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Florence Vallejo Terronez papers

 Collection
Identifier: IWA0577

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Scope and Contents

The Florence Vallejo Terronez papers date from 1913 to 2006 and measure 2.5 linear inches in one box. The papers include biographical information, the transcript of a diary, photographs, and an audio recording about Terronez's father. The diary typescript, "The Labor of a Mother," was written by Martina Morado Vallejo, Florence Terronez's mother, between 1953 and 1958. The original diary was written in Spanish and later transcribed and translated into English by Florence Terronez. In the diary, Vallejo recalls her childhood in Mexico, her journey to the United States and her life in Horton, Kansas, reflecting on events that occurred the years her children were born.

The papers also include several photographs of the Morado and Vallejo families, some taken in Horton, Kansas, and some in Iowa. The newspaper clippings located in the biographical information folder include a photograph of Julio Vallejo with the Horton baseball team. In the six-minute audio recording, "Remember When...?" Florence Terronez recounts her memories of her father, including his love of baseball, singing, writing, and gambling.

Dates

  • Creation: 1913-2006

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The papers are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to the University of Iowa.

However, copyright status for some collection materials may be unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owner. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility and potential liability based on copyright infringement for any use rests exclusively and solely with the user. Users must properly acknowledge the Iowa Women’s Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, as the source of the material. For further information, visit https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/services/rights/

Biographical / Historical

Florence Vallejo Terronez was born in Horton, Kansas, in 1924 to Martina Morado and Julio (Julius) R. Vallejo. Martina Morado was born in Guanajuato, Mexico, and came to the United States in 1910 when she was thirteen years old with her mother, Angela Morado, and her brother. The family settled in the railroad town of Horton, Kansas, where the children helped their mother run a boarding house.

In 1914, Martina Morado married Julio Vallejo, who was born in Leon, Mexico, and had come to Horton at the age of sixteen where he was employed as a pipefitter on the Rock Island Railroad. He also managed the Horton baseball team, was an accomplished singer, and ran a barber shop out of his home. The couple raised eleven children. Julio Vallejo, like many railroad workers, was laid off during the Depression, and for two seasons the entire family worked the beet fields in Minnesota in order to make a living. In 1941, when the railroad in Horton closed down, the family moved to West Des Moines, Iowa, where Julio Vallejo continued to work as a pipefitter for the Rock Island Railroad.

Florence Vallejo attended school in West Des Moines. During the 1940s and 1950s she continued to live with her family working as a nurse's aide at Broadlawns Medical Center and as a long distance telephone operator for the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company. She was employed as a welder for Solar Aircraft Company for two months in 1945, a job that came to an abrupt end when it was announced that World War II was over. In 1956, Florence Vallejo married Antonio (Anthony) Terronez, an architectural engineer who worked for John Deere and Company in East Moline, Illinois. Terronez was a widower whose first wife had died in 1951, leaving him with four young children to raise.

Following her marriage, Florence Terronez became a full-time mother, managing the household and caring for her four stepchildren and two more children who were born later. She was involved in her children's school and church activities, sang in the church choir, and later worked as a nurse's aide at St. Anthony's Hospital in Rock Island, Illinois. Following her retirement she volunteered with the Genesis Medical Center in Silvis, Illinois, and served on the community service auxiliary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in East Moline, Illinois.

Extent

1.00 linear inch

1 DVD [d0049] boxes

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The family came to Horton, Kansas, from Mexico in 1910 and moved to West Des Moines in 1941.

Method of Acquisition

The papers (donor no.1139) were donated by Florence Terronez in 2007.

Related Materials

An oral history interview was conducted with Florence Vallejo Terronez in November 2007 for the Mujeres Latinas project of the Iowa Women's Archives. It is shelved in the Mujeres Latinas Oral History collection [AC1297-1298]. This collection guide was translated by students in "Translation Workshop: English to Spanish," Department of Spanish and Portuguese (Fall semester 2014). See "External Documents" for the translation; Ver esta pagina en español en "External Documents"

Author
Janet Weaver, 2007.
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Iowa Women's Archives Repository

Contact:
100 Main Library
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City IA 52242 IaU
319-335-5068
319-335-5900 (Fax)