Joseph Spielberg Benitez papers, 1980-2006.

The Joseph Spielberg Benitez papers consist of materials from the agricultural migrant worker safety program: A presentation for the promotion of occupational safety and health of migrant farmworkers." Production of the presentation was sponsored by the Migrant and Bilingual Education Division, Department of Education, State of Michigan via a contract with Michigan Economics for Human Development in Grand Ledge, Michigan. Also included is Dr. Spielberg Benitez's research for a book he planned on publishing on the 19th Century Mexican messianic prophet Pedro Rojas or El Tatita. Included are transcriptions of documents from files held by the Archivo Municipal de Guerrero and Spielberg's unpublished manuscript. The materials in the collection include original notes and drafts of scripts for each slide program, 298 slides, 11 audio cassettes, news clippings, journal articles and pamphlets.

Joseph Spielberg Benitez (1936-2010) was born in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. He received his Ph.D. from the Michigan State University Anthropology Department in 1965. He later became Professor of Anthropology at Michigan State University, teaching and conducting research on Latin America and Mexican Americans. Dr. Spielberg Benitz was instrumental in the development of the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State and served as one of its first senior faculty associates. He published extensively on economic anthropology issues and on the social organization of Mexican American communities. He served as Chairman of the Governor's Agricultural Labor Commission and was a recipient of Fulbright-Hays Lecture/Research Fellowships to the University of Costa Rica and the University of Cusco in Peru. His field work was conducted in peasant and urban communities throughout Mexico and Guatemala.