Howard E. Gulick Papers
Finding aid prepared by Special Collections & Archives
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Copyright 2005
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, California, 92093-0175
858-534-2533
spcoll@ucsd.edu
Title: Howard E. Gulick Papers
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0091
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, California, 92093-0175
Languages:
English
Physical Description:
2.6 Linear feet
(3 archives boxes, 2 card file boxes, 12 oversize folders, 6 slide boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1948 - 1980
Abstract: Papers of Howard E. Gulick, author, cartographer and traveler in the Mexican states of Baja California Norte, Baja California
Sur and Nayarit.
Creator:
Gulick, Howard E.
Selected materials from the collection have been digitized and can be viewed by clicking the link below.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of Howard E. Gulick, author, cartographer and traveler in the Mexican states of Baja California Norte, Baja California
Sur and Nayarit. Gulick coauthored one of the first guidebooks on Baja California, the
Lower California Guidebook (1956), which combined history and culture with field maps and mileage tabulation. His guidebook to Nayarit entitled
Nayarit, Mexico; A Traveler's Guidebook To This Historic And Scenic State Of Mexico's West Coast, And Its Capital, The City
Of Tepic
(1965) was the first English-language guide to that state. The Baja California materials date between 1948 and 1973 and the
Nayarit materials date between 1964 and 1965. Included are letters from botanist Annetta Carter and geographer Homer Aschmann,
manuscripts and typescripts of Gulick's unpublished research papers, manuscript maps, published maps, journals and diaries
from trips, and a large collection of color slide images of places and people in Baja California and Nayarit.
The collection is arranged in five series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE; 2) WRITINGS; 3) MAP MATERIALS; 4) SLIDES; and 5) JOURNALS.
Howard Gulick was born in Visalia, California, on August 25, 1911. In 1920 he moved with his parents to Los Angeles and later,
in 1922, to Glendale, California. Gulick graduated from Glendale High School in 1929 and from the California Institute of
Technology in 1934 with a bachelor's degree in engineering.
From 1935 to 1972 Gulick worked for the Public Service Department of the City of Glendale as a civil engineer in the water
and electrical utility department. During World War II (September 1942-January 1946), he served in the Air Force and was stationed
at Yuma, Arizona. Apart from his duties as post engineer and purchasing officer, Gulick spent his free time practicing Spanish,
exploring the border and developed an interest in the desert.
In 1950, he made his first long trip into Baja California, traveling as far south as Loreto in a new Jeep station wagon. Gulick
continued to spend his vacations traveling the peninsula (except 1958) until 1961. In 1964, he recalled, "besides merely covering
roads, I studied and looked for old trails, missions, ranches, etc. Along with all this, detailed notes of road mileages enabled
me to plot the roads on a base map. During this period most long weekends were spent down there [often in the company of Faustino
Perez of Ensenada], and frequently two-day weekends also."
Peter Gerhard, a historian, proposed that they collaborate on a guidebook to Baja California which would incorporate Gulick's
notes for the road log portion. In 1956, the first printing of the LOWER CALIFORNIA GUIDEBOOK appeared at a time when popular
interest in the peninsula was increasing. Gulick conceived of this guidebook "as a volume which would not only help the traveler
find his way to hitherto unmapped roads, but would describe, from personal observation, the area and points of interest."
Popular among peninsular travelers, the
Lower California Guidebook was reissued in three updated editions before a fifth revised edition, entitled the
Baja California Guidebook (1975) was published. Walt Wheelock replaced Peter Gerhard as co-author.
