Contested Spaces and Boundaries: The Legacy of the U.S.-Mexico Treaty of Gudalupe Hidalgo

Exhibition
  • Add to Calendar 2024-08-31 17:00:00 2025-01-14 16:00:00 Contested Spaces and Boundaries: The Legacy of the U.S.-Mexico Treaty of Gudalupe Hidalgo In early 19th century, growing diplomatic conflicts between Mexico, newly independent from Spain, and the United States over its westward expansion into Texas and the territory of Alta California, led to the Mexican American war from 1846 to 1848. Peace negotiations ended hostilities, first in Alta California with the Treaty of La Cahuenga, and then in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. By its terms, Mexico ceded half of its territory to the U.S, including present-day states of California, the American Southwest, and Texas, and recognized a two-thousand mile boundary separating the two nations at the Rio Grande. The 1848 treaty left indelible marks on the landscape, cultures and politics on both sides of the new border and especially impacted Mexican citizens and Indigenous people who found themselves living in a new country almost overnight. This exhibit features rare books, photographs, maps, a first edition of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and contemporary artists’ books from the USC Libraries’ Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, and Special Collections. DML - Ground Floor Rotunda America/Los_Angeles public
September 1, 2024 - January 15, 2025
DML - Ground Floor Rotunda

Storming of Chapultepec

In early 19thcentury, growing diplomatic conflicts between Mexico, newly independent from Spain, and the United States over its westward expansion into Texas and the territory of Alta California, led to the Mexican American war from 1846 to 1848.  Peace negotiations ended hostilities, first in Alta California with the Treaty of La Cahuenga, and then in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. By its terms, Mexico ceded half of its territory to the U.S, including present-day states of California, the American Southwest, and Texas, and recognized a two-thousand mile boundary separating the two nations at the Rio Grande. The 1848 treaty left indelible marks on the landscape, cultures and politics on both sides of the new border and especially impacted Mexican citizens and Indigenous people who found themselves living in a new country almost overnight. This exhibit features rare books, photographs, maps, a first edition of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and contemporary artists’ books from the USC Libraries’ Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, and Special Collections.