Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Fernando R. and Enriqueta Gomez Collection in Mormon Mexican
History
H.Mss.1124
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Fernando R. and Enriqueta Gomez Collection in Mormon Mexican
History
Dates: 1810-2019
Bulk Dates: 1879-2012
Collection number: H.Mss.1124
Creator:
Gómez Páez, Fernando Rogelio
Creator:
Gómez, Enriqueta
Extent:
41.2 Linear Feet
(30 records boxes, 10 document boxes, 1 half-size document box,
4 oversize document boxes, 2 flat boxes, 2 custom ledger boxes, 1 audiovisual
box)
Repository:
Claremont Colleges. Library. Special Collections, The Claremont
Colleges Library, Claremont, CA 91711.
Abstract: This collection covers
the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mexico both from the
native and missionary perspectives, starting in the mid-19th century to the early 21st
century. This collection also includes a significant amount of documents from the
Fudnamentalist Mormon movement in Mexico, namely items from Margarito Bautista who founded
the group headquartered in Ozumba, Mexico, Mexico but also has documents translated to
Spanish from the Woolley, Allred, and LeBaron groups.
Administrative Information
Collection is open for research.
All requests for permission to reproduce or to publish must be sumitted in writing to
Special Collections and Archives, The Claremont Colleges Library.
[Identification of item], Fernando R. and Enriqueta Gomez Collection in Mormon Mexican
History (H.Mss.1124). Special Collections, The Claremont Colleges Library, The Claremont
Colleges Services, Claremont, California.
Provenance/Source of Aquisition
Gift of Fernando R. and Enriqueta Gomez, August 2020
No additions to the collection are anticipated.
This collection was processed by Claremont Graduate University (CGU) ARCH 315 students
and updated by Stephanie Griswold, a Ph.D. student at CGU.
The processing and cataloging of the Fernando R. and Enriqueta Gomez Collection in Mormon Mexican
History benefitted from the support of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant.
Biography / Administrative History
Fernando and Enriqueta Gomez were both born in Mexico in the early 1940s. They were
married and sealed in the Mesa Arizona Temple in 1964. With the help of his wife, Fernando
graduated as an electrical engineer from Brigham Young University in 1967. His
professional life took place in Mexico and the Philippine Islands, where he contributed to
developing and assembling semiconductors and magnetic heads for disk drives. He served his
first LDS mission on the west coast of Mexico in 1964. While in the Philippines, he was
called to serve as a Regional Representative from 1985 to 1990. The couple presided over
the Mexico Merida Mission [1992-1995], the Missionary Training Center in Santiago, Chile
[1998-2000], and the Merida Mexico Temple [2001-2004]. They have four children, sixteen
grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.
Consuelo Gomez Gonzalez, the aunt of Museum of Mormon Mexican History founder, Fernando
Gomez, was born in the state of Hidalgo in 1896. She was educated in Methodist schools,
where she graduated in 1919 as an educator and was employed by them. She met Mormon
missionaries in 1923 and was baptized in 1925, causing the loss of her employment. She
became a pillar of the early LDS Church in central Mexico, and in the 1940s she helped
Bernabe Parra establish a private school, Heroes de Chapultepec, which allowed her to
become a key figure in the development of the LDS Church's Educational System in Mexico in
the 1960s. She developed her talent as a poet and published many poems in LDS publications
for decades, among them: "The Vision of the Prophet" and "The Blind Men of Our
Branch."
The mission of the Museum of Mormon Mexican History is to collect and preserve the early
history of how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints developed in Mexico and to
make it available to the general public free of charge. This collection is a result of the
work of the Gomez family through the establishment of the Museum of Mormon Mexican History
after the collection was originally preserved and passed down to Fernando and Enriqueta
Gomez from Consuelo Gomez.
