Carlos Castañeda (historian) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Carlos Castañeda
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| Born | 11 November 1896  Camargo |
| Died | 3 April 1958 (aged 61) |
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| Occupation | Historian, librarian |
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Carlos Castañeda (born November 11, 1896 – died April 3, 1958) was an important historian and a champion for civil rights in the United States. He was known for his deep knowledge of Texas history and for fighting for fair treatment for Mexican-Americans.
Born in Mexico, Carlos moved to the United States with his family in 1908. He studied history at the University of Texas at Austin, earning both his first degree and a master's degree. After college, he taught Spanish for a few years at the College of William and Mary.
In 1927, Carlos returned to Texas. He became the first person to manage the Latin American collection at the University of Texas library. While working as a librarian, he also earned his doctorate degree in history in 1932.
Carlos Castañeda's historical work mainly focused on the areas where Spain once ruled, especially Texas. He traveled to many archives in Mexico. There, he found and copied old documents that shared new information about life in Texas and the southwestern United States. Because of his important work in recording the history of the Catholic Church in Texas, he received special honors. He was named a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre and a Knight Commander in the Order of Isabella the Catholic of Spain.
During World War II, Carlos Castañeda took a break from teaching. He worked as an investigator for the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC). This committee worked to stop unfair treatment in jobs. He strongly supported equal rights for Mexican-Americans. In 1946, he became the regional director for the FEPC in the southwest.
Today, the Perry–Castañeda Library at the University of Texas is named after him. This shows how much he contributed to both history and civil rights.
Contents
Carlos's Early Life and Education
Carlos Eduardo Castañeda was born on November 11, 1896, in Camargo, Mexico. He was one of seven children. His father was a professor at the College of San Juan in Matamoros. In 1908, his family moved to Brownsville, Texas. Sadly, his parents passed away soon after.
Carlos was the only Mexican-American student in his high school graduating class. He was the top student, or valedictorian, of Brownsville High School in 1916. He earned a scholarship to the University of Texas at Austin. At first, he planned to study civil engineering.
However, after working with a famous historian named Eugene Campbell Barker, Carlos discovered he loved history. He changed his major and earned his first degree in history in 1921. Later that year, he married his childhood friend, Elisa Rios. Their daughter, Irma Gloria, was born the next year.
Becoming a Master Historian
For the next two years, Carlos worked on his master's degree in history. He also taught Spanish at a high school. For his master's project, he created a detailed list of Spanish and Mexican documents. These documents were found in Bexar County, where San Antonio is located.
His work was very well received. Another historian, Herbert Eugene Bolton, even said that Carlos had found some very important documents. Carlos earned his master's degree in history from the University of Texas in 1923.
Carlos Castañeda: The Historian
From 1923 to 1926, Carlos Castañeda was a professor at the College of William and Mary. He taught Spanish there. In 1923, he helped start a student group called the Gibbons Club. This group worked to get a Catholic priest for Sunday Masses in Williamsburg, as there were none. Their efforts eventually led to the creation of Saint Bede parish.
Even though he enjoyed teaching, Carlos missed Texas. He wanted to focus on Texas history again. So, he started looking for ways to return.
Discovering Texas History
Texas was getting ready to celebrate its 100th anniversary of independence from Mexico in 1936. The Knights of Columbus in Texas decided to pay for a scholarly history of the Catholic Church in Texas. This book would be published for the celebration. Joseph I. Driscoll, the head of the Knights of Columbus in Texas, asked Carlos for ideas on how to approach this huge project.
Carlos suggested that one person should gather all the important original documents for the book. He offered to help, mentioning he was planning to teach in Mexico City that summer. He said, "I am a graduate of the University of Texas, and though a Mexican by birth, I feel that I am a Texan in spirit." Driscoll quickly gave Carlos permission to start gathering information.
