Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Alford (Joanne) Baja California Collection
MSS 0801
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Joanne Alford Baja California Collection
Creator:
Alford, Joanne
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0801
Physical Description:
1.4 Linear feet
(1 half archives box, 5 card file boxes, and 5 films)
Date (inclusive): 1963-1996
Abstract: Writings, slides, and films documenting a 1963-64 mule expedition through Baja California organized by Joanne Alford and Andrew
Meling.
Scope and Content of Collection
Writings, slides, and films documenting a 1963-64 mule expedition through Baja California organized by Joanne Alford and Andrew
Meling. The south-bound route was roughly planned in six legs: Tecate to Meling Ranch, then on to Bahía de los Angeles, Mulegé,
Loreto, La Paz, and finally, Cabo San Lucas. The collection includes extensive notes about the slide images prepared by Alford,
and a digital copy of a trip journal by Reid Moran, the botanical curator of the San Diego Natural History Museum, who accompanied
the expedition for three months.
In 1963, Joanne Alford, a San Diego engineer, and Andrew Meling, a Baja California native whose family operated a cattle ranch
south of Ensenada (Rancho San José, or Meling Ranch) proposed to travel the length of Baja California by mule train. They
planned a south-bound tour following old trails, with detours to sites of historical and geographical interest, including
mission ruins and rock and cave painting sites. According to Reid Moran, the botanical curator of the San Diego Natural History
Museum, the route was divided into six unequal legs: Tecate to Meling Ranch, then on to Bahía de los Angeles, Mulegé, Loreto,
La Paz, and finally, Cabo San Lucas. Alford and Meling attempted to recruit paying guests to accompany them on the journey.
They were joined for sections of the trip by a rotating cast of several people, including Reid Moran, the botanical curator
of the San Diego Natural History Museum; Scripps Institution of Oceanography professor Gifford Ewing and his daughter, Eva
C. Ewing; Howard "Tío" McFarland of San Antonio, Texas; Richard Johnston and Louis "Duke" Baldwin (photographers); and Wayne
Lange, Catherine Barton, and Edward "Bud" Bernhard of San Diego. Due to drought, severe conditions, stress on the mules, and
other difficulties with planning and execution, the expedition lasted five months, from December 1963 to its conclusion in
May 1964. Meling and Alford were the only travelers to ride into Cabo San Lucas.
Richard Johnston and Duke Baldwin, both third-year students at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, joined the trip free of
charge and were tasked with creating photographic documentation, including stills and films. They parted from the expedition
at Bahía de los Angeles, and from that point forward, Alford and Meling assumed responsibility for photography. According
to Reid Moran, Alford planned to use the images and journals created on the trip to write an article for
National Geographic magazine, develop a book on Baja California, and to prepare talks and lectures.
Joanne Alford Baja California Collection. MSS 801. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
On deposit, 2017.
Publication rights are held by the creator(s) of the collection.
All slides and two films from the collection were digitized prior to deposit. Researchers may inquire for access.
Original audiovisual media formats are restricted. Researchers may request user copies be produced in advance for non-digitized
items.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Baja California (Mexico : Peninsula) -- Description and travel
Alford, Joanne -- Archives
Meling, Andrew -- Travel
Moran, Reid -- Travel