Diana Ramírez de Arellano Papers

Diana Ramírez de Arellano was an author of numerous books of poetry and literary criticism and became a Poet Laureate of Puerto Rico. She had a long and distinguished academic career and was a professor of Spanish at City College of the City University of New York and at Rutgers University. She was the President and founder of the Ateneo Puertorriqueño de Nueva York and a leading force in the literary and intellectual circles of Puerto Ricans and Latin Americans in New York.

Born in New York in 1919, Ramírez de Arellano was raised in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Her parents Enrique Ramírez de Arellano Brau and her mother María Teresa Rechani were prominent members of Puerto Rico’s social and intellectual elite. Her grandfather, Salvador Brau, was one of the first and most important Puerto Rican historians.

Ramírez de Arellano completed her elementary and secondary schooling in Ponce and in 1941 graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a degree in Pedagogy. She worked as a high school teacher in the town of Manatí and in 1944 traveled to New York for graduate studies. In 1946 she received a Master’s degree in Pedagogy from Teachers College, Columbia University. In the years from 1946 through 1951, Ramírez de Arellano taught at Women’s College at the University of North Carolina and at Douglass College at Rutgers University. In 1951 she enrolled in the University of Madrid, Spain to complete her doctoral studies. She graduated in 1952. Her doctoral thesis titled Genealogical Comedy in the Works of Lope de Vega and a Critical Edition of Los Ramírez de Arellano was later published as Los Ramírez de Arellano de Lope de Vega and explored her own family roots. After defending her thesis, she returned to the faculty at Douglass College, but moved on from there to City College, CUNY where she remained until her retirement.

Most of Ramírez de Arellano’s published works were books of poetry and include Yo soy Ariel (1947), Albatros sobre el alma (1955), