George I. Sánchez, writer, educator, and civil rights advocate, was born Jorge Isidoro Sánchez y Sánchez on October 4, 1906, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The son of Telésforo and Juliana Sánchez, he attended elementary and secondary public schools in New Mexico and worked as a school teacher, principal, and superintendent while earning his BA from the University of New Mexico (1930). Sánchez received his Master of Science degree in Educational Psychology and Spanish from the University of Texas in 1931, and his Doctor of Education degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1934. During his graduate studies Sánchez also served as Director of the Division of Information and Statistics in the New Mexico State Department of Education. Sánchez was married to Virginia Romero, with whom he had two children, in 1925, and to Luisa G. Guerrero in 1947.
In 1940 Sánchez moved to Texas where he would stay as professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Education and consultant in Latin American Education at the University of Texas until his death in 1972. A noted academic, activist, and prolific writer, Sánchez served as
George I. Sánchez died on April 5, 1972. Among many honors in his memory, the National Education Association sponsored the George I. Sánchez Memorial Award to recognize him as the "father of the movement for quality education for Mexican-Americans"; the United States Office of Education named a work section and a room in the new United States Office of Education Building for him; schools in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin, Texas, were named for him; and in 1995 the University of Texas rededicated its Education Building as the George I. Sánchez Building.
Biographical records, correspondence and related documents, written works, speeches and interviews, photographs, and reference files, 1919-1986, represent the personal and professional life of Mexican American educator and civil rights activist George I. Sánchez. The papers are arranged into eight series.
The first series, General and Biographical (1919-1986, 5 inches), includes records documenting Sánchez's education and professional history. These include, among others, Sánchez's high school yearbook, grade transcipts, a series of resumés, newspaper clippings, and honors given to him both during his life and after his death.
The most extensive series, Series II: Correspondence and Subject Files (1931-1972, 26 linear feet) includes letters written to Sánchez and copies of letters from him as well as attached and related documents. Sánchez was a prolific letter writer and these files document his personal and professional interaction with his cultural and academic communities. Correspondence and Subject Files are arranged alphabetically by correspondent/subject and chronologically within folders.
Major correspondents include cultural and political figures Chris Aldrete, Roger Baldwin of the American Civil Liberties Union, Gus C. García, Hector García of the American G.I. Forum, lawyer M.C. Gonzales, Ed Idar, A.L. Wirin, and Senator Ralph Yarborough. Scholars and researchers well represented include A.L. Campa, Pedro Cebollero, Ernesto Galarza, Robert C. Jones, Julian Samora, Lyle Saunders, Brice Sewell, and Clarice Whittenburg. Some written works by these individuals or publications from organizations may also be found in Series VI: Reference Materials.
Materials documenting Sánchez's activities at the University of Texas at Austin comprise a large sub-series of the Correspondence and Subject Files.
Sánchez's literary production is represented in Series III: Written Works (1931-1971, 4 linear feet). Here articles and monographs are arranged alphabetically by form in three categories: published articles and reprints; monographs; and manuscript (draft) and unpublished works. Many works may appear in different forms in both the Articles and Reprints and the Manuscripts sub-series.
Series IV is divided into two sub-series: Speeches and Interviews (1931-1970, 8 linear inches). Speeches include typed or written copies of talks and other presentations given by Sánchez. The Interviews subseries includes published versions of interviews with Sánchez. Also included is a phonodisc featuring Sánchez speaking on behalf of the Ralph Yarborough Senate re-election campaign in 1958. This series is arranged chronologically.
Many images in Series V: Photographs (1930s-1966, 14 linear inches) show substandard schools for Mexican American children or migrant worker camps. A web-site including digital versions of 465 of these photographs can be found online at the University of Texas General Libraries'
Series VI: Reference Materials (6.5 linear feet) includes documents collected by Sánchez that provide reference information about subjects, individuals, or organizations in which he had an interest. These documents include card files and other bibliographies, publications dealing with Native Americans, reports on education in New Mexico, papers edited by Sánchez, and works on Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela among others. A full subject and bibliographic list of these reference materials is available at the Benson Latin American Collection library.
Series VII: Oversized Materials (3 boxes), contains various publications, photographs, and documents that due to their size had to be separated from the rest of the collection for proper storage.
The final series, Restricted Materials (5 linear inches), contains items that are not available to the public due to concerns of privacy and confidentiality. These materials are comprised largely of employee records and student grades.
Some student and employment materials may be restricted due to concerns about privacy and confidentiality.
Standard copyright restrictions apply.
The following terms are searchable as subjects in the University of Texas library catalog UTNetCat.
Many books and periodicals from Sánchez's library were separated, cataloged, and placed into the general collection at the Benson Latin American Collection. Some materials printed on acidic paper were photocopied and separated from the collection for preservation purposes. These items
Cite as: George I. Sánchez Papers, Benson Latin American Collection, General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
Preliminary processing of the collection was accomplished in the 1990s while final arrangement and description was not completed until 2003. While the original order given to the papers by Sánchez was preserved, box and folder numbers and in limited cases folder titles may have changed during final processing.