Augustine Celaya Jr. Papers
Scope and Contents
The papers contained in one legal size archival box mainly document the executive career of Augustine Celaya Jr. with the Union Carbide Corporation. These consist of photos, correspondence, two oral history interview tapes and assorted corporate documents.
Dates
- 1960 - 1994
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research use. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley assumes no responsibility.
Conditions Governing Use
Materials in our collections may be protected by copyright. Publication, transmission, or reproduction of items protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Whenever possible, accurate information about the copyright status of material is provided in the item record and/or documentation for material in the collection. The Library does not own the copyright in much of the material in its collection and is therefore unable to grant copyright permission to publish those items. It is the researcher's responsibility to determine copyright or other use restrictions and obtain proper permission when publishing or distributing materials found in these collections. Researchers must make their own assessments of rights in light of their intended use. Additional information about copyright and fair use is available via the Library's Copyright Guide at https://utrgv.libguides.com/copyright
Biographical / Historical
His most notable activities were as CEO of Union Carbide Puerto Rico and his involvement with and warning letters about the company’s disaster in Bhopal, India. Mr. Celaya was actively involved with the economic development of Puerto Rico and made great efforts to attract new businesses and jobs especially from Japan. Mr. Celaya eventually left Union Carbide and worked for Parfums Houbigant a French perfume company. He supervised much expansion for the company including the reuse of an historic plant in Vervins, France an event well-chronicled in the collection. A key achievement of Celaya’s career was his involvement with the International Coffee pact of 1971 which set prices for South American coffee leading to greater economic stability in that region and greater price stability in the United States. Celaya was President of Union Carbide Columbia at the time and used both his influence in corporate America and his family’s contacts in the Democratic party to help ratify this pact. Two other interesting items are letters related to key historic events. One is from the daughter of the Cuban Ambassador describing the 1959 Castro revolution in idealistic terms. The second is from Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver inviting Celaya to become the assistant director.
Extent
2 Document cases (Hollinger Document case)
Language of Materials
English
- Brownsville (Tex.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Business enterprises--Rio Grande Valley. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- John Hawthorne
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Special Collections and Archives, Brownsville Campus Repository
One West University Boulevard
UTRGV University Library (BLIBR 2.202)
Brownsville Texas 78520 United States
(956) 882-7281
archives@utrgv.edu
