The Adalberto Guerrero Papers contains documents collected by Tucson educator and former UA Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Adalberto “Beto” Guerrero. An early advocate of bilingual and bicultural education, Guerrero’s papers include correspondence, reports, essay, and articles related to his efforts in the field and to his testimony before Congress in support of the Bilingual Education Act of 1968. Also represented is his work on behalf of Chicanos in higher education in the 1970s. La version en Español de esta guia de colección está disponible.
Collection Number:
MS 536
Language:
Materials are in English.
Repository:
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/
Biographical Note
Adalberto “Beto” Guerrero was born in Bisbee, Arizona on December 11, 1929. Son of an underground miner and union activist, Guerrero dropped out of high school during his freshmen year to work at Fort Huachuca. After marrying his wife Ana in 1950, he joined the army, returning to mining after his discharge. By 1953, Guerrero’s wife and father-in-law convinced him to apply to the University of Arizona, where he was accepted after earning his GED diploma. In 1957, Guerrero received his undergraduate degree in Spanish from the University of Arizona and began teaching at Pueblo High School. In 1962, due to the success of his program of Spanish for Spanish speakers, Guerrero was asked to join the faculty of the Education and Romance Languages departments at the University of Arizona. He also worked as curriculum specialist at Pima Community College, developing the Heritage Speakers Program, popular with native speakers opting to major or minor in Spanish.
After Guerrero’s Pueblo High School program was nationally recognized and used as model for the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) Bilingual Education Institute, he was asked to join the Tucson-NEA (National Education Association) Survey on the Teaching of Spanish to the Spanish-speaking. Guerrero and a group of pioneers in the field published their findings in 1966 in a report titled “The Invisible Minority.” That same year the National Education Association (NEA) organized a national symposium that helped focus attention to the plight of Mexican-American students, eventually leading to congressional hearings. In 1967, Guerrero testified in support of Senate Bill 428, which became Title VII or the Bilingual Education Act of 1969.
Guerrero was the first Chicano to serve as Assistant Dean of Students at the University of Arizona, a position he held from 1973 to 1975. While at the University of Arizona, Guerrero also directed the New Start Summer Program and was chair of the Mexican American Studies Committee. He remained a lecturer in the Romance Languages Department until his retirement from the University of Arizona in 1994. Recognitions and awards presented to Guerrero include the NEA’s Human Rights Award, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Award, Outstanding Faculty Contributor to Minority Student Education, and the National Association for Bilingual Education Pioneer Award. In 2002, the Adalberto Guerrero Middle School in Tucson was named after him, and in 2014, the University of Arizona Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs center was renamed the Adalberto and Ana Guerrero Student Center.
Scope and Content Note
Papers, 1947-2005 (bulk 1967-1982): This collection consists of professional and personal papers of Adalberto Guerrero. The bulk of the material is correspondence exchanged with members of various entities, organizations, committees, and others with which Guerrero collaborated to further bilingual/bicultural education for Mexican-American children, as well as professional development and curriculum development for teachers. Documents also encompass his work as Assistant Dean of Student Affairs in the Office of Chicano/Hispano Affairs at the University of Arizona. Included in the collection are transcripts of Guerrero’s testimony before the U.S. Congress in support of what became Title VII, the Bilingual Education Act. Guerrero’s files contain numerous reports, essays, articles, and newspaper clippings documenting the experience of Mexican-American students in the 1970s. Mr. Guerrero’s curriculum vitae and recognitions are part of the collection, as well as public statements he made over the years.
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the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The
user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the
University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all
claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of
copyright.
This series is arranged according to the organization or project with which Guerrero was collaborating at the time to address concerns related to multicultural/ethnic education. There are some materials related to K-12, but it is mostly Chicano studies and representation in higher education. Includes two reports by Guerrero as Dean of Students, correspondence with Arnulfo Trejo of the Graduate Library School at the University of Arizona, and some oversized items..
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Committee: UA Multicultural Relations, 1967-1970
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Southwest Council of La Raza, 1968-1969
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Committee: Center for Public School Ethnic Studies (CPSES), 1972-1973
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Committee: Center for Public School Ethnic Studies (CPSES) curriculum, undated
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Committee: Center for Public School Ethnic Studies (CPSES) essays, undated
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Committee: Multicultural Task Force, National Institute of Education, 1974
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Committee: Chicano Studies, UC Davis, 1975
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Committee: Modern Languages Association Summer Seminar, 1976
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Committee: National Chicano Council on Higher Education (NCCHE), 1976-1977
1
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Committee: State Prison Cultural Program (M.A.C.H.O.), 1976-1977
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11
Committee: Society of Ethnic and Special Studies, 1976-1977
1
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Committee: Border State University Consortium, 1977
Series organized according to the organization or project in which Guerrero collaborated in behalf of bilingual/bicultural education. Includes correspondence with members of Congress after the 1966 National Education Association (NEA) Conference, and which led to Guerrero’s testimony in behalf of what would later become the Bilingual Education Act of 1969. A draft of his testimony, as well as many important reports and studies igniting recognition for the need to fund and encourage bilingual education.
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National Education Association (NEA), 1965
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National Education Association (NEA), 1966
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National Education Association (NEA), 1966
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National Education Association (NEA), 1967-1968
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Higher Education Institutions, 1966-1992
3
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Public School Districts, 1967-1992
3
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Legislative Testimony, CA SB 53, 1967
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Congressional Testimony, S 428/HR 514, 1967, 1969
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9
U.S. Office of Education, 1968-1969
3
10
U.S. Office of Education, 1970-1977
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Ginn and Company, Education Publishers, 1978-1984
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Conference: Various, 1967-1987
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Conference: Yeshiva University’s Bilingualism in Preschool Education, 1967
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Conference: Mexican American System National Conference, 1972
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Conference: Aspira of America>, 1973
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Conference: International Conference on Bilingual/Bicultural Education, 1973-1974
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Conference: Southern CA Bilingual Education, 1973-1975
Includes two compact discs with PDFs of the Iris Club Scrapbooks, a Bisbee club that Guerrero belonged to since his youth (1947-2011), as well as correspondence and newspaper clippings documenting Guerrero’s accomplishments and public statements made over the years are also included.
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Curriculum Vitae, 1957-1992
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Public Statements, 1967-1986
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Correspondence, 1968-1979
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Correspondence, 1980-1991
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Newspaper Clippings / Digital Scrapbooks, 1947-2011