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Acknowledgements This long, on-again/off-again project stands on so many shoulders! Almost forty years ago, when first investigating the patterns and significance of mutual aid among US Mexicans, I was aided enormously by mutualista members who shared their organizational records, including Jesús Gamboa of Mutual Monte de las Cruces and, in particular, Lucas Garza of Sociedad de la Unión, both in San Antonio. Pulling down ledger books from a shelf above the bathroom of La Unión’s headquarters, Garza said, “These minutes almost got thrown out when our old hall was destroyed to make way for the new highway.” Dating back to the 1880s, these records offered a window on the workings of the largest mutualista society in San Antonio, the city with the largest Mexican population in the first half of the twentieth century. Work on this dissertation greatly benefited from the insights of my codirectors , Philip Gleason and Julian Samora. A distinguished historian of immigration/ethnicity and so much more, Philip Gleason offered consistent , encouraging guidance. For his part, the trailblazing Chicano sociologist Julian Samora provided a model of research that resonates in the public sphere, while his ongoing Mexican American studies interdisciplinary seminar created the best kind of academic community. As I went on to other research projects, the idea of this book endured, thanks in part to the wonderful encouragement of Arnoldo De León, the dean of Tejano historians . When I was on the periphery of my field (teaching the odd adjunct course and endeavoring to pursue Mexican American history from a bungalow in Flushing, Queens), he facilitated the first scholarly publication of my mutualista findings, and later he touted the project to the distinguished editor-in-chief of Texas A&M Press, Mary Lenn Dixon, who stayed the long course (ably assisted, most recently, by Katie Cowart). Thanks also to associate editor Patricia Clabaugh for skillfully shepherding the manuscript through the production process and to the fine copyediting team, notably Amy Peterson and, especially, Marsha Hall. On viewing the momentous mass immigration marches of 2006, it struck me that they were animated to a large degree by barrio mutual aid that harkens back to historical mutualista organizing. In updating the re- x acknowledgments search, I took the bold step—bold for a historian, at least—of recasting the findings thematically from present to past. The idea of a reverse-chronological approach stemmed in part from my experience of having worked with a journalist in recent years, the legendary public broadcaster Bill Moyers (notably in editing his best-selling collection of writings and speeches, Moyers on America: A Journalist and His Times1 ). I am also grateful to the two anonymous readers of the manuscript for their endorsement, as historians, of recasting the material chronologically. Archivists have illumined the way as well, led by Margo Gutiérrez of the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas, who in the process became a treasured friend. Others who have become dear colleagues include Thomas Kreneck and Christine Marín, who were the longtime heads of their respective Special Collections: his at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, hers at Arizona State University. This study also has benefited enormously from archivist Grace Charles at Texas A&M Corpus Christi and the staffs at the Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico City); the Archivo de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores “Génaro Estrada” (Mexico City); the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; the Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas; the Institute for Texas Cultures (San Antonio); the National Archives (Department of State Papers); the NewYork Historical Society; the New York Public Library; the Sonnichsen Special Collections Department, University of Texas at El Paso; the Stanford University Department of Special Collections; the Texas State Library and Archives; the University of Arizona Special Collections; the University of New Mexico Special Collections; the University of Notre Dame Archives; the Victoria History Center, University of Houston-Victoria/Victoria College ; the Walter Reuther Labor History Archives, Wayne State University; and the Webb County (Texas) Heritage Foundation. The library staff at Manhattan College has also been very helpful. Crucial to this story have been oral history interviews with grassroots organizers and other history makers, all of whom made time amid competing demands to share their insights and recollections. These include Soledad Alatorre; Luis Benítez; Sr. Gertrude Cook; Ernesto Cortés Jr.; Dr. Efraín Domínguez; Herman Gallegos; Clara Gamboa; Jesús Gamboa; Lucas Garza; Gustavo Gutiérrez; Antonia Hernández...

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