Chávez Esparza family letters, 1962-1999, bulk 1962-1973

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Summary

Creators:
Chávez Esparza (Family)
Abstract:
The correspondence between different branches of the Chávez Esparza family, in Mexico and California.
Extent:
0.8 Linear Feet (2 boxes)
Language:
The material is in Spanish and English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Chávez Esparza family letters, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The letters document the lives and activities of different branches of the Chávez Esparza family, both in Mexico and California. This includes the search for jobs, working conditions, recreation, economic status, and transnational relations with relatives, especially courtship and the sending of money. The letters also document the education and professional career of María Concepción Alvarado in Mexico. The majority of the letters are in Spanish (a few are in English).

Biographical / historical:

José Chávez Esparza (1933-1981) and María Concepción Alvarado (1945-1981) were both born in Calvillo, Aguascalientes, Mexico, José had desired to study agricultural engineering after graduating from sixth grade at the age of sixteen. The realities of poverty meant otherwise, and he moved to the capital of Aguascalientes, obtaining work in a tailor shop and later driving a delivery truck. In 1954 José came to the United States as part of the bracero program, specifically to the Imperial Valley of California, where he lived in Brawley. Working for J. C. Reeves Ranches, he obtained his green card in the late 1950s and stayed in the valley until 1972, when he (with his wife María Concepción Alvarado and two children) moved to San José, California. He obtained work as an industrial worker, his profession until his death in 1981.

María Concepción Alvarado finished ninth grade in Calvillo in 1963 and held a sales position in Aguascalientes after her family's move to this state capital city. She also worked as a traveling saleswoman in cosmetics. After a three year (mostly) epistolary courtship with José Chávez Esparza, María and José married in 1966. The couple endured a hard two-year wait at Mexicali for María's green card, and after receiving it, she and José returned to Brawley. By this time the family numbered two children, who had also received their residency cards. This included Miroslava Chávez-García, the donor of the Chávez Esparza family letters. In 1972, the family moved to San José in José's pursuit of a better job. Here, María was the family's homemaker and worked seasonally as a cannery worker.

The brother of José Chávez Esparza, Jose Guadalupe Francisco "Paco" Chávez Esparza was born in Calvillo, Aguascalientes, Mexico in 1940. He worked as a clerk in city government there until 1962, when he moved to Mexicali, Baja California. After obtaining U.S. residency at Mexicali, Paco Chávez became a farmworker in Brawley, California, in 1963 and one year later moved to San José, California where he still lives. He was a laborer and paint maker in the Bay Area.

Other names in the collection: Antonio Lozano (Box 1, Folder 1), the second cousin of María Concepción Alvarado and Paco Chávez's friend. Asunción Alvarado (Box 1, Folder 2), older sister of María Concepción Alvarado. Rogelio Martínez and Pedro Sánchez, friends of Paco Chávez Esparza (Box 1, Folder 3 and Box 1, Folder 9). Leovijilda Esparza (Box 2, Folder 1), José and Paco Chávez's mother and wife of José Chávez Torres (Box 1, Folder 13).

"Migrant Longing, Courtship, and Gendered Identity in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands," Western Historical Quarterly (Summer 2016), 47 (2): 137-160 by Miroslava Chávez-García.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Miroslava Chávez-García and Ebers García, June 2017.
Arrangement:

The original order was preserved.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Chávez Esparza family letters, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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