The Society of American Archivists (SAA) Foundation awarded the University of Houston’s (UH) Arte Público Press a Strategic Growth grant to support a Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage (Recovery) community archiving event to preserve local US Latino history. Through this activity, community members will learn how to preserve their archives, be able to scan items on site, learn how to donate their collections (post-custodial or otherwise) and browse a pop-up exhibit that showcases local collections and digital projects. This event builds on previous public activities, such as “Nuestra Historia: Alonso S. Perales Exhibit” (2019) and Community Archiving Day (2022). The latter resulted in the preservation of 7 family collections and the start of a community map that documents the presence of historical Latino business in Houston. “During Community Archiving Day, we made valuable connections in the neighborhood, feedback was positive, our students experienced community engagement firsthand, and we put …
2023 Summer Interns
Interns at Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage (Recovery) and the US Latino Digital Humanities Center (USLDH) at Arte Público Press work closely with archival texts, such as periodicals, manuscripts, photographs, albums, correspondence, books, ephemera and other documents. In doing so, they gain valuable experience with archival collections and asset management. The USLDH Center provides training in digital tools and students contribute to digital humanities data and projects. They have the opportunity to learn the following skills: Scanning of archival items Microfilm scanning Handling and preserving archival texts Inventory of primary documents Organizing collections Creating finding aids Curating exhibits Database research Primary document research Asset management Data management (with spreadsheets) Metadata creation Metadata translation Familiarity with Library of Congress Subject Headings E-book editing and translation (APP Digital) Digital archives (Omeka) Digital tools (mapping, timelines, digital collections, OpenRefine) Archival theory Digital humanities theory Academic conference presentations Academic conference posters Planning an …
Documenting Discrimination: Alonso S. Perales Correspondence (1927-1952)
The University of Houston’s US Latino Digital Humanities Center (USLDH) announces the release of “Documenting Discrimination: Alonso S. Perales Correspondence (1927-1952).” This digital collection compiles letters written to and by Alonso S. Perales (1898-1960), a Mexican-American lawyer, diplomat, civil rights activist and co-founder of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). Perales, in his mission for social justice, encouraged the Latino community to submit their experiences of discrimination at public establishments. Community members signed affidavits and wrote letters to Perales that detailed racism faced at restaurants, theaters, schools, bars, dance halls, clinics and many other places. They also wrote about the prejudice encountered while seeking employment or purchasing homes. Perales later published many of these letters and affidavits in his book, Are We Good Neighbors? (1948). Two undergraduates contributed to this collection: Cynthia Díaz, a Leadership Rice Mentorship Experience (LRME) summer intern at Rice University and Cruz E. Almonaci, …
Now available on APPDigital: Mexican American Theatre
The University of Houston’s US Latino Digital Humanities Center (USLDH) announces the digital publication of Mexican American Theatre: Then and Now by Nicolás Kanellos (1983) on APPDigital. Kanellos’ collection compiles interviews, essays and vaudeville skits from the 1930s to the 1950s all pertaining to Mexican-American theater. It includes historical studies by Jorge Huerta, Nicolás Kanellos, Tomás Ybarra-Fausto and others; an exclusive interview of Luis Valdez; and vaudeville material from Lalo Astol, the Carpa García and others. Mexican American Theatre makes an excellent addition to US Latino, Mexican American, Ethnic and American studies, performing arts, history or literature courses. Mexican American Theatre compliments the Hispanic Theater Collection digital exhibit, which showcases posters, flyers and photographs from the Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage’s Hispanic Theater Collection, donated by Kanellos. This project was also developed by the USLDH Center. Mexican American Theatre offers a virtual option for content and assignments. Educators and …
US Latino Digital Humanities Summer Workshop
The US Latino Digital Humanities Center (USLDH) at the University of Houston announces its annual Manos a la obra digital humanities virtual summer training course. The course will take place June 12-14, 2023 via Zoom. Participants will learn about US Latino digital humanities methods and theory, community archiving, metadata creation and free digital tools such as how to create interactive timelines, digital archives and maps. The course will be taught by USLDH team members, Dr. Gabriela Baeza Ventura, Dr. Carolina Villarroel and Dr. Lorena Gauthereau. No prior experience is required. Anyone with an interest in US Latina/o studies and digital studies is welcome. This course is based on the work of the Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage program located at the University of Houston, one of the premier research programs for US Latina/o scholarship with a trajectory of more than 30 years of locating, preserving and making available the …
