Beatríz de la Garza Papers
Scope and Contents Note
The Beatríz de la Garza papers are arranged in the following six series: 1) Personal and Biographical, 2) Collected Publications, 3) Education, 4) Professional Positions, 5) Written Works, and 6) Oversize Materials.
The collection ranges from about the 1950s to 2019, with some undated materials as well. Most of the collection contains materials which were products of her extensive writing career, including manuscripts, research material, notes, correspondence, conference and festival attendance as a distinguished author, and material from and by working with various publishers including UT Press and Arte Publico Press, among other materials. The collection also includes materials produced from her time as a student, with a few elementary and middle school materials dating from 1951 including photographs and report cards but with a more robust collection of materials produced from 1958 to 1984, spanning her high school, college and graduate careers, including newspaper clippings of achievements, diplomas, transcripts, writings, photographs and more. Some of the material is also produced from her work as a professor at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University-San Marcos) and the University of Texas at Austin, dating from 1968 to 1995, including student work, attendance sheets and other teaching materials.
Some materials are also a product of her civil work with Austin ISD Board of Trustees, Austin Planning Commission, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Travis County, Capital Area Mexican American Lawyers (CAMAL) and Pan American Round Table of Austin, including brochures, conference information, catalogs and name tags.
De la Garza's interests lay in the early 20th century Southern Texas landscape and the Republic of Texas, especially as it related to Mexican and Mexican American lives and interactions with the legal system, and by extension explorations on race, culture, assimilation, racism and bicultural identities. Her work also concerns borderlands studies, poverty, political conflict/war, migration and identity, both in her creative writing texts, historical fiction works and nonfiction texts. A prolific bilingual writer, de la Garza's research dealt with Mexico and Mexicans directly, often writing and researching spanish-language texts. At the intersection of her interests in Northern Mexico, Southern Texas and tying her own lived experiences into her work was her interest in genealogy and genealogical research, including working with the Tejano Genealogy Society of Austin and participating in their Texas State Hispanic Genealogical and Historical Conference.
Dates
- Creation: 1952-2019
Language of Materials
English, Spanish
Access Restrictions
Unrestricted.
Use Restrictions
Standard copyright restrictions apply.
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Beatríz Eugenia de la Garza was born on October 13, 1943, in Guerrero, Tamaulipas in Mexico (also referred to as Old Revilla or Guerrero Viejo). Orphaned at the age of six, she moved with her paternal aunts Amelia and Ofelia to Laredo, Texas, where she spent the rest of her childhood. After graduating as valedictorian from St. Augustine High School in 1962, de la Garza attended Laredo Junior College until 1964 where she was a member of the national scholarly honors fraternity Phi Theta Kappa. De la Garza continued her education at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), where she studied journalism and creative writing and graduated in 1966. While completing her bachelor's degree she won first place in the Hemphill Short Story Contest for Undergraduate Students with her story, "The Birds are Still Singing," which would later be published alongside another original story "The Wanderer" in the anthology Corral (1966).
A lifelong learner, de la Garza continued her education at UT Austin with a Master of Arts (MA) in 1971 and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Spanish language and literature in 1984. Additionally, de la Garza received her law degree (JD) from UT Austin in 1978.
De la Garza worked as an author, professor, and attorney within the Austin, Texas area throughout her career. Her career spans more than five decades and includes professorship and legal positions. She taught at both at UT Austin and Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University-San Marcos). She also worked within various legal settings including the General Land Office and in her own solo practice.
Beyond her professional roles within law and academia, de la Garza was a longtime civic leader within the city of Austin, Texas. From 1980-1982, de la Garza was President of the Capital Area Mexican American Lawyers (CAMAL) as well as a member of the Board of Directors for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Travis County, Texas. She served as a member and vice-chair for the Austin Planning Commission from 1985-1994 and was a member of the Class of 1986-1987 for Leadership Austin. She also served as the Trustee and President of the Austin Independent School District (AISD) Board of Trustees from 1988-1994.
De la Garza is a prolific bilingual writer with numerous published (and unpublished) novels, short stories, and newspaper articles in English and Spanish. Her grandfather, Lorenzo de la Garza, had connections to the Don Bernando family and the independence movement for the Republic of Rio Grande which sought to form an independent state in northern Mexico. Her birthplace and her familial connections would inform some of her writings’ settings, such as in her novel Pillars of Gold and Silver (1997) and From the Republic of the Rio Grande: A Personal History of the Place and the People (2013).
As of 2024, de la Garza is retired from her law practice and resides in the Austin, Texas area.
Full Extent
13 linear feet
Abstract
The Beatríz de la Garza papers document a decorated academic, professor, writer, attorney, scholar, and civic leader whose career spans more than five decades. Most of the materials in the collection relate to her professional career and her personal life including family photographs, education-related materials (diploma, report cards, newspaper clippings, thesis) and various handwritten notes. There is also an extensive amount of material related to her writing, including handwritten notes, research materials, manuscripts, correspondence, publishing and promotional material, and book covers.
Acquisition Information
Donation.
Accession numbers: 2016-29, 2019-33
Additions
No further materials are expected for this collection.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Julia Doelling, Amarainie Marquez, Natalya Stanke, Natasha Zoghlin (UT School of Information interns), Spring 2024.
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Beatríz de la Garza Papers
- Status
- Edited Full Draft
- Author
- Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection
- Date
- 2024
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard (Dacs)
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Revision Statements
- 2025 July: Revised by Ryan Sullivant to fix validation errors prior to ingestion into ArchivesSpace.
- 2026: Edited by Carla O. Alvarez.
Repository Details
Part of the Benson Latin American Collection, The University of Texas at Austin Repository
2300 Red River Street
Austin Texas 78712 United States
(512) 495-4578
bensonspecialcollections@austin.utexas.edu