Rolland and Tehuantepec

Friends,

     I am finally returning my attentions back to the Modesto Rolland project.  First thing on the list: Tehuantepec.  And I am excited! Rolland had been involved in developing the isthmus since his days working for Salvador Alvarado in Yucatán in the mid and late 1910s, when he proposed building a link between the two regions to facilitate transportation and trade.  Subsequently, he moved on to head the Free Ports system and a project to rehabilitate and improve the overland ship railway that connected the ports of Salina Cruz and Coatzacoalcos (side note: Coatzacoalcos is the place, according to myth, where the god Quetzalcoatl left from and promised to return to).  I chose to start with this topic because a colleague of mine works on the involvement of U.S., specifically New Orleans, capitalists in the development of Tehuantepec.  We decided to form a panel looking at the history of transportation across the isthmus for the upcoming Rocky Mountain Council on Latin American Studies conference, which will be in early April in Santa Fe, New Mexico.


Amigos:

Finalmente voy a devolver mis atenciones hacia el proyecto de Modesto Rolland.  Lo primero en la lista: Tehuantepec.  ¡Y estoy muy listo para comenzar !  Rolland había participado en el desarrollo del istmo desde sus días trabajando para Salvador Alvarado en Yucatán en los años de mediados y finales de 1910, cuando él propuso de construir una vínculo entre las dos regiones para facilitar el transporte y el comercio.  Posteriormente, se traslada para encabezar el sistema de Puertos Libres y un proyecto de rehabilitar y mejorar el ferrocarril de barco por tierra que conecta los puertos de Salina Cruz y Coatzacoalcos (nota de lado: Coatzacoalcos es el lugar, según el mito, donde Quetzalcoatl se marchó de y prometió volver a).  Decidí comenzar con este tema porque un colega mío trabaja en la participación de capitalistas de los Estados Unidos, específicamente de Nueva Orleans, en el desarrollo de Tehuantepec.  Decidimos formar un panel que mira la historia de transporte a través del istmo para la conferencia del Rocky Mountain Council of Latin American Studies, que será a principios de abril en Santa Fe, New México.
                                 
J. Justin Castro
Doctoral Candidate, Latin American History
University of Oklahoma
(405) 795 6532
jcastro@ou.edu

Update

Hello everybody,

I have not been able to do a whole lot new in regards to my project on Modesto C. Rolland. I have been busy finishing my doctoral thesis, which I will defend in February. I have been cataloging all the source materials I have on Rolland, and organizing them for writing in the near future.

I know that Jorge Rolland has made some headway in finding new contacts and sources about Modesto's parents and childhood in Baja California. 

I will be working on a new presentation on Modesto Rolland for the upcoming Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies conference, which will be held in Santa Fe in April 2013. The panel that I have in mind is going to discuss engineers in early twentieth-centry Latin America, and I am thinking about focusing the project on either Rolland's work with Mexico's "free port" system or, more likely, on his work on further developing the Isthmus of Tehuantepec 

This summer 2013 I will be on a panel about early radio in Latin America at the Latin American Studies Association, which will be held in Washington, DC. While there I am going to comb over the US National Archives for new source materials on Modesto Rolland. I am almost positive that there will be a number of useful records. I have also found some materials in U.S. congressional records that discuss Rolland's work on behalf of General Salvador Alvarado during the events leading up the Agua Prieta Revolt in 1920 when Alvarado was contemplating running for president. 

I am also working with colleagues to further explore the regional archives in Mexico. I know there are some materials in Yucatán and that there are likely others undiscovered in Baja California. Likewise, there is more to be found in Texas and New York. 

Thanks for your continued interest in our research and the life of Modesto C. Rolland. 

Muchos Saludos,

Justin Castro

Doctoral Candidate, Latin American History

University of Oklahoma

                                                                   * * * * *

Hola a todos:

No he sido capaz de trabajar mucho en mi proyecto de la vida de Modesto C. Rolland. He estado ocupado terminando mi tesis doctoral, que defenderé en febrero. He estado catalogando todos los materiales que tengo sobre Rolland, y organización de ellos para escribir en el futuro próximo.

Sé que Jorge Rolland ha hecho un poco de progreso en el descubrimiento de nuevos contactos y fuentes sobre padres de Modesto e infancia en Baja California.

