Pablo and José Albino Baca correspondence A Guide to the Collection


Overview
	Creator:	Baca, Pablo
	Title:	Pablo and José Albino Baca correspondence
	Inclusive Dates:	December 1877–February 1885
	Abstract:	Correspondence of Pablo Baca and his brother José Albino Baca, two ethnic Mexicans who raised sheep in Texas, New Mexico and California during the 1870s and 1880s.
	Accession No:	Vault A1993.1905c
	Extent:	1 Folder (18 items)
	Language:	Material is in Spanish
	Repository	DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University

Biographical Note

In the late nineteenth century, brothers José Albino Baca (born circa 1830) and Pablo Baca (born circa 1839) raised sheep in California, New Mexico, and Texas during the 1870s and 1880s. On December 4, 1877, Pablo penned a letter to José describing the financial ruin and ultimate demise of his sheep business due to bad weather and competition in California. The event set in motion Pablo’s relocation to New Mexico and then to Texas, where he resumed his sheep-raising enterprises with the help of his brothers.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Pablo and José Albino Baca letters include sixteen letters and one envelope. José Albino Baca authored four of the missives. Pablo Baca wrote the rest of them. The brothers’ correspondence provides a unique look at the social and economic changes that affected the lives of ethnic Mexicans involved in the sheep industry in the American Southwest following the Mexican Cession of 1848.

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Arrangement of the Collection
	The collection is organized into four series, all of which are located in one folder:

		Series 1: Pablo Baca Relocation from California to New Mexico
		Series 2: Pablo Baca in Trujillo, New Mexico
		Series 3: Pablo Baca in Trujillo, Texas
		Series 4: Synopses of José and Pablo Baca Letters

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Restrictions

Access to Collection:

Collection is open for research use.

Publication Rights:

Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the DeGolyer Library.

Copyright Statement:

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.

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Access Terms
	This collection is indexed under the following terms in the Southern Methodist University Libraries' online catalog. Researchers desiring related materials may search the catalog using these terms.

		Mexican Americans -- Southwest, New -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
		Sheep ranchers -- New Mexico -- Trujillo -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
		Sheep ranchers -- Texas -- Trujillo -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
		Sheep industry -- Southwest, New -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.

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Related Material

For additional material pertaining to New Mexico during the nineteenth century, see El gobernador constitucional y comandante principal del departamento de Nuevo Mejico, a sus habitants ... (DeGolyer Microfilm Mf80.01 reel 388, no. 3845), The First Printing in New Mexico (Z209.N553 M2), and Historia de Vincente Silva, sus cuarenta bandidos, sus crimenes y retribuciones by Manuel C. de Baca (F801.S5 B315 1896).

For more on the sheep industry, see Changes in the Sheep Industry in the United States (HD9436.U62 N38 2008), John O. Baxter’s Las Carneradas: Sheep Trade in New Mexico, 1700-1860 (HD9436.U53 N63 1987), and Special Report on the History and Present Condition of the Sheep Industry of the United States by the United States Bureau of Animal Industry (SF375.U48 1892).

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Pablo and José Albino Baca correspondence, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.

Acquisition Information

Purchase, 1993.

Finding aid written by

George A. Méndez, 2009.

Encoded by

Lara Corazalla, 2009.

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Detailed Description of the Collection



Series 1: Pablo Baca Relocation from California to New Mexico, 1877-1878
	The first series of letters traces the relocation of Pablo Baca from San Francisco, California to New Mexico following the demise of his sheep business. The letters chronicle Pablo’s request for help from his brothers in New Mexico, the travel arrangements which were financed by José and another of the Baca brothers, and a final letter shares Pablo's travel itinerary with his family in New Mexico.
Folder	Item
1	1	Letter from Pablo Baca to José Albino Baca, 4 Dec 1877
	2	Letter from José Albino Baca to Pablo Baca, 3 Jan 1878
	3	Letter from Pablo Baca to José Albino Baca, 16 Jan 1878
	4	Letter from José Albino Baca to Pablo Baca, 31 Jan 1878
	5	Letter from José Albino Baca to Francisco A. Mansanary, 23 Feb 1878
	6	Letter from José Albino Baca to Pablo Baca, 23 Feb 1878
	7	Envelope for 23 Feb 1878 correspondence from J. A. Baca to P. Baca (Item 6)
	8	Letter from Pablo Baca to José Albino Baca, 15 Mar 1878

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Series 2: Pablo Baca in Trujillo, New Mexico, 1879
	The second series of letters begins about a year after Pablo Baca’s arrival in New Mexico. These letters document Pablo’s departure from Las Vegas, New Mexico to Trujillo, New Mexico. The April 13th letter, however, suggests that Pablo went to Texas. The first letter is from Pablo to a California lawyer named William Matthews, requesting that the latter come to New Mexico to represent ethnic Mexicans in land title disputes. The rest of the letters are also from Pablo reporting to his family in Las Vegas, New Mexico about his early misadventures and successes in the sheep business in Trujillo.
Folder	Item
1	9	Letter from Pablo Baca to William Matthews, 1 Mar 1879
	10	Letter from Pablo Baca to José Albino Baca, 16 Mar 1879
	11	Letter from Pablo Baca to José Albino Baca, 13 Apr 1879
	12	Letter from Pablo Baca to José Albino Baca, 27 Apr 1879
	13	Letter from Pablo Baca to José Albino Baca, 19 Jun 1879

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Series 3:
Pablo Baca in Trujillo, Texas, 1881–1885

The third series of letters begins about two years after the last correspondence from Trujillo, NM though now Pablo Baca is notating that he is writing from Trujillo, Texas, which was located in the Lone Star State’s Oldham County. These four letters further discuss Pablo’s sheep-raising exploits, his financial situation, and his plans to visit his brothers in Las Vegas for both personal and business reasons.

Folder

Item

Letter from Pablo Baca to José Albino Baca, 17 Mar 1881

Letter from Pablo Baca to José Albino Baca, 6 Jun 1882

Letter from Pablo Baca to José Albino Baca, 14 Oct 1882

Letter from Pablo Baca to José Albino Baca, 5 Feb 1885

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Series 4:
Synopses of José and Pablo Baca Letters

This is a basic summary of the collection’s sixteen letters written by the seller. The seller annotated Trujillo, Texas with “sic,” suggesting that Pablo Baca incorrectly identified his location, but the 1880 census records reveal that Pablo Baca was indeed a resident of Oldham County, Texas, where the city of Trujillo was then located.

Folder

Item

Three typed pages summarizing each of the sixteen letters from the collection

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