Clothing the Californio, part 4 -- the Gold Rush era.

Governor Don Pio Pico, his wife, and nieces, ca. 1850,
San Diego Historical Society.

By the time California entered the United States in 1850, the social and political climate of the state was radically changing.  Hispanic immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America, entered California and headed to the gold mines, bringing their own culture with them.  Non-Hispanic immigrants to the state no longer acclimated themselves to California's previous culture, and they competed with the Californios for land, status, resources, and political clout.  Many Californio women married non-Hispanic men during this time period not only because the newcomers were different and exciting, but because to do so helped secure their property (an English-speaking man to manage their affairs as local law became much more English and American in influence) and social status.  During this time, Californio families began to identify themselves with Spanish European culture, in opposition to the non-Californio residents' characterization of all Hispanic people as Mexican and therefore "non-white", as well as to avoid association with the political and social unrest happening in the Republic of Mexico.  Californios began to wear the same styles and garments that other Americans wore, and look just as Victorian as someone from the East Coast during the same time period.

Californio men, women and children listening to music.
Ca. 1850.  Library of Congress.

A good place to look for information about this transitional period in California fashion is the costume manual for the docents at Sutter's Fort Historic Park, who portray Californios as well as all the other people groups, who were present at Sutter's Fort during the Gold Rush.  You can purchase a copy of the manual from the gift shop there; just call or write, and they'll tell you how much it costs and where to send your payment.  

Carmel Cota Lodge y Castro,
Mrs. Thomas Fallon, ca. 1875.
History San Jose

Sources

Alta California Clothing group on Facebook 

The Anza Society, Inc. 

Anza Expedition supplylist 

Anza 1775-1776 diary 

Bazant, Jan "Evolution of the Textile Industry of Puebla 1544-1845", Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Oct 1964), pp. 56-69. Cambridge University Press. 

"California as I SawIt" from the Library of Congress 

Carrera, Magali M., ImaginingIdentity in New Spain: Race, Lineage and the Colonial Body in Portraiture and CastaPaintings. University of Texas Press, 2003.  

"Colonial SpanishTerms", Somos Primos website 

Dana, Richard Henry, TwoYears Before the Mast, at Project Gutenberg 

de Bafarás, Joachin Antonio, Origen, costumbres, y estado presente de mexicanos y phillpinos (1763).

Katzew, Ilona, “Casta Painting” here and at Google Books 

Mabry, Donald J.  “Notes on Spanish Imperial Defense of LatinAmerica.” 2001.  

Mabry, Donald J.  “Society in Colonial Spanish America”.  2001.   

Museo de America, in Madrid, Spain 

National Park Service 

Nunis, Doyce B., Jr., The drawings of Ignacio Tirsch, a Jesuit missionary in Baja California. Elbeth Schulz-Bischof, translator. Dawson's Book Shop, Los Angeles, 1972.

Peralta HaciendaHistorical Park in Oakland 

Ramirez, Yasmin, "NewWorld Orders: Casta Painting and Colonial Latin America" at the Americas Society, ArtNet magazine, December 1996, New York.  

Ribeiro, Aileen. Dress in Eighteenth-Century Europe, 1715-1789. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.

Rickman, David. "IntoHistory" blog. 

Rickman, David, "TheTrouble with Zorro, part 1" 

Sutter's Fort Clothing, 1840s (student handout) 

"Textiles of Mexico" Wikipedia entry 

The Drawings of Father Ignacio Tirsch