Letras Históricas E-ISSN: 2448-8372

The Evangelical Church of Villa de Cos. Reconfiguration of the Religious Field in Northeastern Zacatecas, 1863–1874

Christian Manuel Barraza Loera — 2025-01-21

This article examines the transformation of the religious field in northeastern Zacatecas between 1863 and 1874, focusing on the emergence of Protestantism as a form of religious dissent against Catholic hegemony. Through a qualitative methodological approach, including the analysis of historical sources such as ecclesiastical archives, missionary correspondence, and legal documents, the study explores the interactions between local liberal communities and American Protestant missionaries. The central hypothesis argues that geographical isolation, the absence of a consolidated Catholic presence, and the political context of liberal laws facilitated the spread of new religious knowledge. Key premises include the role of the 1860 Freedom of Worship Law and the translation of the Gospel into Spanish as tools to legitimize Protestantism. The findings conclude that the adoption of Protestantism in the region not only reshaped local religious practices but also challenged traditional power structures, paving the way for emerging religious pluralism in 19th-century Mexico.

Confessing the fact, justifying the crime. The ideal of motherhood and the defense of the legitimate family in Yucatán (1870–1906)

Sara Esperanza Sanz Reyes — 2025-02-18

This article presents a discourse analysis of the confessions made by individuals accused of infanticide, abortion, and infant abandonment in Yucatán between 1870 and 1906. The objective is to examine how women and men handled their confessions – whether they admitted the facts, denied them, or constructed their innocence through justifications. The study employs Critical Discourse Analysis tools, focusing on the pragmatic level by reviewing the enunciation context and the outcomes expressed in the judicial sentences. Fourteen cases were analyzed, encompassing three crimes that historiography has recognized as closely related within a semantic field concerning the conception of sexuality and motherhood during the study period. The findings highlight the function of confessions during the oral stage of legal proceedings, where defendants presented their accounts before authorities and defended their involvement in the alleged crimes. These statements, along with judicial interpretations, defense arguments, and expert reports, contributed to the construction of the legal discourse on motherhood, paternity, and the legitimacy of children in 19th-century Yucatán.

The editorial cartoon of El Sol de Guadalajara on poliomyelitis in Mexico (1955–1962)

Jose Luis Gomez De lara — 2025-03-07

Poliomyelitis had a significant impact on Mexican society in the mid-20th century, affecting family, social, and medical life across the country. In this context, the present study analyzes a set of cartoons published in El Sol de Guadalajara between 1955 and 1962, aiming to examine how the disease was represented and perceived by the public. Through an iconographic approach, it is argued that these cartoons not only reflected social concern about the disease but also contributed to public awareness and the promotion of preventive measures, particularly childhood vaccination. It is further contended that editorial cartoons functioned as a communication tool that, through humor and critique, made the health issue visible and fostered public debate. Finally, it is concluded that these visual representations played a key role in shaping how Jalisco's society understood poliomyelitis and adopted strategies for its prevention.

Métele la Wilson, métele la Nelson. Freestyle wrestling in Guadalajara, Jalisco, 1934–1937

Sarahi Salazar-Puga — 2025-03-18

Professional wrestling has been an essential component of Mexican popular culture. However, historiography on its origins and development has primarily focused on Mexico City, overlooking other regions of the country. This article examines the emergence and consolidation of professional wrestling in Guadalajara between 1934 and 1937, during a period characterized by improvisation in its organization and the construction of its early sporting narratives. Through the analysis of newspaper sources and official documents, the study explores practice spaces, combat dynamics, and the social impact of the spectacle on the local community. This research provides a regional perspective on the study of professional wrestling, contributing to a broader understanding of its diversification and establishment beyond the nation’s capital.

Water control and economic transformation: The case of La Peña Pobre in colonial Mexico

Nadia Aroche Fuentes — 2025-04-14

The ‘La Peña Pobre’ hacienda, founded in the 16th century in Tlalpan, was established around the strategic control of water, which influenced its expansion and economic transformation during the viceregal period. This study examines how access to and control over the springs and watercourses in the southeastern region of the Basin of Mexico shaped its development and evolution. Through the analysis of land grants, legal disputes, and administrative records, the conflicts between the estate’s owners and the indigenous communities disputing rights over these water resources are reconstructed. It is argued that these disputes not only influenced the consolidation of the hacienda’s property but also highlight the role of the Republic of Indians as an intermediary in defending indigenous territorial rights. This study offers a new perspective on the relationship between water control and the economic and social dynamics of the Basin of Mexico during the New Spain period.