La patria perdida now available on APPDigital
The University of Houston’s US Latino Digital Humanities Center (USLDH) announces the digital publication of La patria perdida (1935) by the acclaimed Mexican journalist, Teodoro Torres (1888–1944) on APPDigital. This Spanish-language novel describes Torres’ first-hand experience as a Mexican immigrant to the United States as well as that of many immigrants in his community. The novel first appeared in the San Antonio newspaper, La Prensa, accompanied by engravings by the artist Fulgencio Corral. The digital version includes a scholarly introduction by Ethriam Cash Brammer translated into Spanish by Elías David Navarro. La patria perdida makes an excellent addition to US Latino, Mexican American, Ethnic, and American studies, history or literature courses. This digital novel offers a virtual option for content and assignments. Educators and students can create free accounts on APPDigital, which gives them access to highlighting, annotating and sharing capabilities. Educators can create a private reading group and share …
2023 USLDH-Mellon Grants-in-Aid
The US Latino Digital Humanities (USLDH) Grants-in-Aid program, funded by the Mellon Foundation, is designed to provide a stipend of up to $7,500 to scholars for research and development of digital scholarship in the form of a digital publication and/or a digital project. Congratulations to the 2023 Grants-in-Aid Recipients: Gabriela Barrios (University of California, Los Angeles), Sonia Del Hierro (Rice University) and Sophia Martinez-Abbud (Rice University), Señora Power: A Chicana Mapping Project Maribel Bello (University of Houston), The Cristino Garza Peña Papers: From U.S. Expulsion to Leadership in Rural Mexico Maya Chinchilla, MFA (Independent Scholar), Precursors of leadership to the Central American Solidarity Movement in the United States Marisa Hicks-Alcaraz, PhD (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Reclaiming Film Histories of the U.S. Civil Rights Era: The Latina Film Recovery Project Mary Okin, PhD (Independent Scholar) with Olivia Bowman, BA, March With Us! Lessons in Activism from San José State Paloma Vargas …
James L. Novarro Digital Collection
The University of Houston’s US Latino Digital Humanities Center (USLDH) announces the release of the James L. Novarro digital collection. This digital collection includes a sampling of archival photographs, flyers, posters and news clippings from the James L. Novarro Collection. Reverend Novarro, a pastor of Houston’s Kashmere Baptist Temple and state chaplain of the Political Association of Spanish-speaking Organizations (PASO), was a civil rights activist, League of the United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) member, editor of the Spanish-language newspaper El Sol, and host of the first Spanish-language and longest-running radio program, La hora bautista. This project seeks to make Novarro’s contributions to the Houston and Latino communities visible to a larger audience. This collection is a useful teaching and research tool for educators, students, researchers and community members interested in Houston history, civil rights activism, religious studies and Latino studies. UH undergraduate student Alejandro Aguilar had the opportunity to work …
El junte: Puerto Rican Poetry event
The US Latino Digital Humanities Center is pleased to invite you to El junte: Puerto Rican Poetry. This event will feature readings by poets and writers from the Puerto Rican Literature Project/El Proyecto de literatura puertorriqueña (PLPR). “El junte” is a play on the term “La Junta de Control Fiscal,” that criticizes the legislative body that revises and approves the Puerto Rican government’s budget and obligations, created by PROMESA, a federal law. PLPR is a Mellon-funded digital archive that documents the material existence and experiences of Puerto Rican poets in the archipelago and US diaspora from the time of the historically important Jones-Shafroth Act (1917), which gave Puerto Ricans in the archipelago US citizenship, to the twenty-first century. Date: Monday, February 6, 2023 Time: 3:00pm – 5:00pm Location: Digital Research Commons, MD Anderson Library, University of Houston The Digital Research Commons (DRC) is inside MD Anderson Library in Suite …
Call for 2023 USLDH-Mellon Grants-in-Aid Projects
The University of Houston US Latino Digital Humanities (USLDH) program is a digital scholarship/research undertaking to provide training and research on US Latino recovered materials. Proposals must draw from recovered primary and derivative sources produced by Latinas/os in what is now the United States, dating from the Colonial Period to 1980 (such as Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage collections, other repositories and/or the community). The Grants-in-Aid program is designed to provide a stipend to scholars for research and development of digital scholarship in the form of a digital publication and/or a digital project. The grant covers any expense connected with research that will advance a project to the next stage or to a successful conclusion. Scholars will have the opportunity to publish their digital scholarship on Arte Público Press’ APPDigital publication platform. See sample digital scholarship/research on the following sites: Reanimate, CUNY, University of Washington and Temple University Press. …
