Israel Cavazos Garza

Early life

Cavazos Garza was born in the city of Guadalupe, Nuevo León, to the east of Monterrey. He completed high school in Monterrey and later enrolled in the El Colegio de México in Mexico City, where he was a student of Silvio Zavala, Agustín Millares Carlo, José Gaos, François Chevalier, José Miranda and Manuel Toussaint, among others.

Career

At the age of 18, he began his historical research in the archives of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Monterrey. From 1944, he worked at the Municipal Archive of Monterrey, where he later served as director. He was the founder and director of the Library at Alfonso Reyes University (1952–1962) and was responsible for the General Archive of the State of Nuevo León (1955–1975). For this last post, he was named "Honorary Life Director" in 1976.

Cavazos collaborated in the organization of the Regional Museum of Nuevo León ("El Obispado") and was its counselor for 35 years (1956–1991). He served as the head of the Department of History at the Center for Humanistic Studies of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL) from 1959 to 1976. He worked as an investigator at the Bibliographic Research Institute of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México from 1971 to 1978, and from 1990 to 1991. From 1993 to 1994, he did counseling work with the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, and also wrote the script of the history of northern Mexico for the museum "Espacios de Historia Mexicana en Monterrey"

Teacher

Garza began teaching in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the UANL. He was a founding professor of the Chair of History in the College of Agriculture, the summer school of the Technological Institute, and the Jose Eleuterio Gonzalez High School in the city of Guadalupe. He also became principal of the Excelsior College, a Salesian institution incorporated to the Autonomous University of Nuevo León. For 7 years (From 1981 to 1986) he taught the regional history of the northeast on "Arte A.C." of Monterrey.

Historian

In 1955, Cavazos enrolled at the Nuevoleonesa History Society, where he was president from 1967 to 1971 and permanent secretary until 1976. He was accepted as a member of the National Academy of History and Geography in 1965, of the Academy of Occident History and the Academy of History.

He presided from 1975 to 1976 at the Mexican Association of Regional History. In 1965, he was admitted as a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Cádiz. In 1978 he was named member of the Mexican Academy of History; he occupies chair 21. He is also a member of the Science Advisory Council of the Presidency of the Republic.

He attended national and international conferences, including the Seminary of University Libraries on Mendoza, as a delegate of Mexico for UNESCO, the archivist of Latin America, in Ottawa, the Central American Congress of History in Guatemala, and the Frontier International at San José in Costa Rica.

Research and literary work

On the March 7, 1994, he completed 50 years of investigations at the Municipal Archive of Monterrey. He also made significant contributions to the Encyclopedia of Mexico.

He authored 12 essays about local topics and 20 articles in specialized publications. He edited 18 works by other authors or historical and rare documents.

Notable works

Recognition

Israel Cavazos received multiple prizes.