Méndez (Miguel) papers, 1930-2006, bulk 1960-2006

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Summary

Title:
Miguel Méndez papers
Dates:
1930-2006, bulk 1960-2006
Creators:
Méndez M., Miguel
Abstract:

Miguel Méndez es una gran figura literaria en el mundo de la ficción Chicana. Sus papeles representan la importancia de este escritor Chicano y sus obras. El es un novelista y un profesor universitario retirado. Información personal y biográfica, correspondencia, artículos, fotos, audio, y archivos de videos son incluidos en su colección. Los escritos de Méndez consisten de ensayos, novelas, poesía y cuentos cortos. Manuscritos originales de su trabajo más notable titulado <em>Peregrinos de Aztlán </em> son parte de estos papeles.

Miguel Méndez is a major literary figure in the world of Chicano fiction. His papers represent this important Chicano writer's life and his writings. He is a novelist and retired university professor. Personal and biographical information, correspondence, articles, photos, audio, and video files are included in his collection. Méndez's writings consist of essays, novels, poetry and short stories. Original manuscripts of his most notable work titled <em>Peregrinos de Aztlán </em> are part of these papers.

Extent:
12 Linear Feet (19 letter size document boxes, 1 legal size document box, 1 over size box and audio/video files)
Language:
Spanish; Castilian.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Miguel Méndez papers, CEMA 141, Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

Los papeles personales incluyen ensayos, correspondencia, fotografías, novelas, archivos de enseñanza, y manuscritos, que están organizados alfabeticamente. La caja grande contiene artículos sobre y por Méndez, y están ordenados cronológicamente. La colección consiste de cuatro series: Personal y biográfica, Correspondencia, Escritos, y Audio y video. Todos estos están organizados en 21 cajas.

Personal papers include essays, correspondence, photographs, novels, teaching files, and manuscripts, which are arranged alphabetically. The oversized box contains articles about and by Méndez and they are ordered chronologically. The collection consists of four series: Personal and biographical, Correspondence, Writings, and Audio and Video. All of these are organized in 21 boxes.

Información personal y biográfica, 1930s - 2000s

Esta sección contiene papeles de su niñez hasta su carrera como profesor universitario y autor. Logros, conferencias, reconocimientos, entrevistas, revisiones y periódicos sobre Méndez son incluidos en ésta sección. Fotos y otros documentos misceláneos también son incluidos. Las subseries son Documentos biográficos, Artículos sobre y por Miguel Méndez, Entrevistas, y Fotos.

Correspondencia, 1970s - 2000s

Los registros de correspondencia contienen cartas salientes, entrantes de su carrera como profesor y escritor. Se incluye correspondencia personal y profesional con familia, amigos, escritores, compañeros de trabajo, y con organizaciones sin fines de lucro. La sección de correspondencia también incluye algunas tarjetas postales. La correspondencia de la Universidad de Arizona está en ésta sección. Cada sección está organizada por fecha y hay también una sección para la correspondencia en la que no se proporcionó fecha. Las subseries son Borradores, Entrantes, y Salientes.

Escritos

Borradores y manuscritos para muchos de sus trabajos son incluidos. Los títulos están organizados en orden alfabético y están listados por subseries como ensayos, revistas, notas, novelas, cuentos cortos, poemas, teatro y manuscritos mecanografiados.

Audio y Video, 1989 - 2002

Esta sección incluye cintas de VHS y audio, algunas de sus entrevistas de radio y televisión.

Personal and Biographical Information, 1930s - 2000s

This section contains papers from his childhood through his career as a University professor and author. Accomplishments, conferences, awards, interviews, reviews and newspapers articles about Méndez are included in this section. Pictures and other miscellaneous documents are also included. The subseries are Biographical documents, Articles about and by Miguel Méndez, Interviews, and Photos.

Correspondence, 1970s - 2000s

Correspondence records contain drafts and incoming and outgoing letters from his career as a professor and writer. It includes personal and business correspondence with family, friends, writers, co-workers, and non-profit organizations. The Correspondence section also include some postcards. University of Arizona correspondence are in this section. Each section is organized by date and there is also a section for the correspondence in which date was not provided. The subseries are Drafts, Incoming, and Outgoing.

Writings

Rough drafts and manuscripts of many of his works are included. The titles are arranged in alphabetical order and are listed by subseries as Essays, Magazines, Notes, Novels, Short stories, Poems, Theater and Typed manuscripts. Most of the material provided is undated and handwritten in Spanish. When available the author's comments are included. Very few dates were provided.

Audio and Video, 1989 - 2002

This section includes VHS and audio tapes, some from his radio and television interviews.

Biographical / historical:

Miguel Méndez es uno de los escritores líderes en el campo de la literatura Chicana. Sus trabajos incluyen novelas, cuentos cortos, ensayos y poesía. En su revisión de Entre letras y ladrillos: Una novela autobiográfica – Miguel Méndez (1997), Marco Portales lo describe como un famoso autor Yaqui-Chicano, uno de los pocos escritores en su género, quien como Tomás Rivera, escogió escribir casi exclusivamente en español, "continuando hilar las historias que ya había publicado por muchos años cuando el había suscitado interés, haciéndose en el proceso uno de los primeros autores mexico-americanos que ha ampliado la población de la literatura Chicana con materias de su propia experiencia y con personajes, situaciones e historias que se ha imaginado y experimentado". Miguel Méndez ha escrito más de 57 obras literarias durante el lapso de su carrera, escribiendo su primer novela a la edad de 18 años.

