Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Guide to Karen Leonard's Punjabi-Mexican American papers
M1808
M1808
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Karen Leonard's Punjabi-Mexican American papers
Identifier/Call Number: M1808
Contributing Institution:
Dept. of Special Collections & University Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
7.5 Linear feet
(14 manuscript boxes, 1 flat box)
Date (inclusive): 1900-1990
Abstract: Included in this collection are 5 linear feet of research materials that include county records of marriage, birth and death
certificates, documentation on civil cases, articles and photographs, correspondence, as well as other vital statistics and
genealogical information related to the Punjabi Mexican Americans in California.
The Punjabi Mexican American collection consists of Karen Leonard's research materials, which were the basis for her book
MAKING ETHNIC CHOICES; CALIFORNIA'S PUNJABI MEXICAN AMERICANS (1992), as well as for the PBS documentary ROOTS IN THE SAND
(1998).
Karen B. Leonard is Professor of Anthropology and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine. Her interests
in the Asian American community let to the research she conducted on the intercultural relations that developed between immigrant
Punjabi men and women of Mexican descent during the early 1900s. Through her research, Prof. Leonard was able to conduct interviews
and gather vital statistics to recreate the many aspects of survival, politics, class, language and religion that these two
groups experienced.
Karen Leonard's Punjabi Mexican American papers
In the early twentieth century, men from India's Punjab province came to California to work on the land. The new immigrants
had few chances to marry. There were very few marriageable Indian women available in California, and miscegenation laws and
racial prejudice limited their ability to find white Americans. Discovering an unexpected compatibility, Punjabis married
women of Mexican descent and these alliances inspired others as the men introduced their bachelor relatives and friends to
the sisters and friends of their wives. These biracial families developed an identity as "Hindus" but also as Americans within
intricate religious contexts.
This collection documents the sociocultural interactions between Punjabi men and women of Mexican descent that took place
during the early 1900s. This collection also documents some aspects of the agricultural history of California from north of
Sacramento to the southern part of the state.
The materials are open for research use. Audio-visual materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted
to a digital use copy.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
[identification of item], Karen Leonard's Punjabi-Mexican American papers (M1808). Dept. of Special Collections and University
Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
This collection was a gift from Karen Leonard to Stanford University, Special Collections in February, 2011.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Leonard, Karen