Comic Book Donation Opens Window to History

The recent donation of comics and literature to the Special Collections Department at UTA Libraries opens a window into the culture, history, and reading habits of people of Latin descent during the 20th century. 

Dr. Christopher Conway’s donation contains more than 800 items. The collection includes examples of Mexican and Spanish popular print items about Mexican and World History as well as the American West. Dr. Conway currently serves as a professor of Spanish. 

"The collection includes vintage, educational comics about Mexican and other historical figures, Mexican and Spanish comics, dime novels, pulps about the American West, and Mexican comics about immigration," Dr. Conway said. "The collection also includes important contextual materials such as U.S. newspaper comic strips, U.S. comic books, Westerns, pre-print comic book art from Mexico, and reference works." 

Dr. Conway stated that the collection's rare items would interest students and scholars of immigration, Mexican nationalism, the American West, the history of world comics, the globalization of U.S. popular culture, and cultural history in general.  

Some notable subjects in the comics include stories about Mexican revolutionaries like Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. They also contain stories about significant events like the conquest of Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico War. There are state-sponsored Mexican comics about immigration, social issues, and the Spanish Western novelettes of Marcial Lafuente Estefanía.  

Christopher stated that Marcial started writing in the 1940s until his death in 1984, having published more than 2,000 Spanish Western novelettes. He noted that while the books were written and published in Spain, his writing gained an audience throughout Mexico, Latin America, and the United States.  

The collection is named in honor of Christopher's parents, John and Magdalena Conway, who were avid collectors of Mexican folk art and loved the Mexican culture. They shared that interest with him, which inspired Christopher to start collecting comics. 

"What I want for this collection is to reach the widest possible public and help tell the story of literacy in Mexico, historical periods, and historical characters. I think that they are an invaluable teaching tool," Christopher said. "I hope that undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty will do original research on some of these comics." 

The John and Magdalena Conway Collection will soon be available for use by the public in the Special Collections Department, so stay tuned.  

For questions about the collection and its availability, people can contact the Special Collections Department online at https://libraries.uta.edu/collections/special-collections.  

The Special Collections Department is on the sixth floor of the UTA Central Library building.