Cheryl,

 

I would recommend taking a look at Chapter 3 ("'It is my history, not
yours that I propose to tell': History as autobiography in Mariano G.
Vallejo's 'Recuerdos historicos y personales tocante a la alta
California'") in Genaro Padilla's 1993 book My History, Not Yours: The
Formation of Mexican American Autobiography for an interesting
interpretation of this situation.  The chapter focuses, in part, on
Bancroft's and Cerruti's negotiations with Vallejo to obtain his papers
and his own narrative (five volumes!) of California history, but then
their selective use of his papers and their commitment to leaving
Vallejo's narrative unpublished while Bancroft published the "official
history."  Bancroft says this in Literary Industries (as quoted by
Padilla):  "It was understood from the first that this history was for
my sole use, not to be printed unless I should so elect, and this was
not at all probable." 

 

Chapter 1, another section of Padilla's book worth looking at closely,
also quotes Vallejo as having written his Recuerdos to counteract the
American versions of California's history.  He writes to his son:  "I
shall not stop moistening my pen in the blood of our unfounded
detractors . . . . You know I am not vindictive but I am and was born
hispano.  To contradict those who slander is not vengeance, it is to
regain a loss".  Padilla describes Vallejo's writing as "a deliberate
act of historiographic preemption."

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best wishes,

 

Steve

 

___________________________________________

Stephen W. Silliman, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Graduate Program Director, Historical Archaeology M.A. Program

Department of Anthropology

University of Massachusetts, Boston

100 Morrissey Blvd

Boston, MA 02125-3393

Office: 617-287-6854

Fax: 617-287-6857

Email: [log in to unmask]

Website:  www.faculty.umb.edu/stephen_silliman

 

  _____  

From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Cheryl Smith-Lintner
Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2005 3:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Californio criticism of H.H. Bancroft etc?

 

 Hi all--

I seem to remember reading a first-hand account/quote/comment by a
Californio regarding the distortion of truth by American historians like
Bancroft and his assistants re the collection and publication of the
testimonios from 130 (?) or so from still living residents in the
1880s+.

I can't find the exact reference in my Endnote files--I think perhaps it
was Mariano Vallejo?  The gist of the comment was that Americans were
telling lies/untruths about the lives of the Californios and they wanted
to set the record straight.  It might even have been pre-Bancroft's
collections, i.e. a reason to tell their story to Bancroft et al?

Does this ring a bell for anyone?

Many thanks,
Cheryl Lintner

  _____  

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