Preferred Citation
Processing History
Publication Rights
Access
Biographical/Historical Note
Arrangement
Acquisition information
Related Archival Materials
Scope and Content of Collection
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Tom Mahoney research materials on Pancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution
Creator:
Mahoney, Tom
Identifier/Call Number: 2001.M.20
Physical Description:
6.74 Linear Feet
(8 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1890-1981
Abstract: The Tom Mahoney Research Materials on Pancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution comprises materials related to an unpublished
book by Mahoney with the working title "P-a-n-c-h-o V-i-l-l-a: Bandit...Rebel...Patriot...Satyr," which he began working on
in the late 1920s. Included is a partial typescript for the book and a paste-up of photographic illustrations. Research materials
include hand- or type-written notes and transcriptions; extensive files of clippings from revolution-era and post-revolution
Mexican and American newspapers; related manuscripts and publications and research-related correspondence. Also included are
research files on topics of interest to Mahoney, many of which relate to his book and magazine publications, such as
The Great Merchants and
The Story of Jewelry.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language of Material: Collection material is in English with some Spanish.
Preferred Citation
Tom Mahoney research materials on Pancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1923, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles,
Accession no. 2001.M.20.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2001m20
Processing History
Processed by Beth Ann Guynn and Linda Kleiger in 2015 and 2016. The finding aid was written by Guynn and partially encoded
by Kleiger.
Publication Rights
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Biographical/Historical Note
The American newspaperman, author and public relations executive, John Thomas (Tom) Mahoney was born in Dallas, Texas on December
3, 1905. His initial college career, at Southern Methodist University, was cut short when he was expelled from the school
following the publication of
The Dinkey, an April Fools' Day campus newspaper, in 1924. Mahoney resumed his studies at the School of Journalism, University of Missouri,
where he lettered in track and was sports editor of
The Savitar, the university's yearbook.
Following his graduation in 1927 Mahoney went to work for the
El Paso Herald (later
El Paso Herald-Post) where, within six months, he attained the position of city editor. Thus, he was ideally positioned to cover the 1929 Escobar
Rebellion during which Ciudad Juárez, El Paso's port of entry across the Rio Grande, was captured and briefly held by the
Federalist Mexican General, Don José Gonzalo Escobar, and his forces in rebellion against Mexico's post-revolutionary government
of Emilio Portes Gil.
Mahoney continued his newspaper career as Texas manager and night division news editor in Kansas City for the United Press
(UP; now United Press International, UPI) from 1930 to 1934 and was on the staff at the
Buffalo Times from 1934 to 1936. From there he went on to work in magazines, holding postions of editor of
Mechanix Illustrated from 1936 to 1937 and as associate editor for
Look from 1937 to 1939. Mahoney then began a career in public relations, starting with the General Electric Company in 1939, where
he worked until 1943. He also worked for the overseas Branch of the Office of War Information in 1943 before returning for
another magazine stint as an associate editor at
Fortune magazine from 1943 to 1945. Mahoney concluded his career in public relations at Young and Rubicam from 1948 to 1956 and at
Dudley-Anderson-Yutzy from 1956 to 1958.
Throughout his career Mahoney was a frequent contributor to magazines such as
The Saturday Evening Post,
The New Yorker,
Esquire, and
The Atlantic Monthly. The first of Mahoney's nine published books was
Public Relations for Retailers (1949). In addition to writing several other books on retail merchants and American big business, he coauthored
The Story of George Romney with Romney (1960);
The Longest Auto Race with George Schuster, a member of the race's winning Thomas Flyer crew (1966); and
I'm a Lucky One with Barry Sadler, who co-wrote (with Robin Moore) and recorded the Vietnam war-era "Ballad of the Green Berets" (1966).
In 1930, Mahoney married his first wife, Grace Dooley, and they had one daughter. He married his second wife, the feminist
writer Caroline Bird, in 1957, and they had a son. Mahoney died in Poughkeepsie, New York on July 17, 1981.
Sources consulted:
New York Times. "Tom Mahoney, Author and Former Journalist." July 19, 1981. http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/19/obituaries/tom-mahoney-author-and-former-journalist.html.
State Historical Society of Missouri, finding aid for Tom Mahoney Papers, 1922-1969. http://shs.umsystem.edu/manuscripts/columbia/3063.pdf
"Mahoney, Tom (John Thos.)." In
Who's Who in the East: A Biographical Dictionary of Noteworthy Men and Women of the Middle Atlantic and Northeastern States,
6th edition
. Chicago: Marquis-Who's Who, 1957.
"Mahoney, Tom (John Thomas Mahoney)". In
Who Was Who in America with World Notables. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1943. Vol. VIII, p.257-258.
Arrangement
Arranged in two series: Series I. Pancho Villa project, 1890-1981; Series II. Other projects and research files, 1925-1981,
undated.
Acquisition information
Acquired in 2001.
Related Archival Materials
Small collections of Tom Mahoney papers are held at the following repositories: The State Historical Society of Missouri,
collection no. C3036; The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming, collection no. 04285; the University of Texas
at El Paso Library, MS 026; the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum (no collection number); the Detroit
Public Library; and the University of Virginia, MS 9859-C.
The focus of the Missouri collection is on Mahoney's college days and his career as a newspaperman in Texas and New York,
while the Wyoming collection contains Mahoney's research materials related to early aviation and automobile transportation.
