Wow, when I spoke with the folks at the Benton Latin American collection in Austin, they told me that everything on carpas was in San Antonio. They were right! I found some wonderful stuff in San Antonio:
The Institute of Texan Culture - part of UT and they had wonderful pictures of Carpa Cubana and Carpa Garcia. The librarian there was very nice to me and they had already pulled information. It was sitting out when I got there. Through them I found out about the -
Conservation Society of San Antonio - who had scrapbooks of "La Chata." She is a female Toby or pellado character. She was quite famous in San Antonio and had her own show. They also had some info on carpas in San Antonio. Through them, I found -
The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center - They restaged carpas about 20 years ago and are getting me the email of the director. Talking to him and comparing restaging a historic form will be interesting.
Witte Museum - This was THE place. I met a wonderful woman, Michaele Haynes, that is the curator at the museum. They absolutely opened their arms to me. They have the old Hertzberg circus collection. Part of that collection is a carpa collection of Carpa Cubana and Carpa Montsavais. They have costumes, receipts (good for us historians!), etc. Plus I LOVED Michaele, and her husband, and am hoping to come back to the Witte to do more work. Very cool museum if you get a chance to get there.
The Garcia Family - (see picture). They are the grandchildren and grand nieces/nephews of the Carpa Garcia. The older woman on the right was a contortionist, singer and dancer for the carpa...Virginia Garcia. They made me mole and sang songs in Spanish and told jokes in Spanish. It was one of the most lovely afternoons, I have ever had. Thank you Pancho and Evelyn.
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