UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Conquerors, immigrants, exiles : the Spanish diaspora in the United States (1848-1948) Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4m7181hk Author Varela-Lago, Ana Maria Publication Date 2008 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Conquerors, Immigrants, Exiles: The Spanish Diaspora in the United States (1848-1948). A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Ana María Varela-Lago Committee in charge: Professor Pamela B. Radcliff, Chair Professor David G. Gutiérrez Professor Susan Kirkpatrick Professor David R. Ringrose Professor Cynthia Truant 2008 Copyright Ana María Varela-Lago, 2008 All rights reserved. The dissertation of Ana María Varela-Lago is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm: Chair University of California, San Diego 2008 iii For Estrella and James iv Pure Spaniards are totally apart from other races and very little understood, and to have this heritage and at the same time to have been born in the United States is in itself a cause for psychological contradictions and “complexes.” Mercedes de Acosta, Here Lies the Heart No obstante su españolidad, John, Luis y Maximino son auténticos norteamericanos; autenticidad que brinda este originalísimo país y continente del mestizo; mestizaje no sólo de raza o color epidérmico, sino que de culturas e idiosincracias. España Libre , 1963 v TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page …………………………………………………………………………. iii Dedication ……………………………………………………………………………… iv Epigraphs ………………………………………………………………………………. v Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………………. vi List of Abbreviations ………………………………………………………………….. vii List of Figures …………………………………………………………………………. ix List of Tables ………………………………………………………………………….. x Acknowledgments ……………………………………………………………………... xi Vita …………………………………………………………………………………….. xiv Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………… xv Introduction: The invisible Spanish immigrant ……………………………………….. 1 1. Defending Cuba española : The “Cuban question” and the Spanish diaspora in nineteenth-century America ………………………………………………………… 20 2. Forging a Spanish-American identity in the United States: Cervantes Day and the 1892 Columbian Centennial ……………………………………………………. 54 3. Yankee Conquistadores : The Spanish diaspora and the “Spanish fantasy past” …... 95 4. The new Conquistadores : Spanish migration to the United States after 1898 ...……129 5. The making of transnational communities …………………………………………. 177 6. The Spanish civil war and the Americanization of the Spanish immigrant ………... 225 Epilogue: From migrants to exiles ……………………………………………………. 271 Figures ………………………………………………………………………………… 288 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………..... 299 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACLU American Civil Liberties Union Papers. ACLU Records and Publications, 1917-1975 ACLURB American Civil Liberties Union Papers. ACLU Archives: the Roger Baldwin years, 1917-1950 AFSD American Friends of Spanish Democracy AGA-MAE Archivo General de la Administración (Alcalá de Henares), Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Embajada Washington AGA-PG- Archivo General de la Administración, Presidencia del Gobierno, SGM-DNSE Secretaría General del Movimiento, Delegación Nacional del Servicio Exterior de Falange AGP Archivo General del Palacio Real (Madrid) BCSE Boletín del Consejo Superior de Emigración CAE Comité Antifascista Español CFU Comités Femeninos Unidos DW Daily Worker (New York) ER España Republicana (New York) FP Frente Popular (New York) LAT Los Angeles Times MAEAB Ministerio de Astuntos Exteriores (Madrid), Archivo de Burgos MAEAH Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores (Madrid), Archivo Histórico MAEAR Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores (Madrid), Archivo Renovado MBASD Medical Bureau to Aid Spanish Democracy NA National Archives, Washington, D. C. vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS (continued) NACASD North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy NYT New York Times SCWOHP Spanish Civil War Oral History Project. University of South Florida Library (Tampa). Special Collections SHC Sociedades Hispanas Confederadas TDT Tampa Daily Times TMT Tampa Morning Tribune USFLSC University of South Florida Library (Tampa), Special Collections viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: La Llumanera de Nova York…………………………………………….. 288 Figure 2: “In Memory of Menéndez” (advertisement, Davis Shores)………………289 Figure 3: “Sound-Safe-Conservative” (advertisement, Daytona Highlands)……… 290 Figure 4: “It Took 400 Years” (advertisement, Davis Shores)…………………….. 291 Figure 5: “They Had Courage…” (advertisement, Mizner Development Co.)……. 