Biographical materials on Mahoney and George Schuster are found in the collection at University of Texas, El Paso, as are
a manuscript and related materials of
I'm a Lucky One (1967), written by Staff Sargeant Barry Sadler and co-authored by Mahoney.
The Roosevelt Library's "Tom Mahoney Papers Relating to Jay 'Ding' Darling" comprises Mahoney's research and writings on the
American political cartoonist and wildlife conservationist known as Ding. Detroit's "Romney-Mahoney Papers" in the Burton
Historical Collection comprise materials collected by Mahoney for his book on George Romney. The "Papers of Tom Mahoney on
the Everleigh Sisters and the Everleigh Club" are at the University of Virginia.
Scope and Content of Collection
The bulk of the collection comprises materials related to an unpublished book by Mahoney with the working title "P-a-n-c-h-o
V-i-l-l-a: Bandit...Rebel...Patriot...Satyr." Mahoney apparently began working on the book sometime in the late 1920s while
he was working at the
El Paso Herald. A small amount of correspondence indicates that he was already looking for potential publishers during 1929 and 1930. A
carbon copy of a 1964 letter to "Grail" from Mahoney, responding to comments on the Villa manuscript, indicates that Mahoney
was still working on this project in the early 1960s. Unlike most of his books, which were work for hire or co-authored publications,
the Villa manuscript seems to have been a personal project for Mahoney.
Series I, Pancho Villa project, contains materials related to this book. A partial typescript for the book, including a table
of contents and chapters I-IV and X, is included in the series. The table of contents lists 25 chapters and there are the
same number of chapters indicated in the accompanying paste-up of photographic illustrations. Two extensive files of hand-
or-typewritten notes and transcriptions comprise the remainder of the manuscript material. Correspondence regarding the book
includes discussion of potential publishers and various aspects of the Pancho Villa story.
The photographs focus on the movements of Villa from 1910 until his death in 1923. His activities throughout northern Mexico,
beginning with his involvement in the Madero insurrection are documented, as are other key moments in his history including
his 1914 triumphal entry into Mexico City with Emiliano Zapata; his 1916 raid on Columbus, New Mexico; the subsequent U.S.
Punitive Expedition; his "surrender" or "retirement" in 1920; and his assassination in 1923. In addition to photographs of
Villa and his wife Luz Corral, images of prominent figures of the Revolution include Francisco Madero, Raúl Madero, Venustiano
Carranza, Abraham González, Giuseppe Garibaldi II, Victoriano Huerta, Álvaro Obregón, Pascual Orozco, Toribio Ortega, and
Luis Terrazas. Also present are American writers Ambrose Bierce and Jack London and other reporters who witnessed the revolution.
Other photographs depict the revolutionary, Federal, and American forces; and the preparation for and aftermath of various
battles. The bulk of the photographs are by unidentified photographers. Known photographers represented here include: Jim
A. Alexander, Hugo Brehme, Casasola, Walter E. Hadsell, Antonio Garduño, R. M. Metcalfe; Homer Scott, Villegas, and Alexander
& Green.
Research materials include extensive files of clippings from revolution-era and post-revolution Mexican and American newspapers.
Post-revolution serials containing stories about the revolution, maps of Mexico, and lists of books on Mexico complete the
research materials. There is also a small amount of research-related correspondence.
Related manuscripts and publications conclude the series. While it is unclear whether two apparently unpublished articles
"The Rupture between Don Venustiano Carranza and General Villa" and "The Romance of Pancho Villa" were written by Mahoney,
they are certainly on topics that feature in the table of contents of his book. Another such topic is Villa's 1916 raid on
Columbus, New Mexico. Research materials, copies of articles by Mahoney on this subject, and correspondence regarding his
articles are also present here.
Series II, Other projects and research files, contains research files on topics of interest to Mahoney, many of which relate
to his book and magazine publications, such as
The Great Merchants and
The Story of Jewelry, co-authored with Marcus Baerwald. Also included is a partial typescript for Baerwald's unpublished [?] memoir, "Diamonds
and Texans: A Memoir of Seventy Years in Jewelry." Files on topics pertaining to Mexico and Texas, but not related to Pancho
Villa and the Mexican Revolution, comprise the bulk of the series. Much of the material is in the form of newspaper clippings.
There is some research-related correspondence and a small amount of manuscript or typescript material. A small file of personal
papers is also included.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Texas -- Description and travel
Mexico -- History -- Revolution, 1910-1920
Columbus (N.M.) -- History
Clippings (information artifacts) -- Mexico -- 20th century
Clippings (information artifacts) -- United States -- 20th century
Photographs, Original
Gelatin silver prints -- Mexico-20th century
Postcards -- Mexico -- 20th century
Ortega Ramírez, Toribio, 1870-1914
Casasola, Agustín Víctor, 1874-1938
Orozco, Pascual, 1882-1915
Terrazas, Luis, 1829-1923
Metcalfe, R. M.
Scott, Homer
Garduño, Antonio
Huerta, Victoriano, 1845-1916
London, Jack, 1876-1916
Bierce, Ambrose, 1842-1914?
Madero, Raúl
Obregón, Álvaro, 1880-1928
Corral Vda. de Villa, Luz, 1894-1981
Madero, Francisco I., 1873-1913
Brehme, Hugo
Zapata, Emiliano, 1879-1919
Villa, Pancho, 1878-1923
Carranza, Venustiano, 1859-1920
Alexander, Jim A.
Garibaldi, Giuseppe, junior
Alexander & Green
Villegas
Baerwald, Marcus
Hadsell, W. E. (Walter Elias), 1880-1967