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Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo: Life in Spanish, Mexican, and American California

Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (1807–90) grew up in Spanish California, became a leading military and political figure in Mexican California, and participated in some of the founding events of US California. In 1874–75, Vallejo, working with historian and publisher Hubert Howe Bancroft, composed a five-volume history of Alta California—a monumental work that would be the most complete eyewitness account of California before the Gold Rush. But Bancroft shelved the work, and it has lain in the archives until its recent publication as "Recuerdos: Historical and Personal Remembrances Relating to Alta California, 1769–1849," translated and edited by Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz.

Authors Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz discuss their recent book, "Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo: Life in Spanish, Mexican, and American California," and not only illuminate Vallejo’s life and history but also examine the broader experience of the nineteenth-century Californio community. The authors consider Spanish and Mexican rule in California, mission secularization, the rise of rancho culture, and the conflicts between settlers and Indigenous Californians, especially in the post-mission era

More about the speakers:

Rose Marie Beebe is professor emerita of Spanish literature at Santa Clara University.

Robert M. Senkewicz is professor emeritus of history at Santa Clara University. Beebe and Senkewicz are the coauthors of "Junípero Serra: California, Indians, and the Transformation of a Missionary."

May 23, 2023 05:30 PM in Pacific Time (US and Canada)