292 Figure 6: “Sale of historic Ship Models” (advertisement, Spear’s). ……………….293 Figure 7: “¡Por fin!...(advertisement, Librería Cervantes)…………………………. 294 Figure 8: “¡Viva España!...(advertisement Castellanos-Molina Corporation)…….. 295 Figure 9: “¡No pasarán!” (Spanish Civil War Republican poster)………………….296 Figure 10: “Columna Francisca Solana” (Tampa Spanish girls in miliciano outfit)..297 Figure 11: “¿Te acuerdas?” (flyer of the Círculo Republicano Español)………….. 298 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Spanish population in the United States, 1850-1900………………….……....26 Table 2: Origin of the foreign-born population of the United States, 1880-1900….….135 Table 3: Emigration from Spain to the United States, 1881-1950...………………......136 Table 4: States with the highest population of Spaniards, 1900, 1910 ..………………137 Table 5: States with the highest population of Spaniards, 1920, 1930...………………138 x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation is the culmination of a journey that began several years ago. Along the way, I have received the support of many people and institutions. I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee--David Gutiérrez, Susan Kirkpatrick, David Ringrose, and Cynthia Truant--for the opportunity to work with them even before this project began to take shape, and for their patience and encouragement as it came to fruition. My highest debt of gratitude goes to my advisor, Pamela Radcliff, who has read through several drafts of the dissertation. Her comments, questions, and suggestions have challenged me to clarify my arguments, and have helped me to become a better historian. The demands of graduate student life were made lighter with the aid of a remarkable group of graduate coordinators. My sincere thanks go to Mary Allen, Carol Larkin, Betty Gunderson, Nadyne Nawar, and to the staff of the department, present and past. The department of History at UCSD provided an exceptional environment for the study of Spanish history. I enjoyed the wisdom, warmth, and wit of a wonderful community of fellow Hispanists: Daniel Berenberg, Charles Bodie, Enrique Sanabria, Theresa Ann Smith, Hamilton Stapell, Daniel Stuber, and Clinton Young, and, more recently, Charles (Nick) Saenz, and Robert Long. Fellow historians from other fields shared their knowledge and friendship: Ricardo Fagoaga, Barnet Hanson, Heidi Keller- Lapp, Phoebe Kropp, Matthew O’Hara, Rachel Shaw, Matt Shindell, Donald Wallace, Edward Wright-Ríos, and Laura (Jackie) Zucconi. Cecily Heisser and Susanne Hillman have been generous with their time and good humor. Gracias, amigas. xi My research has benefited from the skill and professionalism of many archivists and librarians. At UCSD, I thank the staff of the Interlibrary Loan Department, and the help of Sam Dunlap and Elliot Kanter in locating and purchasing materials. Special thanks go to Lynda Claasen, head of the Mandeville Special Collections Library, for supporting my research in the Southworth Spanish Civil War Collection. I also appreciate the assistance of Mark Greenberg, head of Special Collections at the University of South Florida Library, as well as the staff of the New York Public Library, and of the National Archives and the Library of Congress in Washington, D. C. In Spain, I received the able assistance of the staff of the National Library, the Archivo General de la Administración, the Archivo General del Palacio Real, the Hemeroteca Municipal de Madrid, and the Fundación Universitaria Española. Pilar Casado, at the Archivo del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores in Madrid, has offered much help through my years of research there. I was able to do research at these institutions thanks to the generous financial support of several organizations. The Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies at UCSD provided funds in the early stages through a pre-dissertation grant. Fellowships from the Office of Graduate Studies at UCSD, and the Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and United States’ Universities funded an extended research stay in Madrid. An Albert J. Beveridge Grant from the American Historical Association allowed me to consult materials at the National Archives and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. A Patrick Riordan Memorial Research fellowship from the Florida Studies Center permitted me to do research at the Special Collections Library at the University of South Florida. A Kenneth and Dorothy Hill Fellowship funded my research at the Mandeville Special Collections Library at UCSD. Travel grants from the xii Program for Cultural Cooperation and the International Institute for Comparative Area Studies-IICAS at UCSD allowed me to complete archival work in the summer of 2006. Funding from the Humanities Center and the History Department at UCSD made it possible for me to