La Collección Archivos Mexicanos Iniciación Contenido Archivo

Benson Latin American Collection

Rare Books and Manuscripts

Inventory

Campbell W. Pennington Papers

Prepared by the Mexican Archives Project
July 1995

Introduction

The Campbell W. Pennington Papers were donated to the Benson Latin American Collection by Campbell W. Pennington in 1993. The diaries of Pennington's great-uncle, Gordon Campbell White, were donated by Dr.Pennington in 1969. The papers were described by the Benson's Mexican Archives Project during May-July of 1995.

The physical extent of the papers was reduced by processing from approximately 13 linear feet to 8.6 linear feet (many duplicates were discarded and items suitable for individual cataloging were separated). The materials are in English and Spanish.

The suggested citation is "Campbell W. Pennington Papers, 1872-, Benson Latin American Collection, General Libraries, University of Texas at Austin."

Table of Contents

Introduction

Biographical Sketches

Scope and Contents Note

Arrangement Note

List of Subgroups and Series

Container List, Boxes 1-10

Container List, Boxes 11-23

Indexes to the Manuscript Notebooks from the Parral Archives

Biographical Sketches

Campbell White Pennington

Born February 2, 1918, in Campbell's Station, Tennessee. B.A. 1947 and M.A. 1949, The University of Texas; Ph.D. 1959, University of California, Berkeley. Assistant professor of geography, Georgia State College, 1956-1957; Assistant professor, 1957-1960, and associate professor, 1960-1964, University of Utah; and professor of geography, Southern Illinois University, 1964-1974. Pennington's publications include The Tarahumar of Mexico and The Tepehuan of Chihuahua. He edited The Pima Bajo of Central Sonora, Mexico; Arte y vocabulario de la lengua dohema, heve, o eudeva; and La cultura de los Eudeve del Noroeste de Mexico.

Gordon Campbell White

Gordon Campbell White, great-uncle of Campbell White Pennington, was born at Campbell's Station, Tennessee on August 26, 1872; he died in Washington, D.C. on January 16, 1923. Mr. White attended Vanderbilt University and taught at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

Mr. White moved to El Paso, Texas, where he became an employee of the Southern Pacific Railroad. From 1899 until 1913 he worked as a freight clerk, freight inspector, rate clerk, chief clerk, claim adjuster, chief rate clerk, tariff compiler, station tariff inspector, and industrial agent, ending his career with Southern Pacific as assistant to the general freight and passenger agent of the Southern Pacific in Arizona and Mexico.

Mr. White was employed in Washington, D.C. as Specialist in Charge of Transportation, Bureau of Markets, United States Department of Agriculture, from December 1, 1913, until his death in 1923.

Scope and Contents Note

Reproductions and transcriptions from various archives and publications; writings by Pennington; microfilm; and personal diaries comprise two subgroups, one consisting of materials generated by Pennington and the other of the diaries of his great-uncle, Gordon Campbell White.

Materials from the Pennington subgroup pertain to northern Mexico in the colonial period, focusing on its missions; its inhabitants, including the Tepehuan, Tarahumare, and Pima Indians, and their languages; and its topography. Reproductions and transcriptions consist largely of photocopies and typescripts in Spanish and English of the "Relaciones topográficas de pueblos de México," the originals of which are in the Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid and the Parral Archives; nine notebooks contain handwritten transcriptions from materials in the Parral Archives. Other reproductions and transcriptions are of various materials from the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (primarily the H.E. Bolton Collection), the Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico), and a few other repositories, as well as of published articles and extracts from monographs.

Pennington's writings include the monograph, The Tepehuan of Chihuahua : their material culture, and the typescripts, "Bosquejo grammática y vocabulario de la lengua Ópata," "The kickball game among the Tarahumar of Mexico," and "A vocabulary made at Ónavas, Sonora, among the Pima Bajo." Seven reels of microfilmed research materials complete the subgroup.

The diaries (1872-1923) of Gordon Campbell White relate to his personal life and career with the Southern Pacific Railroad in Texas, Arizona, and Mexico. They also provide a U.S. expatriate's view of events associated with the Mexican Revolution of 1910.

Arrangement Note

Every effort was made to respect original order insofar as it was determined to exist, resulting in the maintenance as discrete entities of binders and volumes compiled by Dr. Pennington. Other materials, found loose in a number of boxes and cartons, possessed no apparent significant order. Binders and volumes were disbound and rehoused in materials appropriate for their preservation, but the units, many of which had tables of contents, were maintained largely intact. Exceptions resulted where photocopies of entire publications were removed for separate cataloging, and where items apparently had been removed/relocated before the collection arrived at the Benson Latin American Collection. A list of items removed from the collection for individual cataloging appears at the end of this inventory.

