ON FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2020, The University of Texas at Austin announced that it was canceling classes and closing the campus due to community spread of COVID-19. From that day forward, members of the LLILAS Benson community began to figure out how we would live, work, support our loved ones, shop for … [Read more...] about To the Reader
Benson Centennial
A Centennial Gift Honoring One of the Benson’s Own
The year 2021 marks the centennial of the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, bringing promise of a triumphant future and cause for celebration today. Former head librarian Ann Hartness, renowned for her 38-year career at the Benson and her contributions to Brazilian studies, is being … [Read more...] about A Centennial Gift Honoring One of the Benson’s Own
In Memoriam: Dr. David Block III
BY SUSANNA SHARPE LLILAS BENSON MOURNS the passing of friend, scholar, and former colleague David Block III, on June 15, 2021. Block was head of the Benson Latin American Collection from 2009 until his retirement in 2014. Born in San Diego, California, in 1945, Block grew up in Arkansas, … [Read more...] about In Memoriam: Dr. David Block III
The Back Page: Find Out What’s New for 2021–22
2022 Lozano Long Conference, February 24–25 IN HONOR OF the centennial of the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, the 2022 Lozano Long Conference initiates a conversation on archives with Latin American perspectives and practices. Archives, broadly speaking, are sites where the … [Read more...] about The Back Page: Find Out What’s New for 2021–22
The Exhibition on Your Screen: Selected Images from “A New Spain, 1521–1821”
BY ALBERT A. PALACIOS THE VICEROYALTY OF NEW SPAIN was a royal territory in the Spanish Empire formed soon after the invasion and conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521. Even though the viceroyalty was not formally founded until 1535, the Spanish Crown set its administrative bedrock the year after … [Read more...] about The Exhibition on Your Screen: Selected Images from “A New Spain, 1521–1821”
From the Director
THIS IS MY LAST DIRECTOR'S LETTER for Portal, and while time feels as if it’s flown by, LLILAS Benson has achieved many milestones since my term began. In the past four years, the partnership between the academic unit, LLILAS, and the library, Benson, grew from an experiment in collaborative … [Read more...] about From the Director
Celebrating a Century
IT'S DECEMBER 1, 1920, in Mexico City. After witnessing the inauguration of President Álvaro Obregón, University of Texas Regent H.J. Lutcher Stark and Chair of Latin American History Charles Wilson Hackett stumble upon an amazing find as they walk down Madero Street. Historian and head librarian … [Read more...] about Celebrating a Century
Message from the Benson Collection Director
I AM SO PROUD to feature the Benson Centennial in Portal. While it is impossible to tell the complete story of this great library in a single issue, nearly every piece of this edition provides a glimpse of what has been created over the past one hundred years, from the foundational Genaro García … [Read more...] about Message from the Benson Collection Director
The Power of Giving
A Lifetime of Giving: Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long THE CENTENNIAL of the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection in 2021 is cause for joyful celebration. The Benson’s partnership with the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS), initiated in 2011, ushered in a decade … [Read more...] about The Power of Giving
