Henry Rodriguez papers

Collection

Identifier: CICSC-01

Scope and Contents

The Henry Rodriguez papers consist of 2.5 linear feet of documents (291 files) and 38 audio files related to Luiseño American Indian history, culture, language, and songs. The collection also contains some materials related to other U.S. and Mexican Indigenous Peoples, with materials related to the Cahuilla, Chumash, Cupeño, Diegueño, Kumeyaay, and Paipai peoples. Materials were collected and compiled by Rodriguez from other sources, most notably the John P. Harrington Collection at the Autry Museum of the American West, as well as from books, newspapers, magazines, and academic publications. A significant amount of these materials are annotated and expanded upon by Rodriguez. In addition to his notes and annotations, Rodriguez also authored many of works in the collection, including many stories.

Dates

Creation: 1908-1999

Language of Materials

Materials are predominately in Luiseño and English. Some portions of materials are also in Spanish.

Conditions Governing Access

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The Henry Rodriguez papers are currently restricted while they are undergoing processing. Access to and use of specific materials may be restricted pending approval of the Henry Rodriguez Archive Cultural Committee. Access requests are reviewed by the Cultural Committee on a semi-yearly basis and cannot be expedited.

Contents within this collection have been digitized and have digital access copies. Access to original reel-to-reel tapes is restricted; access to original text documents may be requested pursuant to additional legal, cultural, or ethical considerations. Textual documents must be viewed in person at the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center (CICSC) by appointment only. For some materials, permission must be attained by the Henry Rodriguez Archive Cultural Committee in advance of any visit. Please note that the CICSC observes all California State University San Marcos campus holiday closures. For more information, please contact the CICSC at cicsc@csusm.edu.

Considerations for Research with American Indian Archival Materials

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Research, cultural, and archival materials created by and related to American Indians necessitate careful considerations of access and use, oftentimes in addition to United States legal frameworks like copyright law. Researchers must take into consideration legal, cultural, and ethical responsibilities, and restrictions of access and use may vary in accordance to intended use of materials; community, tribal, or governance groups’ protocols, cultural and religious considerations. Considerations can vary across materials, and can vary even within specific collections. Researchers should honor Indigenous cultural protocols, such as restrictions on viewing or reproducing certain materials, the need for community permission, and respect for knowledge that is ceremonial and/or sacred in nature. Archival materials may reflect historical biases and researchers should approach these materials with care, ensuring accuracy and respectful interpretation in use of these materials, consulting with tribal communities when appropriate, and centering American Indian authority and self-determination.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyrights have not been assigned to the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center. This work is accessible for purposes of education and research, within Traditional Knowledge (TK) guidelines. Requests for permission to publish, quote, or reproduce from collections must be submitted in writing to the Henry Rodriguez Cultural Committee. Permission for publication, transmission, or reproduction of works is given on the behalf of the Henry Rodriguez Cultural Committee, as the holder of property rights, and is not intended to include permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. Please contact The California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center for any inquiries.

Biographical / Historical

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Henry Rodriguez was born on the La Jolla Indian Reservation in 1919, and spent most of his life advocating for Native American rights and education, serving in tribal leadership positions, and preserving American Indian culture. Since the 1940s, Mr. Rodriguez was a major contributor to California Indian politics and was a national authority on Indian water rights. One of the founders of the San Luis Rey Water Authority, he served as president and on the Board of Directors. Rodriguez worked with state and federal authorities on environmental protection, repatriation, and health legislation, and was instrumental to bringing healthcare to California reservations.

"Uncle Henry" Rodriguez was an important elder and preserved indigenous California culture. He began in the 1940s to document traditional Luiseño songs on reel-to-reel tapes, which are currently preserved by Grossmont College and the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center. Rodriguez served as chairman of the La Jolla Band of Mission Indians and was instrumental in establishing the Southern California Intertribal Council, now the California Tribal Chairpersons Association.

Rodriguez was an active proponent of Native American Indian education. He helped to bring Head Start to a number of reservations and served as a board member and consultant to a number of school districts, assisting to develop curriculum with more accurate representation of local Indian people. Rodriguez was significant in the establishment of Native American Indian Studies programs throughout southern California and Arizona.

