Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Vela Family Letters
MS125
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Vela Family letters
Dates: 1926-1927
Collection number: MS125
Creator:
Vela, Valentín
Creator:
Vela, María Corona
Collection Size:
.25 linear feet
Repository:
Loyola Marymount University. Library. Department of Archives and Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90045-2659
Abstract: Correspondence between Vela family members written primarily as one brother prepares to immigrate from Mexico to the United
States.
Physical location: Section H, Aisle 67, Row B, Bay 1, Shelf 6
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
Spanish
Collection is open to research under the terms of use of the Department of Archives and Special Collections, Loyola Marymount
University.
Materials in the Department of Archives and Special Collections may be subject to copyright. Unless explicitly stated otherwise,
Loyola Marymount University does not claim ownership of the copyright of any materials in its collections. The user or publisher
must secure permission to publish from the copyright owner. Loyola Marymount University does not assume any responsibility
for infringement of copyright or of publication rights held by the original author or artists or his/her heirs, assigns, or
executors.
[Identification of item], Series number, Box and Folder number, Vela Family letters , MS125, Department of Archives and Special
Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University.
Gift of Albert V. Vela, P.h.D. Accession number: 2016.37.
Biography / Administrative History
Margarito Vela (1878-1973) lived in Guanajuato, Mexico with his wife, Juana (1903-1965), and two daughters, Dolores and Julia.
In 1926 Margarito and his family immigrated to the United States along wife Juana’s father, Juan Vargas (1860-1952). They
took a train from Guanajuato to Juarez and from Juarez crossed the International Bridge into El Paso, Texas. The family paid
eight dollars per person to enter El Paso on 1926 November 8. They eventually joined Margarito’s older brother, Valentín,
in Sawtelle, California, a small community within Santa Monica. His father-in-law, Juan, worked in the Long Beach shipyards
until the end of World War I in 1918.
Margarito and his family left Mexico at the start of the Cristero Rebellion, a wide-spread struggle lasting from 1926 to 1929
between many central-western Mexican states against the anti-Catholic Mexican government. The Vela brothers received updates
on the rebellion from their sister, María, who remained in Guanajuato.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of five letters written amongst the Vela family siblings: Margarito Corona Vela, Valentín Vela, and
María Corona Vela. The focus is largely on Magarito's immigration.
The letters are arranged in chronological order.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Cristero Rebellion, 1926-1929.
Church and state--Mexico--History--20th Century
Mexico--History--1910-1946
Catholic Church
Immigration
California--History--1850-1950.