The decision to maintain groupings established by Dr. Pennington left various copies and derivatives of the "Relaciones topográficas de pueblos de México" dispersed throughout the papers. The relaciones constitute a significant portion of the papers, and are comprised of photocopies of the original manuscripts as well as typescripts in Spanish and English. All versions of a given relacion are sometimes found together, but more often are not. They can be located by reference to lists within this finding aid.

Subgroups and Series

The Campbell W. Pennington Papers were arranged by the staff of the Mexican Archives Project into the subgroups and series listed below. The project staff completed the processing of the collection in July 1995.

I. Subgroup, Campbell White Pennington.

  1. Series, Reproductions and transcriptions from archives and publications, 6.4 linear ft.

    a.Subseries, Materials from the Parral Archives, 1.2 linear ft.
    Nine volumes of handwritten notes made from materials in the Parral Archives, and eight inches of transcriptions made from the notebooks. The transcriptions were bound by Pennington and formed volumes 1-12 of his numbering system. (Please see the index to the Parral Archives notebooks, reproduced later in this inventory.)
    b.Subseries, Copies and transcriptions of the "Relaciones topográficas de los pueblos de México," from the Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid and the Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico), 1 linear ft.
    These materials constituted volumes 13-15 and 21 in Pennington's numbering system, as well as copies of relaciones found unbound in several containers. Volume 13 consists of copies of manuscripts from the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid; Volume 14 of Spanish transcriptions of the items in Volume 13, and Volume 15 of typescripts, primarily in English, of the items in Volume 13. Pennington's original binders for Volumes 13 and 14 were dated 1956.
    Volume 21 is composed mostly of different relaciones than those in Volume 13, in varying formats. The unbound relaciones are primarily photocopies of manuscripts, rather than transcriptions. (Please see the Container List for a listing of titles and subjects of the relaciones.)
    c.Subseries, Other photocopies, transcriptions, extracts, and notes, 4.2 linear ft.
    This subseries is composed of items found in notebooks, as well as unbound materials. The bound items comprised Volumes 16-20 of Pennington's numbering system, an unnumbered volume of Cartas Anuas, and five unlabeled binders, designated A-E by project staff.
    The materials consist of photocopies of archival documents and published articles, typescripts of extracts from books and archival materials, and notes relating to research. Note: Not all items listed on original tables of contents were found to be present at the time of processing. The Container List reflects what is present.
    Many of the unbound items are photocopies of materials from the H. E. Bolton Papers, at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Others are photocopies of items held by the Archivo General de la Nación, Mexico. A few items copied from the holdings of the Benson Latin American Collection (primarily the W. B. Stephens Collection) have been retained in the Pennington Papers because information was added to them by Pennington; others were discarded.

  2. Series, Pennington's publications and writings, 11 inches.

    The series contains the following works written or edited by Pennington: The Tepehuan of Chihuahua : their material culture; "Bosquejo grammática y vocabulario de la lengua Ópata"; "The Ópata"; "The kickball game among the Tarahumar of Mexico, a problem in diffusion"; and "A vocabulary made at Ónavas, Sonora among the Pima Bajo (1968-1969)."

  3. Series, Microfilm and maps.

    Seven reels of microfilmed research materials or publications used by Pennington. The reels are titled, "Buckingham Smith papers. 'Arte y vocabulario de la lengua dohema heve o eudeva.'"; "Tarahumar/ Ratkay/ Neumann"; "Vocabulario en lengua Nevome [Pima Bajo of Sonora, Mexico]. A part of the Buckingham Smith papers at the New York Historical Society Library"; "Dunnigan's thesis on Maicoba Pima"; "Miscellaneous Pima Bajo materials"; "Misc. Jesuit material, northwest Mexico"; and "Maggs." Three maps depict northern Mexico, Texas, and the United States.

II. Subgroup, Gordon Campbell White.

  1. Series, Diaries, 1872-1923, 11 volumes (8.5 inches).

    The diaries relate to White's personal life and his career with the Southern Pacific Railroad in Texas, Arizona, and Mexico. They provide a U.S. expatriate's view of events associated with the Mexican Revolution of 1910.

Return to Pennington Collection Table of Contents.

Return to Mexican Archives Project-Index

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