented by related resources that enable researchers to broaden their areas of investigation or to open new avenues of inquiry with relative ease. Primary research materials in extensive archival collections enlarge the research possibilities offered by the printed collection.

The Benson Collection has benefited, in the recent past, from numerous federal grants to preserve, acquire, and catalog its collections as well as convert its catalog records to machine-readable form. The results of these grants are now widely available through the World Wide Web. Moreover, microfilmed material that resulted from some of these initiatives is now readily available in U.S. research centers and from the Benson Collection through interlibrary loan service.

The period of 1900 to 1929 is pivotal in the formation of modern Mexico and its subsequent relationship with the United States. In 1900, the Pax Porfiriana ruled the country: internal stability was established by an effective and powerful government headed by Porfirio Díaz, and foreign investment led to economic progress and industrialization. The population swelled throughout the country, particularly in the north, considered the most progressive region in the country at the time-and even to this day.

But the situation changed dramatically during the next ten years. Noted historian Friedrich Katz states in The Cambridge History of Latin America (Cambridge: University Press, 1986, vol. 5) that there was no one single cause for this change but several: an economic depression with a decline in living standards, regional political movements, increased government repression, rivalry among would-be essors to an aging president, a new surge of nationalism, and Mexico as the center for a European-U.S. power struggle. These factors led to the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution and the downfall of the Díaz regime in 1911.

The succession of Francisco Madero to the presidency did not bring peace to the country, but rather a violent series of regional and integional uprisings. This struggle is called the first social revolution of the twentieth century. The human and economic dislocation was enormous: one tenth of Mexico's population was killed or injured and a massive migration to the borderlands and to the U.S.thwest occurred. In fact, this migration was the first wave of a movement north of the border into the United States by large segments of the Mexican population. Widespread peasant movements, the rise of labor unions, expropriation of large estates, and political reform culminated in the promulgation of a new constitution in 1917 and the creation of a new state headed by Venustiano Carranza. But the rivalry and fighting among regional chiefs continued until his death in 1920 when Alvaro Obregón ascended to the presidency. Despite the occurrence of several military insurrections, the subsequent decade was a period of economeconstruction and political consolidation under Obregón and later Plutarco Elías Calles. The dominant political party in Mexico during the late twentieth century, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), had its genesis during these years.

The newspapers of the period document these dramatic events and reflect the attitudes and fears of the common people as well as the statements and propaganda of those in power. These publications also record the struggle to forge a new Mexico and to define its relationship with the United States. The U.S. government was often not an impartial observer and sometimes even a participant in Mexican affairs during these years. Three of the many incidents of intervention were the U.S. warships sent by President Taft to Mexico's Gulf and Pacific coasts in 1913; the assault by U.S. troops of Veracruz and Tampico in 1914, under orders from President Wilson; and the military incursion into northern Mexico by Brigadier General John J. Pershing in 1916 and 1917.

The Mexican newspapers in this microfilm project, therefore, are important documents for U.S. as well as Mexican history. They amply demonstrate the long and often conflictive relationship between the two countries-a relationship that many researchers have explored and elucidated over the years. This project, Revolutionary Mexico in Newspapers, 1900-1929, makes these newspapers more readily accessible to scholars through their preservation, cataloging, and availability for interlibrary loan. Although holdings of many of these newspapers exist in very short runs, the titles are often unique-perhaps the only extant record of a newspaper's short-lived existence.

The newspapers from this time reflect Mexican partisan politics, yellow press, political and social satire, as well as local, regional, national, and international news. As the Díaz government was crumbling, political satire flourished in Mexico City prior to the outbreak of revolution in 1910. This streak of humor continued throughout the period, but no less coverage was given to real news about military personnel, political strong-men, and bloody battles that raged. Examples from various satiric newspapers in this guide demonstrate an often harsh view of the U.S. role in Mexican history as well as a sharp critique of Mexican politicians and its elite.

