George I. Sánchez Papers

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alphabetically by form in three categories: published articles and reprints; monographs; and manuscript (draft) and unpublished works.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 Libraries' Digitization of the Photographs from the George Isidore Sánchez Papers page. Other photographs in this series include a handfull of images of Sánchez, photographs for Sánchez publications, photographs by Russell Lee, and portraits of participants in the University of Texas Guatemalan Teachers Project.

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.