Symposium - The Mexican American Archival Enterprise at the Benson Latin American Collection: An Historical Appraisal

April 18-19, 2013

The Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) at The University of Texas at Austin is proud to sponsor a public symposia to be held in the fall and spring semesters of the academic year. This gathering of leading scholars from diverse disciplines is designed to facilitate and further conversations central to the changing field of Mexican American/Latino and Borderlands studies. The title of the spring 2013 symposium is "The Mexican American Archival Enterprise at the Benson Latin American Collection: An Historical Appraisal" and is scheduled to take place April 18-19, 2013. The evening reception and one-day symposium will provide the foundation for a scholarly examination of the rich holdings of the Mexican American and Latin@ Collections at The University of Texas at Austin.

The Mexican American and Latin@ Collections (originally the Mexican American Library Program) was established in 1974 as the result of an initiative by the Mexican American Graduate Association, with funding provided by the University of Texas General Libraries, the sponsorship of the Center for Mexican American Studies, and the continuing support by the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection. The intent of the collection was to establish a major repository that would collect, preserve, and make available to researchers the necessary historical records to advance the Mexican American archival enterprise and enhance scholarly production in Mexican American studies. The symposium will demonstrate how these collections have aided in the development of Mexican American/Latino and Borderlands Studies even while we attempt to critique, challenge, and provoke the archive into being a more productive site for future scholarship.

Proceedings of the symposium will be published so as to reach a wider audience of researchers, librarians, archivists, and other supporters of the Mexican American archival enterprise. Invited scholars who have made use of the archives will highlight the depth and breadth of the collections and pay special attention to significant holdings in history, media, cultural arts, and literature that have helped to advance the study of Mexican Americans in the United States.

Sponsored by the Center for Mexican American Studies, the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies and the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.

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