© The contents of this finding aid are the copyright of the University of Chicago Library
© 2013 University of Chicago Library
The collection is open for research. Oversize Folder 1 of Series V is located in an oversize map drawer.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Walker, David W. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
David W. Walker (b. September 29, 1948, d. July 4, 2001) was an historian of Mexico, professor at Michigan State University, Vietnam War veteran, and alumnus of the University of Chicago. As an historian of the Mexican Revolution and agrarian reform in the northern state of Durango, Walker was constantly questioning the motivations behind agrarian radicalism. Born in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and raised in Texas, Walker was drafted for the Vietnam War in 1968. He later credited this experience as one that plunged him into the study of history and the causes of resistance and revolt.
Walker went on to complete a B.A. in history and sociology from the Texas A&I University of Kingsville in 1973 and a Master's degree in history from the University of Houston in 1976. During this time, Walker began traveling extensively throughout Mexico and gained interest in its regional histories during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He joined the University of Chicago graduate program in history in 1976 and developed his research under the guidance of John H. Coatsworth, Friedrich Katz, and John Mason Hart.
Walker defended his dissertation, "Kinship, Business, and Politics: The Martínez del Río Family in Mexico, 1824-1864," in 1981, and it was later published as a book in both English and Spanish (Univ. of Texas Press 1986, Editorial Alianza 1991). It traces the influential family of the Martínez del Río and their various business and entrepreneurial ventures in the nineteenth century, and demonstrates the persistence of powerful oligarchic family interests in the face of political and economic instability. Walker's dissertation was awarded the Marc Perry Gallery Prize for Distinguished Social Science Dissertations. The Martínez del Río family also owned various haciendas in the state of Durango, and this initial research on the family forms the basis for Walker's ongoing investigation of Durango's estate agricultural reform and revolution in the early twentieth century.
After almost a decade of visiting lectureships and various teaching appointments in the United States and England, Walker became associate professor of history at Michigan State University, East Lansing, in 1991. He published several articles on topics such as Porfirian-era labor politics, the tobacco monopoly in Mexico, and his ongoing interest in agrarian radicalism. Walker married his wife Graciela and had four children.
His last, most ambitious project, driven by this same research interest in the local agrarian reform dynamics of Cuencamé, Durango, was unfortunately left unfinished due to his untimely death in 2001. "The Durango Project" as he called it, or more precisely, "Los vencidos de Cuencamé: The Rise and Fall of Estate Agriculture and Agrarian Radicalism in Eastern Durango, Mexico, 1890-1930," took into account the many years-worth of research materials Walker had collected since 1983 and had organized into relational database files. Walker was intending to give a thorough and nuanced picture of Duranguense life, society, and landownership before, during, and after the revolutionary years. His research was to provide a socioeconomic analysis of the origins, composition, and consequences of agrarian reform in this northeastern part of Durango, a study that would demonstrate the singularities of this particular region's reform movement. Many of the materials he gathered over the years for this project form a part of this collection. Walker's research is esteemed for his insight into the local, unrecognized forces that drove the agricultural revolution and his genuine sensitivity to the Duranguense people.
The David W. Walker Papers are organized into five series: Series I: Writings; Series II: Research; Series III: Audio-Visual; Series IV: Digital Media; and Series V: Oversize. The collection contains notecards, conference papers and outlines, Walker's dissertation, and research articles; general Mexican history notes and bibliographic references, archival references, scholarly publications on Latin America, notecards on archival primary sources, copies of Durango government records, maps, census and property records, copies of government correspondence and of hacienda management correspondence, copies of account expense ledgers and hacienda books, copies of Martínez del Río family correspondence, and research materials on the tobacco industry; a cassette tape and photograph; diskettes and CDs of Durango research materials; and Durango maps and copies of property and vital records.
