Mexican Immigration and Labor Photo Archive, 1930s-60s

Mexico, Immigration

Photo Archive

[Mexican and Mexican-American Labor] Border Crossing, Migration, and Farm Labor Conditions in Mexico and the American Southwest. 1937–1969. Archive of 9 black-and-white press photographs with original printed press captions or clippings mounted or affixed en verso, most with editorial markings and stamps. Sizes range from approximately 7” x 9” to 8.5” x 11”. From various newspaper agencies including AP and ACME.
A powerful photojournalistic archive tracing over three decades of Mexican and Mexican-American labor, migration, and geopolitical tension along the U.S.-Mexico border, as documented through original press release photographs and accompanying editor copy. Captured between 1937 and 1969, the archive includes depictions of Mexican farmworkers herding sheep in New Mexico, Mexican nationals lining up at U.S. border gates, military cooperation between the Mexican Air Force and the U.S., and newspaper coverage of Mexican migrants commuting daily across the Rio Grande for work. Many of the photographs are tied to Bracero-era policies and the subsequent labor disputes of the 1960s, including commentary on César Chávez and the United Farm Workers. Photos in this collection include:
[1] A dramatic border scene documents a violent incident in which “between 600 and 800” Mexican laborers, seeking harvest jobs in California’s Imperial Valley, “jammed like sardines” at the border after being denied entry, sparking a riot suppressed by American police using tear gas and riot guns. A Mexican official “bitterly blamed American lies and propaganda.”
[2] A 1969 AP Vintage Press Photograph with Newsfeatures clipping labeled “U.S./Poverty,” with the headline “Finding a Future,” showing young sons of a Mexican-American family in Cebolla, New Mexico herding sheep. The caption underscores “discrimination, lack of acceptance, lack of education and poverty” as systemic barriers to progress.
[3] 1969 AP Press photograph titled “Onion Gatherers” shows Mexican-American men and women laboring under the Arizona sun. It quotes poverty war officials questioning Chávez’s leadership, suggesting his followers “give up farmwork and find jobs in industry”—while Chávez contends “there just aren’t enough jobs.”
[4] A June 1959 AP Vintage Press Photograph from Hidalgo, Texas, showing Mexican farmworkers being processed through a U.S. labor center. The caption highlights that “more than 105,000 of these workers” were admitted the previous year under a federal program that exempted them from minimum wage laws.
[5] A 1963 Vintage Press Photograph with clipping from the Houston Chronicle shows daily migrant border commuters crossing the Rio Grande at Laredo. Labeled “Sun Aug 4 1963,” the note observes that the practice—5,000 workers entering daily—was sparking tension among labor leaders and advocacy groups.
[6] A Vintage Press Photograph with strip caption from Baja California, dated Feb. 5 (year unlisted), shows the Mexican Air Force preparing planes and pilots at General Cárdenas’ air base for joint patrol with the U.S., highlighting the military dimensions of cross-border collaboration during the Cold War.
[7] A Vintage Press Photograph with large clipped article titled “This is the question which persistently bothers…” discusses the border town of El Chamizal near El Paso, Texas. Residents, “largely of Mexican origin,” faced a diplomatic limbo due to a boundary shift in the Rio Grande and a 1911 arbitration ruling awarding the land to Mexico.
[8] A dramatic AP Press Photo with caption dated July 10, 1937, during a Mexican congressional election, shows a Mexico City jail “full almost to overflowing” after violent clashes among the National Revolutionary Party, Communist Party, and Independent Party. The new Congress was expected to begin Sept. 1.
[9] Vintage Press Photograph shows a line of detained men behind a tall border fence, illustrating the institutional containment of Mexican workers seeking U.S. entry. Other visual content includes harvest scenes, workers arriving by bus, and large crowd gatherings near inspection posts.

This archives forms a unified narrative about border militarization, labor exploitation, racialized poverty, and binational dependency, while offering significant primary visual evidence of Mexican and Mexican-American experience through the lens of mid-century photojournalism. Minor edge wear and original editor's markings to each either en verso or recto. Some corner wear and one with some tape to recto, otherwise all are legible and clear. Overall very good condition. A significant visual archive revealing the evolving face of Mexican labor, U.S. border policy, and media representation across four pivotal decades.

Item #22463

Price: $885.00