"María Amparo Ruiz de Burton, the recently discovered nineteenth-century novelist, broke many of the boundaries that circumscribed the life of both women and Hispanics in the southwestern territories of the United States. Not only was she the first Hispanic novelist to write English, but her courage and resolve took her into the circles of governmental and financial power where very few women had tread before.
Conflicts of Interest captures the conflicted personality of María Amparo Ruiz de Burton, a woman pulled in different directions by tensions of class, race, gender, and nationality. The trajectory of Ruiz de Burtons life through her correspondence makes for a compelling and revealing narrative, one that brings to life the evolution of discourse and culture in the Southwest as it was becoming integrated in the United Statesa process which, some might argue, continues today.
This volume is as complete a collection of the Ruiz de Burton letters as is possible, given the imperfect historical record. Included are various personal and business documents and a collection of articles about her family. Among her correspondents were such important historical figures as Samuel L. M. Barlow, E. W. Morse, Prudenciana Moreno, and Platón Vallejo. But this album is not a simple collection of letters and documents
- Cover
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Introduction
- Conflicts of Interest
- Notes
- Chapter I. Baja California
- A. Commentary
- In the beginning there was La Paz
- Family and social stratification
- Ties that bind: Marriage under changing flags
- A fait accompli: an old marriage tactic in a new context
- Treason or regional loyalty?
- Compromised positions
- The Burton connection
- B. Letters and Documents: Baja and Family Background
- 1. MARB’s biography of Don José Manuel Ruiz, writtenfor the Bancroft Project
- 2. MARB’s transcription of Don José Manuel’s Letter
- 3. Last Will and Testament of Ysabel Ruiz de Maitorena
- 4. H. S. Burton’s 1848 Letter to H. M. Naglee
- 5. Family Trees for Ruiz, Carrillo,and Burton Families
- Notes to Genealogical Lines
- Notes
- Chapter II. From Baja to Monterey
- A. Commentary
- National differences
- Settlement patterns in the hinterlands
- The ever quaint and charming Monterey
- Into the breach
- Enter Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo
- Diagnosis: “un alma atravesada”
- B. Letters and Documents (1848–1852)
- MARB to M. G. Vallejo. 30 November 1851, Monterey,California
- M. G. Vallejo to MARB. 6 December 1851, Sonoma,California
- MARB to Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. 24 April 1852,Monterey, California
- M.G. Vallejo to MARB. 10 May 1852, Sonoma, California
- Notes
- Chapter III. Early San Diego and La Frontera
- A. Commentary
- “There is no there, there”: 1850s San Diego
- Local californios: friends and foes
- The twisted tale of Rancho Jamul
- San Diego and the railroad: a fleeting chimera run off the track
- The Morenos
- Across the line: La Frontera
- Filibustering as expansionist modus operandi
- The Walker-Burton connection
- Imperial projects and projections: Mexico as nature to U.S. culture
- MARB and the so-called Manifest Destiny
- La Frontera politics
- Matías Moreno
- La Frontera: MARB’s personal interest
- Tangled family webs
- Leaving San Diego
- B. Letters and Documents (1851–1859)
- MARB to José Castro. 23 April 1857, San Diego, California
- MARB to José Castro. 2 May 1857, San Diego
- Henry S. Burton to José Antonio Aguirre. May 1857,Fort Yuma, California
- MARB to Prudenciana Moreno. 1 September 1857, Jamul
- MARB to Prudenciana Moreno. 6 December 1857, Jamul
- MARB to Matías Moreno. 22 December 1857, Jamul
- MARB to Matías Moreno. 2 January 1858, Jamul
- MARB to Matías Moreno. 16 May 1858, Jamul
- MARB to Matías Moreno. 4 June 1858, Jamul
- MARB to Matías Moreno. 23 August 1858, Jamul
- MARB to Matías Moreno. 18 September 1858, Jamul
- MARB to Matías Moreno. 18 December 1858, SanFrancisco
- MARB to M. G. Vallejo. 22 December 1858,Metropolitan Hotel, San Francisco
- MARB to Matías Moreno. 20 February 1859, Jamul
- MARB to Matías Moreno. 27 February 1859, Jamul
- MARB to Platón Vallejo. 23 April 1859, Jamul, California
- M. G. Vallejo to MARB. [undated][perhaps a letter of 1867; the issue of race is a consant in MARB’scorrespondence; see 8-26-67]
- MARB to Prudenciana Moreno. 7 May 1859, Jamul,California
- Henry S. Burton to E. W. Morse. May 9, 1859, FortYuma, California
- José Matias Moreno to the Supreme Government ofMéxico in care of Don Rafael Espinosa, jefe políticoofBaja California, November 29
- José Matías Moreno to José L. Espinosa. December 7,1851. San Diego, California
- Notes
- Chapter IV. (Shifting) Frames of Reference:Southwest by East
- A. Commentary
- We’re not in California anymore
- Getting to know you: U.S. imperialism
- Secession in the air: The U.S. Civil War and Mexico
- Los sueños de la nación producen monstruos
- Enter Matías Romero
- Ideological crosscurrents
- Napoleon III’s “Grand Design”
- The U.S. faced with “the French Invasion”
- Blindspots: slavery and Mexico/U.S. policies
- Gwin’s Dukedom of Sonora
- Confederate colonies in Mexico
- Closer to home: MARB and the Baja Leese Concession
- The course of “natural” Expansion
- MARB: responses to encroachment, or forgiving not ourtrespassers?
- Compromised and compromising positions, or awkwardaccommodations
- M. G. Vallejo
- Capitalizing on potential: faith and credit
- Mssrs. Barlow and Moreno
- E. W. Morse
- The Widow Burton
- B. Letters and Documents (1859–1870)
- Notes
- Chapter V. Illustrations
- Chapter VI. Later San Diego: 1871–1895
- A. Commentary
- Reversals of Fortune
- Returning to San Diego via San Francisco
- Trials and tribulations
- San Diego: boom to bust
- San Diego gets railroaded
- Jamul under seize
- Burton patent to Jamul confirmed, 1872
- Gaining time, dodging debts, or paying neither Peter nor Paul
- Legal convolutions continue, or mortgaged to the hilt
- Struggling and striving: new aspirations and failures
- The Jamul Portland Cement Company
- Continued machinations: Baja and Ensenada
- Not the best of times
- Thinking big, or El que mucho abarca, poco aprieta
- That most ironic of terms: profiteer, or sin todas lasde la ley
- No white knight to bail her out, or where is Clarence whenwe need him?
- Previews of coming battles
- Conduct unbecoming women: Clara Foltz and MARB
- The ever more convoluted Ensenada labyrinth
- Meanwhile, back at the (Jamul) ranch
- Coda: and the suits go on
- B. Letters and Documents (1870–1895)
- Notes
- Chapter VII. Narratives of Negative Identification
- A. Commentary
- Inside/out: counter travel narratives
- Nuestra América in the context of “theirs”
- Discourses of Gender
- “American literature”?
- The Bancroft project, or, to the victor go the archives
- Drama
- Novels
- Newspaper articles
- Legal brief
- Business prospectus
- Letters
- B. Documents
- 1. Book Reviews
- 2. Articles
- 3. Lower California Mining Company Brochure
- 4. Obituaries
- 5. MARB’s petition as heir of H. S. Burton, her pension request,and other documents
- 6. Pío Pico’s Deed to the Jamul Ranch
- 7. Isabel Ruiz Maytorena’s suit against MARB
- 8. New York Times article on Ensenada
- Notes
- Index
- Letters by Date
- Letters by Chapter
- Letters by Addressee/Sender
Text
Audio
Adobe DRM
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