Materials date between 1910 and 2001, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1980s and 1990s. However, a large amount of the material consists of photocopies of original documents dating from 1768 to the 1940s. Since most of Walker's research materials and notes are undated, many of the dates given refer to the copies' original source document dates. The bulk of these copied primary documents date from the first decades of the twentieth century. The collection primarily documents Walker's extensive research in Durango, on the Martínez del Río family, and on agrarian reform at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Series I, Writings, contains Walker's scholarly work, including his dissertation and conference and research papers, in chronological order. The series also includes a series of notecards for the dissertation.
Series II, Research, includes a combination of Walker's notes, references, database printouts, and scholarly correspondence with a large amount of photocopies of primary sources from state and private historical archives. Series II is organized into subseries by research topic, as described in the Series Description below. Of particular note are a colorful 1910 atlas of Mexico and the various telegrams and correspondence documenting the revolutionary years in Durango and on the Martínez del Río haciendas.
Series III, Audio-Visual, contains a cassette tape about human rights violations in El Salvador and a photograph.
Series IV, Digital Media, includes diskettes and CDs containing Durango research materials.
Series V, Oversize, consists of large maps of Durango and the Martínez del Río haciendas, as well as large photocopies of Durango vital and property records.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:
This series includes Walker's notecards for his dissertation, outlines, notes, and copies of Walker's various ongoing research papers, dissertation, articles, and scholarly presentations. After the notecards, papers are organized chronologically, except in some cases where materials are undated but belong with similar or duplicate projects.
If dates for both the original sources and Walker's research materials are available, original source dates will appear in parentheses, followed by actual material dates.
This series contains materials used in Walker's ongoing research projects and includes notecards, correspondence, secondary literature resources, and, primarily, photocopies of primary sources. Most of these photocopies are undated, so dates given refer to the original document dates. With few exceptions, dates preceding 1970 are the photocopied primary source dates.
The series is divided into the following six subseries, according to research topic:
Subseries 1: General
Subseries 2: Durango
Subseries 3: Martínez del Río Family
Subseries 4: Martínez del Río Haciendas
Subseries 5: Politics and Justice
Subseries 6: Tobacco
Subseries 1 contains general bibliographic and archival information (organized chronologically) for Walker's ongoing research projects and bibliographic notecards organized by archival source, followed by secondary source authors somewhat alphabetically (notecards were kept in their original order.) This subseries also includes correspondence and collected general reference materials, a few primary source copies (organized chronologically), general Mexican and regional secondary source scholarship (also organized chronologically), and research notes and notecards on various primary sources (organized chronologically by primary source date).
Subseries 2 contains materials on the state and region of Durango during and after the Mexican Revolution of 1910, as well as documentation on Durango's population, lands, and agriculture. It includes notecards on various Durango topics and sources; materials for Walker's research database files on Durango; research materials and primary source copies on general topics of the region, including research materials on the Durango revolutionary figure José Guadalupe Rodriguez; Durango maps and population census statistics; copies of property records; copies of Durango government records, including military and judiciary records; and copies of the Governor's Correspondence. Each of these categories of materials is organized chronologically, using original primary source dates when available. Oversize Durango property records are in Series V.
Subseries 3 includes materials on the Martínez del Río Family, mostly from nineteenth-century family history. It contains notecards on archival sources, organized by topic and dates; general materials on the family; copies of family ledgers and accounts; and copies of family correspondence (each category organized by original dates).
Subseries 4 contains materials on the Martínez del Río Haciendas and their management, primarily in the first decades of the twentieth century. This includes copies of the correspondence by the haciendas' general manager, Francisco Gómez Palacio and the Martínez del Río owners; general materials about the haciendas; and copies of the weekly hacienda books (ordered alphabetically by hacienda name). Each category is ordered chronologically.
Subseries 5 consists of three boxes of notecards on the topic entitled "Politics, Justice" and are maintained in their original order, with original tabbed headings. The "Politics, Justice" title given to these notecards was assigned by Walker's colleague at Michigan State University, Prof. Peter M. Beattie, who was responsible for the transfer of Walker's collection to the University of Chicago.
Subseries 6 contains research materials on the tobacco monopoly in Mexico that are organized chronologically. Research papers and presentations on this tobacco subject are in Series I.