The University of Texas has regularly collected Mexican newspapers since the era of the Mexican Revolution, which culminated in the Constitution of 1917. The purchase of the outstanding Genaro García Collection in 1921 brought to the University scores of what were already then, and are especially now, very rare nineteenth- and early twentieth-century newspapers. In fact, the García newspapers are at the core of this microfilm project. Over the years, several former students and faculty members of the University contributed newspapers as well. Other collections acquired by the Benson Collection also included twentieth-century newspapers, among which can be mentioned the Miguel Bolaños Cacho Papers, acquired in 1986, containing several newspapers from Oaxaca and Baja California.

A survey based on Steven M. Charno, Latin American Newspapers in United States Libraries: A Union List (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968), the definitive holdings list of Latin American newspapers, shows that many titles are unique to the Benson Collection. Thirty-five years since the publication of Charno's Guide, a survey in the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) has further borne out that fact. This microfilm project includes almost half of the Benson Latin American Collection's holdings of historic Mexican newspapers as represented in the Charno Guide.

The University of Texas at Austin General Libraries and its Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection have preserved on microfilm 227,930 pages from 560 Mexican newspaper titles which date primarily from 1900 to 1929, though longer running titles were published before 1900 and after 1929. The project, which ran from October 2000 through September 2002, was supported, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PA-23563-00).

The majority of the newspapers (326, 58.2%) were published in the Distrito Federal; but a subtial number (234, 41.8%) were published in Mexican cities from twenty-eight states. Of particular interest are the titles that were published dg the pivotal decade of the Mexican Revolution, 1910 through1919, many of which are from cities other than Mexico City. The regional newspapers provide a perspective of events that broadens the view that may be obtained from analysis of the newspapers of the capital city.

The newspaper issues in this microfilm sre rarely held in U.S. libraries, and some are uniquely held in the Benson Collection-489 newspaper titles came from its holdings. The Library of Congress, Tulane University, Harvard University, and Boston Public Library provided other titles and supplementary issues. Tulane University alone supplied 61 unique titles, principally newspapers from Chiapas and Yucatán. The Library of Congress lent several unique titles as well as many supplementary issues, especially from the Distrito Federal. Well-known, long-running newspapers were omitted from the project if they were already available on microfilm through U.S. research institutions.

The arrangement of the newspapers within the microfilm is alphabetical by state and city thereunder (reels 1 to 125) with newspapers published in the Distrito Federal following (reels 125 to 344). Addenda and errata appear in reel 345. This guide follows that arrangement and also contains an alphabetical list of the titles, which serves as an index to the newspapers. The reel and frame number in the alphabetical list refers to the first issue microfilmed and, if applicable, to the reel of addenda and errata; different newspapers with the same title are listed separately.

Service copies of microfilms created by the project are available to the public at the Benson Latin American Collection and they may be borrowed through interlibrary loan service. Additionally, copies of microfilmed materials may be purchased by institutions or individuals. Inquiries for the purchase of the microfilm may be directed to:

Photoduplication Services Benson Latin American Collection Sid Richardson Hall 1.108 University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 78713-8916 phone: 512-495--4520 e-mail: blac@lib.utexas.edu web site: www.lib.utexas.edu/benson/

Newspapers borrowed, in whole or in part, from other libraries are identified with the following superscripts:

a Library of Congress, Washington, DC
b Latin American Library, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
c Harvard College Library, Cambridge, MA
d Boston Public Library, Boston, MA

Superscripts appearing before a title or before a year within a title indicate the run was borrowed from the library indicated. Superscripts appearing before a month indicate that some or all issues for that month were borrowed from the library indicated. The content list within each microfilm reel provides notes that indicate the specific issues borrowed from participating institutions.

Months of the year are abbreviated as in the language of the newspaper.

OCLC number following the title of the work refers to the Online Computer Library Center accession number for the microform version of the newspaper.

The alphabetical arrangement of the titles serves as an index to the newspapers, which are arranged geographically in the main listings. The reel and frame number in the alphabetical list refers to the first issue microfilmed and, if applicable, to the reel of addenda and errata. Different newspapers with the same title are listed separately.

For more information on its photographic or archival collections, contact the Benson Collection Rare Books Section, (512) 495-4520; e-mail: blac@lib.utexas.edu.