SP de México Collection, 1885-1954

Summary

Creators:

Ferrocarril Sud Pacífico de México.

Abstract:

This collection consists primarily of correspondence, as well as maps, news clippings, photographs, and blueprints, of the Southern Pacific of Mexico railroad line (SP de México), dating from 1885 to 1954.

Extent:

160 bound items in 23 boxes, and one large bound minute book.

Language:

English and Spanish.

Background

Scope and content:

These materials, consisting primarily of correspondence but also including maps, news clippings, photographs, and blueprints of the SP de México railroad line. There are 160 individual bound items in these 23 boxes. Each grouping is in reverse chronological order as it was originally filed by SP de México administrators. Collection has material in English and Spanish. There are 160 individual bound items in these 23 boxes.

Biographical / historical:

The Ferrocarril Sud Pacífico de México (SP de México) line began as the Sonora Railway in 1882, first owned and operated by the Atcheson, Topeka & Santa Fe. It ran from Nogales, Arizona down to the port of Guaymas, 423 kilometers southeast of Nogales. The Southern Pacific acquired the line through a reciprocal trade with the AT&SF in 1898, and incorporated the line as a separate corporate entity, the SP de México, in June 1909. The line was gradually extended south from Nogales and north from Guadalajara. When the Mexican Revolution erupted late in 1910, construction of the line was essentially halted until 1923. In 1927 the line was finally connected from Guadalajara to the U.S./Mexican border. It operated in Mexico until 1951, when the Mexican government purchased the line from the Southern Pacific.

Acquisition information:

Acquired from the corporate headquarters of the Southern Pacific in San Francisco, between November 1987 and August 1989.

Arrangement:

Arranged and bound by topic according to the Southern Pacific's internal organizational schema. Each grouping is in reverse chronological order as it was originally filed by SP de México administrators

Rules or conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Related material:

For textual information about the railroad, see the following items in the Library: the dissertation by Dan Lewis entitled "The Empire Strikes Out: Mexican Nationbuilding and the Ferrocarril Sud-Pacífico de México, 1880-1951" (University of California, Riverside, 1997), and the work by John Kirchner and John Signor, The West Coast Route: The Southern Pacific of Mexico (Golden West Books, 1986).

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Railroads -- Mexico -- History -- Sources.
Corporation records -- Mexico -- 19th century.
Corporation records -- Mexico -- 20th century.

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:

Huntington Library, Manuscript Collections

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, CA 91108, US

Contact:

(626) 405-2191

reference@huntington.org

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