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
University of Texas Libraries
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”
Confessions of an Archives Convert: Reflecting on the Genaro García Collection
BY DIEGO A. GODOY VOLUMINOUS LISTS OF BANNED OR REDACTED BOOKS, laced with sanctimonious commentary—or, early-modern Spanish “cancel culture.” The illustrated family tree of a womanizing, bald curate named Miguel Hidalgo. Op-eds fawning over every viperous protagonist of the … [Read more...] about Confessions of an Archives Convert: Reflecting on the Genaro García Collection
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
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
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
Students Use Digital Tools to Examine “Hidden” Collection of Pre-Colonial Objects
Students in Astrid Runggaldier’s Art and Archaeology of Ancient Peru class were tasked with an intriguing project this spring: take a collection of pre-colonial objects that is, for all intents and purposes, invisible, and make it visible using digital tools. Their efforts have come to fruition with … [Read more...] about Students Use Digital Tools to Examine “Hidden” Collection of Pre-Colonial Objects