Female education in Guadalajara through convents, beguinages, and teaching houses between the 16th and 18th centuries

Miriam Araceli Vázquez Bravo — 2025-04-28

Female educational institutions in colonial Guadalajara were characterized by teaching under Christian principles and the moral standards of the time. This article aims to analyze how convents, beguinages, and teaching houses operated to provide female education between the 16th and 18th centuries. Through the consultation of archival sources, periodicals, and specialized bibliography, the study identifies the educational methods and values transmitted in these institutions. The central argument holds that female education was oriented toward consolidating a model of women subordinated to the expectations of Novohispanic society: destined for marriage or religious life. Consequently, convents and beguinages were conceived as appropriate spaces to train women for the roles of wife or nun, thus reaffirming the ideals of a conservative society. This analysis allows us to understand how female education functioned as an instrument to preserve the established social and moral order.

The escape: A local approach to Francisco I. Madero’s flight from San Luis Potosí on October 8, 1910

Yolanda Esperanza Camacho Zapata — 2025-05-12

This article aims to reconstruct in detail the final hours of Francisco I. Madero in the city of San Luis Potosí, and to explain how his escape was planned, who was involved, and in which specific locations within the capital the events took place, in the immediate context preceding the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution. This qualitative study is based on previously unpublished documents donated on May 16, 2022, by the Alvarado Mascorro family to the Historical Archive of the State of San Luis Potosí “Lic. Antonio Rocha” – identified as the “Jesús Mascorro Collection.” Through the analysis of primary sources – particularly the memoirs of railway worker Jesús Mascorro Cancino and his brothers – this article offers a meticulous reconstruction of this episode from a local perspective. Such an approach allows for an understanding of how a pivotal moment in national history emerged from local, everyday actions. It is worth noting that this is the first time these documents have been subject to academic scrutiny, providing an original and detailed account of the events.

Press and political mobilization around electoral processes in Zacatecas, 1900–1914

Claudia Mireya Vázquez — 2025-06-03

This article analyzes the electoral processes in Zacatecas between 1900 and 1914, focusing on the role of political clubs and the press in mobilizing citizens and shaping the governmental apparatus. Drawing from the national context, it explores the characteristics of elections in the nineteenth century, their transformation during the decline of the Porfiriato, and their impact on the onset of the Mexican Revolution. The study examines how political actors shaped the local arena in a setting marked by the struggle between liberals and conservatives, as well as the dynamics of power, alliances, and resistance among various groups and their links to national politics. Additionally, it analyzes how the press was used to construct ideological enemies—a key strategy in the political discourse of the time. In conclusion, the article argues that electoral processes and the organs for disseminating political ideas were crucial in the political and social transformation that led to the Mexican Revolution.

Priests under pressure: Viceregal criticism, hierarchy and discipline in the parishes of the archbishopric of Mexico, 1600–1650

Rodolfo Aguirre Salvador — 2025-06-16

The consolidation of the archiepiscopal Church of Mexico during the initial phase of the Tridentine reform involved the implementation of various mechanisms to ensure control over the parish clergy. This article argues that beyond formal ecclesiastical provisions, it was the coordinated pressure exerted by archbishops and viceroys that shaped parish priests according to standards of pastoral efficiency and institutional obedience. Drawing on case files preserved in the Historical Archive of the Archdiocese of Mexico, the study identifies three principal strategies: improved priestly education, the functional stratification of the benefited clergy, and the circulation of priests among parishes. However, it contends that the most decisive disciplinary tool was the systematic attention given to complaints and accusations raised by parishioners themselves, who became active agents in regulating clerical conduct. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of how ecclesiastical control in New Spain relied on a complex interplay between civil authority, ecclesiastical hierarchy, and community participation.

A trip to Rome under the eyes of a “boy”. The diary of one of the first Mexican píolatinos: Faustino Martínez Sandoval, 1870

Omar López Padilla — 2025-05-21

This article presents and analyzes the travel diary of Faustino Martínez Sandoval, one of the first young Mexicans sent to Rome in 1870 as part of the piolatino project promoted by José Antonio Plancarte. This initiative, driven by the papacy of Pius IX and implemented in Mexico by Plancarte and Archbishop Pelagio De Labastida, aimed to “Romanize” the Mexican clergy through the formation of seminarians at the Colegio Pío Latinoamericano. The diary—written through the innocent gaze of an adolescent and recovered from the archives of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara—constitutes a privileged source for exploring the logistical, emotional, and cultural dimensions of the journey, as well as the support networks among exiles and Mexican ecclesiastical elites. Through this testimony, the article examines how the beginning of the Romanization project was experienced from the perspective of a chiquillo, a term used by ecclesiastical authorities to refer to these teenagers due to their young age. The document also reveals the logistical details of a journey that became the first trial of the Mexican piolatino project, which ultimately facilitated the sending of sixty Mexican students to Rome between 1870 and 1898 under the guidance of Father José Antonio Plancarte. From a cultural and emotional history perspective, it is argued that this testimony reveals both the tensions inherent in the Catholic reformist project and the experiences of childhoods in transit during the nineteenth century.