Irene Aloha Wright (December 19, 1879 – April 6, 1972) was an American journalist and historian who wrote several books on colonial history in the Caribbean. Born in Colorado, she lived in Mexico, Cuba, and Spain, and was a distinguished writer and scholar.
Biography
Irene Aloha Wright was born on December 19, 1879, in
Lake City, Colorado
Lake City is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory town, statutory town that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Hinsdale County, Colorado, Hinsd ...
, to parents Henry Edward Wright and Letitia O. Wright. After her father sold his interest in a gold mine, the family settled in
Ouray, Colorado
Ouray ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat of Ouray County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 898 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The ...
. In 1888, Ed Wright built the
Wright Opera House in Ouray. When Wright was fifteen her father died and her mother sent her to school at the Virginia College for Young Ladies in Roanoke, Virginia. Instead of returning to Roanoke for a second year of school, she traveled south to Mexico City where she found work as a governess for the vice-president of Mexico. She also gave English lessons and translated guidebooks for the local museums.
She lived in Mexico for three years before returning home and finishing school at Roanoke in 1898. She then attended
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
and graduated in 1904 with a Bachelor of Arts in history. After graduation she took her mother with her to Cuba, where she worked as she was a writer for the ''Havana Post'' from 1904 to 1905. When Wright left the ''Post'' she became a city editor for the ''Havana Telegraph'', a position she held for three years. The next year, she purchased ''The Cuba Magazine'', a weekly politics and culture magazine for American readers which she owned until 1914.
In 1910, Wright published her first book, ''Cuba'', a contemporary account of the island.
In 1914, she moved to
Seville
Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
, gave up journalism, and focused instead on archival research at the
Archives of the Indies. She spent the next two decades in Spain where she translated and edited over 100,000 colonial documents. In 1916, she published ''The Early History of Cuba, 1492–1586'', the first modern history of the early Caribbean that relied almost entirely on primary sources.
During her stay in Spain she published several additional books, including ''Historia documentada de San Cristo, bal de la Habana en el siglo XVI (Documented History of Havana in the Sixteenth Century)''(1927) and ''Documents concerning English voyages to the Spanish main, 1569–1580 ''(1932).
She also compiled a variety of reports on the early Dutch slave trade for the Dutch government. Spain and Britain also commissioned her to research and translate documents relating to their country's colonial history. The
John B. Stetson
John Batterson Stetson (May 5, 1830 – February 18, 1906) was an American hat maker who invented the cowboy hat in the 1860s. He founded the John B. Stetson Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1865, and it became one of the largest h ...
family hired her to create an archive of Spanish documents covering the settlement of Florida by Spanish conquistadors. This archive remains "the most important and frequently cited collection of papers regarding the Spanish occupation of Florida to this day outside of the archive in Seville."
In 1949, she published one of her last books, ''English Voyages to the Caribbean, 1580–1592.''
From 1932 to 1936, Wright also served as a representative of the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
in Spain. In 1936, the outbreak of the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
forced her to leave Spain with her mother and adopted daughter. She went to work for the
United States National Archives
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also taske ...
as an associate archivist, a job she held for two years. Wright subsequently became a Foreign affairs specialist for the
Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...
, and served as chief of its cultural relations division for Latin America and as an attestation officer. She served in that capacity until 1952.
She died on April 6, 1972, at the age of 92.
Wright received awards from the governments of Spain and Cuba. She was awarded gold medals from both the Havana Academy of History and the
Society of Woman Geographers
The Society of Woman Geographers was established in 1925 at a time when women were excluded from membership in most professional organizations, such as the Explorers Club, who would not admit women until 1981.
It is based in Washington, D.C., and ...
. In 1953, Wright became president of the Society of Woman Geographers. In addition, she was a member of the Royal Historical Society of England and the Royal Historical Society of the Netherlands.
Publications
*
*
*
*
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Irene Aloha
1879 births
1972 deaths
American women historians
People from Hinsdale County, Colorado
Stanford University alumni
Historians of the Caribbean
Members of the Society of Woman Geographers