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
Benson Latin American Collection
Inside the Agrasánchez Collection of Mexican Cinema
BY DIEGO GODOY THE YOUNG HIGINIO GRANDA stood soldierly as he faced a mansion on Colón Street in Mexico City. Blond, svelte, and possessing a peninsular accent, he had the ability to pass as a “decent” person. But he was far from it, as his over twenty stints in jail might suggest. … [Read more...] about Inside the Agrasánchez Collection of Mexican Cinema
Staff Pick: Manifesto ao povo nordestino
Margaret Keck Collection of Brazilian Labor Movement Materials BY RYAN LYNCH As staff processed the Margaret Keck Collection, I peeked into a folder of Worker’s Party (PT) election ephemera from 1982. This was the first year that the PT, the party of future president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, … [Read more...] about Staff Pick: Manifesto ao povo nordestino
Staff Pick: Student Activism in the Archives
BY ALBERT A. PALACIOS Uruguayan Political Propaganda, 1963–1984 There is a very serious plague that has been scourging through the country for years now, and that plague is imperialism. In the summer of 1969, Uruguayan trade unions flooded the streets of Montevideo to protest the visit of … [Read more...] about Staff Pick: Student Activism in the Archives
Decolonial Feminists Unite! Dorothy Schons and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
BY ALICIA GASPAR DE ALBA BACK IN 1986, when Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz first started speaking to me in my dreams, I would be talking to her on the phone—that old rotary black phone my grandparents used to have—but I could see her clearly, wearing her black and white Hieronymite habit and my black … [Read more...] about Decolonial Feminists Unite! Dorothy Schons and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
To and From the “Real” World: Concrete Art and Poetry in Latin America
BY JULIA DETCHON IN THE FALL OF 1945, gathered at the Buenos Aires homes of the psychoanalyst Enrique Pichón-Rivière and the photographer Grete Stern, a group of Argentine artists hatched an idea for a new movement based on abstract principles of painting. Under the name Arte Madí, they declared … [Read more...] about To and From the “Real” World: Concrete Art and Poetry in Latin America
Staff Pick: Black Freedom Struggle and the University
The John L. Warfield Papers BY ZARIA EL-FIL Freedom has long been theorized in university spaces as a matter of intellectual engagement. Historically, Black freedom organizing has taken place at the collegiate level through research that throws white western conceptions of world order into … [Read more...] about Staff Pick: Black Freedom Struggle and the University
Staff Pick: Arbol cronologico geografico del descubrimiento de las Americas
Arbol cronologico geografico del descubrimiento de las Americas, 1864 BY JOSHUA G. ORTIZ BACO Among many, many other objects, the Arbol cronologico geografico del descubrimiento de las Americas reminds me of how the collections at the Benson can come to life for our students. The lithograph is … [Read more...] about Staff Pick: Arbol cronologico geografico del descubrimiento de las Americas
Staff Pick: Catalina de Erauso o sea la monja de alferes
Catalina de Erauso o sea La monja de alferes, XIX century, an unpublished version of the legendary life of Catalina de Erauso (1592–1650) BY BROOKE WOMACK SOMETIME IN 2018, I bought myself a copy of Butch Heroes by Ria Brodell. This book has plates of gouache paintings by the author depicting … [Read more...] about Staff Pick: Catalina de Erauso o sea la monja de alferes
Staff Pick: The Astonishing Artistic Gem of Manuel de Quiroz y Campo Sagrado
La inocencia acrisolada de los pacientes jesuanos, 1816 BY SUSANNA SHARPE In my search for rarely seen treasures from the Benson Latin American Collection, I consulted former colleague José Montelongo, co-editor of A Library for the Americas, a beautifully illustrated volume of collected … [Read more...] about Staff Pick: The Astonishing Artistic Gem of Manuel de Quiroz y Campo Sagrado