Rodriguez served as one of the most significant community consultants to California State University San Marcos since the university's inception. He contributed to the organization of the university's annual Pow Wow, blessed commencement ceremonies, and participated in Native American Indian graduation ceremonies and the time capsule celebration. In recognition of his many contributions to the community and to his promotion of educational opportunities for all students, the Board of Trustees of the California State University and California State University, San Marcos conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters upon Henry Rodriguez on June 3, 2001.

Rodriguez was killed in an automobile accident on February 14, 2002 at the age of 82, and his body was cremated and his ashes scattered on reservation land. A tribute to Henry's life was held on Saturday , April 30, 2002 on the athletic field at California State University San Marcos.

(biographical note adapted from life tribute program and from San Diego Union-Tribune obituary)

Full Extent

5 Linear Feet

Partial Extent

2.5 Linear Feet : Textual documents housed in three 9" document cases and one 3" document case.

Full Extent

38 Reels : Reel-to-reel tape and album records.

Additional Description

Arrangement

Textual materials were originally housed in binders grouped into specific subjects by Rodriguez. In arranging the materials, this original physical order has been kept as the papers were housed in archivally safe materials. For the finding aid and description, like materials have been grouped into series built off of the precedent set by the physical materials, as follows:

Series 1: Historical, language, and cultural publications

Series 2: Placenames

Series 3: Songs * Subseries 1: Text documents * Subseries 2: Audio files

Series 4: Stories & folklore

Series 5: Subjects

Series 6: Henry Rodriguez

Physical Location

The Henry Rodriguez papers are housed at the California Indian Culture and Soveriegnty Center. For access and questions, please contact the CICSC at cicsc@csusm.edu.

Custodial History

The Henry Rodriguez papers were placed with the California State University San Marcos University Library circa 2000. Materials were transferred from the library to the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center circa 2014. The Rodriguez estate official donated the materials to the CICSC in 2024.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The Henry Rodriguez papers were transferred from the California State University San Marcos University Library circa 2010.

Related Materials

Digital surrogates have been created for the files in this collection, and are available through the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center at https://cimcc.info/collection/henry-rodriguez-papers

The California State University San Marcos University Library's University Archives holds The Henry Rodriguez collection, small collection related to the life and work of Henry Rodriguez, compiled from librarians that worked with Rodriguez over the years. Please see https://archivesearch.csusm.edu/repositories/3/resources/38

Content Warning note

Archival and manuscript collections may contain offensive or harmful content in their collections materials, or when transcribed, language used in describing materials including in catalog records and finding aids. Materials created about American Indian tribes, communities, traditions, and individuals may be biased and rife with stereotypes and inaccuracies that perpetuate false, problematic, and harmful information and stereotypes about Indigenous peoples. Where possible, the CICSC has followed the following protocols to provide context to materials:

• Inform patrons of potentially offensive content prior to use • Revision of subject heading terminology to be more culturally responsive • Removal of offensive terms from original titles and use of [brackets] to denote devised language (which can include but is not limited to the removal of offensive terms) • When possible, the relationship between the creator of the materials and the community of origin have been noted

The CICSC also encourages culturally affiliated communities to provide context for the collections from their perspective. If members of culturally affiliated communities are aware of inaccuracies within the description of collections materials, please let the CICSC know at cicsc.edu so that the description may be amended.

Language and description note

Members of tribal nations refer to their communities and themselves in many ways, and preferences vary from individual to individual and from tribe to tribe. The California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center prefers to use the nomenclature American Indian, and variations thereof (e.g. Luiseño American Indians). When drafting descriptive language the term American Indians used whenever possible. When crafting subject headings, local headings following this convention have been created and used in place of Library of Congress Subject Headings.

Materials in this collection are primarily written in Luiseño, English, and Spanish, and multiple languages can appear in one document. Luiseño has an extensive oral tradition and a written tradition dating back about 200 years. Whenever possible, Luiseño words were transcribed exactly from documents, and spellings may differ from modern orthographies.