Miguel Méndez escribe sobre el area de la frontera mexico-estadounidense. The Chicano Literature: A Reference Guide lo describe como "una de las principales voces de la ficción Chicana socialmente comprometida". The Dictionary of Literary Biography's Chicano Writers First Series (DLB) dice de el: "La literature Chicana tiene en Miguel Méndez a uno de sus mejores y más sensibles escritores". El DLB continua a decir que en 1969, sus dos cuentos cortos "Tata Casehua" y "Taller de imágenes", publicados en la antología semanal de literatura Chicana El Espejo , "escrito en prosa poética por un ponedor de ladrillos con una educación de sólo sexto de primaria, dejó una profunda impreción en lectores y críticos".

Retirado como profesor de tiempo completo de la Universidad de Arizona, el se describe a sí mismo como un hombre autodidacta que aprendió mucho de lo que sabe por pasar largas horas en la biblioteca pública. Su dominio del lenguaje, él dice, "fue el fruto de muchas horas escribiendo en solitario a la luz de las velas." El dice que su madre le enseñó a leer, habiendo sido criado en la pobreza y sin ningún tipo de educación formal más allá del 6to. grado. El vivió parte de su vida siendo obrero, albañil, trabajador agrícolo, y trabajó en construcción hasta 1970, cuando le ofrecieron un trabajo de enseñanza sobre la literatura hispana en Pima College de Arizona, después de solicitar para el puesto y haber aprobado el exámen con excelente nota. En 1984, la Universidad de Arizona le confirió un Doctorado Honorario en Letras Humanas. En 1991 fue galardonado con el "Premio Nacional de Literatura Mexicana José Fuentes Mares". Dice Gary Keller de Editorial Bilingüe: "Tenemos un compromiso con Miguel Méndez, cuyo trabajo seguramente continuará siendo un componente duradero del canon Chicano". Los trabajos de Miguel Méndez se establecieron en CEMA en 2004. Se incluyen papeles personajes que documentan la vida del escritor y su carrera literaria, manuscritos literarios originales y ensayos, archivos de correspondencia, fotografías, una novela inédita sin publicar, materiales ephemera, cintas de audio, y archivos relacionados con la revista literaria que él dirigió en Pima College.

Miguel Méndez is one of the leading writers in the field of Chicano literature. His work includes novels, short stories, essays and poetry. In his review of From Labor to Letters: A Novel Autobiography – Miguel Méndez (1997) Marco Portales describes him as the famous Yaqui-Chicano author, one of the few writers in this genre who like Tomas Rivera choose to write almost exclusively in Spanish, "continuing to spin out stories that he has published for many years wherever he has elicited interest, becoming in the process one of the first Mexican-American authors who has amply peopled Chicano literature with the stuff of his own existence and with characters, situations and stories he has imagined and experienced." Miguel Méndez has written over 57 literary works over the span of his career, writing his first novel at the age of 18.

Miguel Méndez writes about the U.S. - Mexico border area. The Chicano Literature: A Reference Guide describes him as "one of the principal voices of socially committed Chicano fiction." The Dictionary of Literary Biography's Chicano Writers First Series (DLB) says of him "Chicano literature has in Miguel Méndez M. one of its finest and most sensitive writers." The DLB goes on to say that in 1969 his two short stories "Tata Casehua" and "Taller de Imagenes" published in the seminal Chicano literature anthology El Espejo/The Mirror, "written in poetic prose by a brick layer with only a sixth grade education, left a profound impression on readers and critics."

Retired as a full professor at the University of Arizona, he describes himself as a self-taught man who learned much of what he knows by spending long hours at the public library. His mastery of language, he says, "was the fruit of long hours writing in solitude by candlelight." He says his mother taught him to read, having been raised in poverty and lacking any formal education beyond the 6th grade. He spent much of his life as a laborer, brick-layer and farm worker and worked in construction until 1970 when he was offered a job teaching Hispanic literature at Arizona's Pima College after applying for the position and passing the exam with flying colors. In 1984 the University of Arizona conferred on him the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. In 1991 he was awarded the "Premio Nacional de Literatura Mexicana Jose Fuentes Mares." Says Gary Keller of Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingue, "We are committed to Miguel Méndez, whose work is sure to continue to be a lasting component of the Chicano canon."

Miguel Méndez' papers were established in CEMA in 2004. They include personal papers documenting the writer's life and literary career, original literary manuscripts and essays, correspondence files, photographs, an unpublished novel, ephemera, audio-tapes, and files related to the literary magazine he directed at Pima College.

Acquisition information:
Initial acquisition made in 2004, additional acquisition in 2006.
Processing information:

Processed by Callie Bowdish and Lilian Gomez, May 23, 2012. CEMA staff helped with the additional Spanish updates in 2013.

Collection was previously identified as Miguel Mendez papers, Mss 239.

Callie Bowdish with the assistance of Lilian Gomez, and CEMA staff

Physical location:
A portion of the collection is located at the Southern Regional Library Facility (SRLF).
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Callie Bowdish with the assistance of Lilian Gomez
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2022-10-04 12:21:10 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research Service copies of audiovisual items may need to be made before viewing or listening. Please consult Special Collections staff for further information. A portion of the collection is stored offsite. Advance notice is required for retrieval.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Miguel Méndez papers, CEMA 141, Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:
UC Santa Barbara Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
Contact:
(805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
Website