Amplify Your Library with Women Centric Writings Chola Salvation by Estella Gonzalez In the title story of this collection, Isabela is minding her family’s restaurant, drinking her dad’s beer, when Frida Kahlo and the Virgen de Guadalupe walk in. Even though they’re dressed like cholas, the girl immediately recognizes Frida’s uni-brow and La Virgen’s crown. They want to give her advice about the quinceañera her parents are forcing on her. In fact, their lecture (don’t get pregnant, go to school, be proud of your indigenous roots) helps Isabela to escape her parents’ physical and sexual abuse. But can she really run away from the self-hatred they’ve created? These inter-related stories, mostly set in East Los Angeles, uncover the lives of a conflicted Mexican-American community. In “Sábado Gigante,” Bernardo drinks himself into a stupor every Saturday night. “Aquí no es mi tierra,” he cries, as he tries to ease the sorrow of a …
USLDH lanza conjunto de datos editoriales
HOUSTON, TX- El Centro de Humanidades Digitales Latinas en los Estados Unidos (USLDH, por sus siglas en inglés) de la Universidad de Houston anuncia el lanzamiento de un vasto Conjunto de datos editoriales originalmente publicados en revistas y periódicos hispanos de la historia de los Estados Unidos. Desde 1996, los académicos y estudiantes de posgrado del programa Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage (Recuperando la herencia literaria hispana de los Estados Unidos), también conocido como Recovery, han trabajado en la indexación de periódicos a nivel de artículo para producir metadatos en inglés y español que faciliten a los investigadores la ardua labor de encontrar estos materiales. El resultado se refleja en varios conjuntos de datos que hablan de la diversidad de la vida cultural, política e intelectual de las comunidades hispanas y latinas en los Estados Unidos. De las 288 publicaciones periódicas indexadas, este extenso conjunto de datos incluye editoriales …
USLDH Releases Dataset on Editorials
HOUSTON, TX–The University of Houston’s US Latino Digital Humanities (USLDH) Center announces the release of a comprehensive dataset on Editorials published in Hispanic periodicals. Since 1996 Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage (Recovery) scholars and graduate students have worked on indexing newspapers at an article level to produce metadata in English and Spanish to facilitate discoverability for researchers. The output is reflected in several datasets that speak of the diversity of the cultural, political and intellectual life of the Hispanic/Latina/Latino/Latinx community in the United States. Out of 288 indexed periodicals, this rich dataset includes editorials and letters to the editor. This dataset demonstrates the breadth of topics represented in Spanish-language periodicals published in the United States between 1808 and 1960; some of the topics include politics, women’s rights, intellectual life and social conditions, among others. The dataset is hosted on the Cougar ROAR’s (Research Open Access Repositories) Dataverse Repository, a …
New Children’s Book Award Created to Support First-Time Latino Authors
HOUSTON, TX—Long-time Arte Público Press supporters Dr. Augustina “Tina” Reyes and Dr. Michael Olivas, both retired University of Houston professors, have donated the funding to create an endowment in support of a new book award to inspire first-time Latino authors of books for children or teens. Dr. Olivas chaired the press’ advisory board for a decade and published two scholarly books with Arte Público, and Dr. Reyes has worked to introduce immigrant and migrant children to Arte Público’s books. “We feel our love and dedication to UH are aligned with the goals of the Press, and we hope our gift will not only recognize budding authors but will provide longstanding financial support.” The couple donated $80,000 to create an endowment to support the award, and they intend to raise an additional $45,000 to ensure a $5,000 prize can be given annually to debut authors using endowment interest. “We call upon …
News release: Gabriela Baeza Ventura elected to MLA’s Digital Humanities Forum
Gabriela Baeza Ventura was elected to serve on the Modern Language Association (MLA) Transdisciplinary Connections Digital Humanities Forum Executive Committee for 2022-2027. As part of this forum, Baeza Ventura will help to represent areas of scholarly and professional interests for MLA members. MLA Forums “promote scholarly and professional activities within their areas of concern. The executive committees of the forums arrange sessions at the MLA Annual Convention, make nominations for executive committee elections and for the election of the forums’ representatives in the MLA Delegate Assembly, and provide information of interest to their members through association periodicals or mailings to forum members. Forums advise appropriate MLA committees on research and pedagogical needs in their fields of interest and may propose to the Executive Council projects that the association might wish to undertake” (“Policies for Forums and Allied Organizations”). Baeza Ventura brings a unique perspective to the forum based on her …
