The Mercurio Martinez papers consist of fifty-five boxes which occupy approximately twenty-three feet of shelf space. Contents include correspondence, copies of legal documents such as wills, deeds, affidavits and courtroom briefs, maps, a few photographs, field notes for land surveys, genealogical charts, accounts of family and regional history by Mercurio Martinez and historical accounts from other sources, principally newspapers. There are also financial records of various kinds including tax records, bills and receipts, books of check stubs, and account sheets. The papers fall into three general categories which are (1)papers related to financial and personal concerns of Mercurio Martinez and his immediate family including family history and genealogies, real estate transactions, matters related to farms and rental houses and correspondence; (2) papers related to work done by Mercurio Martinez for the Laredo law firm of Hicks, Hicks, Dickson and Babbitt which was renamed several times through the years, and which consist of legal papers, genealogies and financial statements of various kinds; and (3) papers collected or written by Martinez which reflect his interests in local history, world affairs, Mexican history and other matters. Several files are concerned with the preparation and publication of The Kingdom of Zapata, a Zapata county history co-authored by Martinez and Virgil N. Lott which was published by the Naylor Company of San Antonio, Texas in 1953.

       While most of the materials in this collection are dated in the twentieth century, there are several original Civil War documents of the nineteenth century. Of further interest are the drafts of Allan Nevins' Ordeal of the Union which were edited by E. B. Long and the nine long boxes of Mr. Long's research notes on the Civil War.

       The vast majority of the papers relate to families, places and events in Zapata County. Webb County is also well represented, as is the region surrounding the town of Guerrero, Tamaulipas located on the south bank of the Rio Grande opposite Zapata County,Texas. A few papers deal with families, places and events in StarrCounty and further south in the Rio Grande Valley and a few files deal with Mexican, United States and world affairs. Unless otherwise noted in the inventory, files deal with Zapata or Webb County matters.

        The oldest original papers date from the latter part of the nineteenth century and include such documents as Mercurio Martinez's Texas Teachers Certificate, 1898 (Box 3-4); a General Land Office map of Zapata County, 1885, (Box 14-25); and a certificate appointing Proceso Martinez, Sr., Mercurio's father, to the Zapata County Board of Appeals, 1870, (Box 2523). There are also copies and translations of nineteenth century documents including partition deeds, deeds of sale, birth records, and maps. Accounts of family and local history written by Martinez in the 1950's and early 1960's deal with events dating back to the Spanish settlements along the lower Rio Grande in the 1750's. Genealogies are generally traced back to the first colonists to arrive in the region. Family records, therefore, cover a time span of more than 200 years, from the settlers who arrived on the banks of the Rio Grande in about 1750 to their descendants in the early 1960's. Each decade from 1900 onward is represented in the papers. There are more files from the 1950's than any other single decade.

        Approximately one-quarter of the papers are written in Spanish. The rest are in English. Notation on language used is not ordinarily included in the inventory because many files include papers in both English and Spanish and because it is assumed that most scholars working with these materials will have some background in Spanish. In addition, many of the Spanish documents are accompanied with English translations.

        Among the most important files in the collection are those on the relocation of the town of Zapata due to the construction of Falcon Dam on the Rio Grande in the early 1950's, the salvation of the community of San Ygnacio from destruction during this period, the accounts of family history and genealogy from Zapata County, and the papers related to division of lands between descendants of original holders of Spanish grants and sales of family lands. Maps, genealogies, and legal documents provide a clear picture of the rapidity with which even extensive land holdings can be reduced to tracts hardly adequate to support the families of the grand children and great-grandchildren of the original owners. Reconsolidation of holdings through purchase of interest from siblings and through cousin marriage are also documented. It is also possible to trace shifts in settlement and land-use patterns.

        For example, the original grantees of porciones along the Rio Grande held land in long narrow blocks extending in land from the river. Over the generations, these blocks were subdivided among heirs and parts of them were sold outside the families. Through separate inheritance from parents, through marriage,and through purchase, individuals came to own small pieces of land located in widely separated tracts. This pattern of dispersed holdings, each of economically inefficient size and too far apart to be worked as units, has been noted for many peasant societies. These papers clearly reveal the processes whereby such a land-holding pattern developed out of the more economically efficient block holdings within a few generations. The most completely documented tract of land is the vast Jose Vasquez Borrego Grant made in 1750. It was later divided into the Dolores, Corralitos, and San Ygnacio Subdivisions. The first settlement was made at the Hacienda de Dolores on August 22, 1750. This settlement was abandoned, apparently during Indian troubles in the early 19th century. A settlement or Rancho of Dolores was founded nearby in the Dolores subdivision of the Borrego Grant by Cosme Martinez in 1859. Meanwhile, the town of San Ygnacio had been founded in the San Ygnacio subdivision in 1830. Until the early 20th century, an hacienda in the Corralitos subdivision was occupied by members of the Vidaurri family, who were descendants of the original grantee's daughter, Alejandra Vasquez Borrego de Vidaurri.

        Also of interest are the Corridos, or ballads, composed by Mercurio Martinez and dealing with dramatic events in Zapata County history such as an escape from prison, a contested election and the destruction of Zapata by the rising waters of Falcon Reservoir.

        Following the principle of provenance, the papers have been organized for the archives in accordance with the numerical filing system developed by Mercurio Martinez. This makes it possible for the researcher to use Martinez's inventories which cover the papers in boxes 6 through 28, as a supplement to this inventory. The Martinez inventories are found in three notebooks contained in Box 6, files 1-3. The first five boxes contain files which are arranged alphabetically. Boxes 29-54 contain files which were originally numbered in sequence, but for which no inventory written by Martinez is available.