Carlos turned down a temporary job offer to find more permanent work. He was soon hired as the curator of the new Latin American Collection at the University of Texas in 1927. He arranged to work only seven hours a day. This gave him time to work on his own projects and study for his doctorate degree.
After his translation of Juan Almonte's Statistical Report on Texas, 1834 was published in 1927, he became a fellow of the Texas State Historical Association. Over the year, he translated and edited several books. He also began working towards his doctorate in history.
Finding Hidden Documents
In 1929, Carlos Castañeda made an exciting discovery. He found many important documents about Texas history during Spanish and Mexican rule. These documents were in the archives of the Mexican states of Coahuila and Nuevo León. Earlier historians had missed these records. Carlos planned to photocopy this information from the archives in Saltillo. He said it was "of the most vital nature for the history of Texas."
Soon after he returned to the United States, Carlos's six-year-old daughter, Gloria, sadly passed away from encephalitis.
Carlos received a scholarship for his final year of graduate classes, from 1929 to 1930. This helped with his money worries. While finishing his studies, he translated a pamphlet called Latin America and the United States into Spanish. He remained busy in 1930, editing a book of documents from Mexican archives.
In April 1930, Carlos joined a group called the Sociedad de Geografia y Estadistica in Mexico City. There, he found that the National Library of Mexico now held the archives from the Franciscan order in New Spain. He quickly looked through them and found over 500,000 pages of new documents, many of which talked about Texas.
Carlos earned his doctorate from the University of Texas in 1932. His main project was a translation of a book written in 1779 by Fray Juan Agustín Morfi. This book, Relación geográfica e histórica de la provincia de Texas o Nuevas Filipinas, was thought to be lost until Carlos found a copy. In the same year, Carlos's second child, Consuela, was born.
Carlos left the University of Texas in 1933 because his salary was lower than other professors who were not Mexican-born. He took a job as superintendent of schools in Del Rio, Texas. However, this job only lasted a year. He returned to the University of Texas in 1936 as an associate professor. He became a full professor in 1946. By 1942, he had finished five volumes of his major work, Our Catholic Heritage, covering the years 1519 to 1810. The last two volumes were published in 1948 and 1958.
Carlos Castañeda: The Activist
Carlos Castañeda was too old to join the military during World War II. Instead, he applied to work with the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC). From 1943 to 1946, he worked in the Dallas office. His job was to investigate unfair treatment against Hispanic and Black people.
In February 1945, he was promoted to regional director. He was in charge of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. During his time, Carlos took on the oil refineries in the Houston metropolitan area. Mexican-American workers had complained that they were paid less than white workers. They also couldn't get promoted and were forced to use separate facilities meant for "colored" people.
Carlos wrote a strong letter to Shell Oil. He pointed out that Mexicans were legally considered white. He also noted that state laws, even if unfair, required separate facilities only for white and Black people. By making Mexicans use the "colored" areas, the company was breaking the law. Shell and the workers' union admitted their policies were against the law. However, they claimed they would lose money if they followed the rules. They said white workers would go on strike every time they tried to promote Mexican-American workers.
Carlos Castañeda returned to the University of Texas in 1946. He passed away on April 3, 1958. His personal papers are kept at the University of Texas.
Recognition and Honors
Carlos Castañeda was the president of the American Catholic Historical Association in 1939. He was also very involved in important meetings of historians from Mexico and the United States. The Perry–Castañeda Library at the University of Texas is named after him.
For his work on Catholic history, the Catholic Church named Carlos a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre. Spain also honored him as a Knight Commander in the Order of Isabella the Catholic. He received an honorary law degree from the Catholic University of America. In 1951, he was given the Serra Award of the Americas.
When he died, historian J. Lloyd Mecham said Carlos Castañeda was "one of our most distinguished and productive scholars and teachers in the field of Latin American history." A book called Bibliography of Religion in the South states that Carlos's history of Roman Catholicism in Texas is "the most comprehensive and the most historiographically sound analysis of that tradition in any state."