Between 1962 and 1964, Gulick shifted his focus to the state of Nayarit, Mexico, and, in 1965, published
Nayarit, Mexico; A Travelers Guidebook To This Historic And Scenic State Of Mexico's West Coast, And Its Capital, The City
Of Tepic
. This work was the first English-language guidebook to Nayarit.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Howard E. Gulick Papers, MSS 91. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquired 1986.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Aschmann, Homer, 1920- -- Correspondence
Carter, Annetta -- Correspondence
Gulick, Howard E. -- Archives
Baja California (Mexico : Peninsula) -- Description and travel
Nayarit (Mexico) -- Description and travel
Photographic prints -- 20th century
CORRESPONDENCE
Series 1) CORRESPONDENCE: Letters from numerous researchers, travelers and aficionados of Baja California and Nayarit between
1964 and 1980. Among the correspondents are Annetta Carter, Homer Aschmann, Harry Crosby, and anthropologist Tom Hinton. The
series is arranged in chronological order with drafts of Gulick's letters at the end.
Box 1, Folder 1
General correspondence 1964 - 1966
Box 1, Folder 2
General correspondence 1966 - 1980
Box 1, Folder 3
Drafts of letters
WRITINGS
Series 2) WRITINGS: Unpublished manuscripts and typescripts based on Gulick's research. In his work entitled "The Coast of
the Gulf of California from Punta Final to San Felipe," Gulick attempts to match the Jesuit Fernando Consag's description
of the coast line, which he translated, with his own observations. Also included is Gulick's study of the Mixton War in Jalisco
in the sixteenth century which includes his "Notes from Tello." The "Nayarit Notebook" contains manuscript maps of the state;
notes on its history; and notes on the flora and fauna. Finally, the series includes a small notebook which describes a 1972-73
trip to Guadalupe Island and Scammon's Lagoon.
Box 2, Folder 1
Box 3, Folder 1
Box 3, Folder 2
Log of the voyage which Father Fernando Consag of the Company of Jesus,
[title continues] Missionary of the Californias, made in discovery of the east coast of California to the Colorodo River where
its strait ends, by order of Father Christopher de Escobar y Llamas, Provincial of New Spain, of the Company of Jesus, Year
of 1746. Typescript translation with pencil annotations and manuscript map.
Box 3, Folder 7
MAP MATERIALS
Series 3) MAP MATERIALS. Arranged in two subseries: A) Materials by Howard Gulick, and B) By Others. The first subseries comprises
working notes, draft and finish maps, and mileage tabulations for a series of maps reproduced in the LOWER CALIFORNIA GUIDEBOOK
and NAYARIT, MEXICO... While traveling and camping, Gulick made maps using elements of existing published maps for templates.
He combined compass sightings and mileage tabulations to locate more accurately natural features, roads, towns, and ranches.
Subseries B comprise Gulick's collection of published maps and are arranged by corporate author.
By Howard Gulick
Box 3, Folder 8
Box 3, Folder 9
Mileage tabulations
Box 3, Folder 10
Mileage tabulations
Box 4, Folder 1, Oversize MC02301
Box 4, Folder 2, Oversize MC02302
Box 4, Folder 3, Oversize MC02303
Box 4, Folder 4, Oversize MC02304
Box 4, Folder 5, Oversize MC02305
By Others
Box 4, Folder 7, Oversize MC02307
Box 4, Folder 8, Oversize MC04001
Box 4, Folder 9, Oversize MC04002
SLIDES
Series 4) SLIDES: 35mm color slides of Baja California and Nayarit which Gulick took during his travels. They record landscapes,
ranches, towns, people, and life along the transpeninsular highway before it was paved. A typescript list of slides, transcribed
from Gulick's holograph logs, provides individual descriptions, number of items, and dates for the images. The slides are
arranged according to the routes described in the guidebook. The slides have been digitized and may be viewed by clicking
the link below.
Box 4, Folder 13
Logs of Gulick's slide descriptions
Box 4, Folder 14
Box 4, Folder 15
JOURNALS
Series 5) JOURNALS: Trip logs from Baja California between 1948 and 1967. These bound volumes record places and mileage with
occasional narrative description. Volumes 37 and 38 are written in diary form with dated entries and relate to Gulick's travels
in Nayarit and minor trips to Baja California.