2021-22 REACH Students
The Research for Aspiring Coogs in the Humanities (REACH) Program at the University of Houston is a collaborative effort supported by the Cougar Initiative to Engage and the Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards (OURMA). REACH will provide a year-long introductory research experience for students in humanities disciplines by connecting a dozen students to existing undergraduate research projects at the University of Houston. Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage (Recovery) and its US Latino Digital Humanities Center (USLDH) are among the collaborators in this program and are host to three undergraduate students. These students are gaining research and archival skills in a variety of forms, including: Scanning archival documents Curating exhibits Database research Primary document research Asset management Data management (with spreadsheets) Metadata creation Metadata translation Familiarity with Library of Congress Subject Headings Digital archives (Omeka) Digital humanities tools and theory Archival theory Academic conference presentations Academic conference posters Public …
Holiday Closure
Arte Público Press and the Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Project will be closed December 24, 2021, through Friday, December 31, 2021. We will re-open and resume normal operations on Monday, January 3, 2022. Please continue to send book orders by email (bkorders@uh.edu) or fax (713-743-2847). Orders will be processed in the order received. Happy holidays!
Mikaela Selley joins Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage as Program Manager for Periodicals in the US-Mexico Border Region Project
University of Houston alumna, Mikaela Selley, joins Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage (Recovery) Program/Arte Público Press as Program Manager for Periodicals in the US-Mexico Border Region. She will work closely with Recovery’s Director of Research, Dr. Carolina Villarroel, to oversee the digitization and metadata efforts for historical periodicals. This includes scanning, organizing, cataloging and describing archival records. Selley has eight years of professional experience as an archivist with hands-on expertise in the preservation, documentation and digitization of historical manuscripts and photographs significant to Houston’s Hispanic and Latino heritage. Additionally, she has worked in all stages of curatorial planning, design and execution of history exhibits. Selley brings knowledge of heritage preservation, a creative eye for engaging displays and a personal devotion to Houston’s Hispanic and Latina/o culture. She previously served as the Hispanic Collections Archivist at the Houston Public Library’s Houston Metropolitan Research Center (HMRC). Periodicals in the US-Mexico Border …
2021-22 Graduate Research Fellows
University of Houston Graduate Research Fellows (RFs) at Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage (Recovery) 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 US Latino Digital Humanities Program (USLDH) at Recovery provides training in digital tools and students contribute to digital humanities data and projects. RFs 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 …
Kids’ Book Exploring Latino Culinary Traditions Wins Award
HOUSTON, TX—A bilingual picture book introducing children to Hispanic cultural traditions, Josefina’s Habichuelas / Las habichuelas de Josefina (ISBN 978-1-55885-923-4, hardcover, $18.95), is the winner of the 2021 Salinas de Alba Award for Latino Children’s Literature. This charming story by Jasminne Mendez, published October 31, 2021, tells the story of a young girl whose mother challenges her to give up sweets during Lent. As a reward, Josefina’s mom promises to teach her how to cook habichuelas con dulce, or sweet cream beans, a traditional Dominican dessert eaten at Easter. Enlivened by Flor de Vita’s warm illustrations depicting an Afro-Latino, multigenerational family spending time together, the book will appeal to kids ages 4 to 8 who will enjoy testing the recipe—and eating the dessert—that appears in both English and Spanish! In 2019, according to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, only 225 of the 4,029 children’s books published were written by Latinos; …