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The Fernando R. and Enriqueta Gomez Collection in Mormon Mexican History consists of
primary and secondary sources about Mormonism in Mexico. Primarily covering the activities
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there are general regional history and
Fundamentalist Mormon groups' documents including Bautista, Allred, and LeBaron groups. Some
of the important figures who are found in this collection are Abel Paez, Margarito Bautista,
Narciso Sandoval, Moses Thatcher, and Rey L. Pratt, to name a few. This collection is
notable because it has many files pertaining to the Escuela Heroes de Chapultepec, director
Consuelo Gomez, and the Beremerito school in Mexico. There are several church publications
in Spanish and English including Liohona, Relief Society magazine, church pamphlets, etc.
There are also large amounts of journals, diaries, and mission/congregation photographs from
throughout the Mexico Mission. There are several patriarchal blessings, ordinance documents,
and myriad documents from the Third Convention movement in the 1930s and 1940s.
The processing and cataloging of the Fernando R. and Enriqueta Gomez Collection in Mormon
Mexican History benefitted from the support of a National Endowment for the Humanities
grant.
This collection has been organized into the following series and subseries:
- Series 1: Institutional Records, 1810-2012 and undated
- Subseries 1.1: Addresses and Sermons, 1881-1968 and undated
- Subseries 1.2: Chapels and Temples, 1946-2000 and undated
- Subseries 1.3: Congregations, 1900-2006 and undated
- Subseries 1.4: Events, 1900-2012 and undated
- Subseries 1.5: Families, 1906-1968 and undated
- Subseries 1.6: Leaders, 1874-2009 and undated
- Subseries 1.7: Members, 1830-2010 and undated
- Subseries 1.8: Missionaries, 1900-1989
- Subseries 1.9: Missions, 1876-2009 and undated
- Subseries 1.10: Ordinances, 1810-1983 and undated
- Subseries 1.11: Schools, 1919-2008 and undated
- Series 2: Latin America, General, 1885-1997 and undated
- Subseries 2.1: Places, 1885-1997 and undated
- Subseries 2.2: Politics, 1931-1994
- Series 3: Museum Records, 1830-2019 and undated
- Subseries 3.1: Administrative Files, 1830-2019 and undated
- Subseries 3.2: Correspondence, 1983-2017 and undated
- Subseries 3.3: Exhibitions, 1881-2016 and undated
- Subseries 3.4: Presentations and Publications, 1875-2015 and undated
- Series 4: Printed Matter, 1879-2016 and undated
- Subseries 4.1: Magazines, 1908-2016
- Subseries 4.2: Newsletters, 1937-2001 and undated
- Subseries 4.3: Pamphlets, 1924-2008 and undated
- Subseries 4.4: Training Materials, 1879-1992 and undated
- Series 5: Research Materials, 1830-2015 and undated
- Subseries 5.1: Biographical Materials, 1844-2014 and undated
- Subseries 5.2: Call, Eran A. Papers, 1915-2010 and undated
- Subseries 5.3: Correspondence, 1857-2001 and undated
- Subseries 5.4: Histories, 1832-2012 and undated
- Subseries 5.5: Journals / Diaries, 1846-2012 and undated
- Subseries 5.6: Publications, 1830-2015 and undated
File folders are arranged alphabetically by title. Contents within files are typically
arranged by chronological order.
Alternative Forms of Material Available
Some materials from this collection have been digitized and added to the Claremont Mormon
Studies Collection in the Claremont Colleges Digital Library. Follow the link for the
Fernando R. and Enriqueta Gomez Mormon
Mexican History Collection
to view relevant items.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library’s online public access catalog.
Bautista, Margarito, 1878-1961
Call, Eran A. (Eran Abegg), 1929-2018
Church growth -- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints
Exhibitions
Genealogy
Gómez Páez, Fernando Rogelio
Mexico -- History -- Religious aspects
Mexico -- History -- Church growth -- Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints
Missionaries
Missions
Monastic and religious life
Mormon Church -- 20th century -- Sources
Mormon Church -- History
Mormon fundamentalism
Mormons -- 20th century -- Sources
Museums
Religious gatherings
Account books
Advertising Fliers
Articles
Audio-visual materials
Baptismal records
Correspondence
Diaries
Hymns
Marriage records
Newsletters
Pamphlets
Periodicals
Photographs
Poetry
Postcards
Programs
Publications
Sermons
Speeches, addresses, etc.
Tourist maps