Trabajaré en una nueva presentación de Modesto Rolland para el próximo conferencia del Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies que será en Santa Fe en abril de 2013. El panel que tengo en mente va a hablar sobre ingenieros en el siglo veinte en América Latina, y pienso que el enfoque del proyecto sera el trabajo de Rolland con los 'puertos libres'  de México o, y más probablemente, en su trabajo del desarrollo del Istmo de Tehuantepec

Este verano 2013 estaré en un panel sobre la radio temprana en América Latina en la conferencia de la Latin American Studies Association, que será sostenida en Washington, DC. Mientras allí voy a investigar en los U.S. National Archives para nuevos materiales de Modesto Rolland. Soy casi seguro que habrá varios documentos útiles. También he encontrado algunos materiales en diarios de sesiones del Congreso del Estado Unidos que hablan del trabajo de Rolland en su ayuda del General Salvador Alvarado durante los acontecimientos que conducen a Agua Prieta Revolt en 1920 cuando Alvarado se proponía presentarse como candidato presidencial.

También trabajo con colegas para explorar adelante los archivos regionales en México. Sé que hay algunos materiales en Yucatán y que hay otros probables no descubiertos en Baja California. Igualmente, existe más ser encontrado en Texas y Nueva York.

Gracias por su interés continuado a nuestra investigación y la vida de Modesto C. Rolland.

Muchos Saludos,

Justin Castro

Doctoral Candidate, Latin American History

University of Oklahoma

Hi Folks/Hola amigos,

It has been a while since I have posted anything new on the blog, so I thought I would catch everyone up on some of my more current research.

I am currently writing the last chapter of my doctoral dissertation on wireless communications in Mexico, 1899-1934. If all goes as planned, I will be defending in spring 2013.  Although the dissertation is not about Rolland, I do discuss his work with radio during the 1910s and 1920s. But this project, and preparing for the first classes that I will teach on the history of modern Mexico at the University of Oklahoma, have kept me from giving my full attention to further investigating Rolland.

That said, I have managed to gather more sources, and I have been organizing what documents I have, so that I can start writing a full-length book on the life and times of Modesto C. Rolland as soon as I finish the first draft of my dissertation. In other words, I plan on getting started this fall. I have already acquired a tremendous amount of primary and secondary materials for the project, but I plan on making one more trip to Mexico in the near future in order to follow up on a few new leads on source materials in Baja California, Mexico City, and Michoacan.  I also would like to look in the U.S. National Archives and in El Paso newspaper collections.


For those interested, here are a few sources that I have recently looked at:

“Importancia de la mexicanización del personal técnico en las Líneas Nacionales,” Mexico Nuevo, 3 Jul. 1909, 3.

“Por las escuelas,” El Diario 12 Aug. 1909, 7.

“Conferencias de ingeniería,” El Tiempo, 15 Oct. 1909, 3.

Rolland, Modesto C. “A Trial by Socialism in Mexico: What the Mexicans are Fighting For,” Forum (July 1916): 79-90.

Rolland, Modesto C. “Why Mexico is Neutral.” The Public 20, no. 999 (25 May 1917): 509-10.

Rolland, Modesto C. “Petroleum in Mexico.” The International Socialist Review 17, no. 3 (September 1917): 149-53.

Rolland, Modesto C. “Introducción,” in Apuntes sobre tarifas de transporte y transmisión: En busca de un sistema coordinador de Ferrocarriles y Camiones. México, DF: “Avante,” 1938, 1.

Jordan, David Starr. The Days of a Naturalist, Teacher, and Minor Prophet of Democracy, Volume 2, 1900-1921. New York: World Book Company, 1922.

Klich, Lynda. “Estridentópolis: Achieving a Post-Revolutionary Utopia in Jalapa.” DAPA 26 (2012): 106-131.

Anderson, Mark Cronlund. Pancho Villa’s Revolution by Headlines. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.

Carranza, Luis E. Architecture as Revolution: Episodes in the History of Modern Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010.

Dorsey, Florence. Road to the Sea: The Story of James B. Eads. New York: Rinehart & Company, 1947.

Tibol, Raquel. Frida Kahlo: An Open Life. Translated by Elinor Randall. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1999.

All of these sources mention, or were written by, Modesto C. Rolland.

As I get the project underway I will make a greater effort to keep everyone informed of my progress.

Thanks for your continued interest! 

Saludos,

J. Justin Castro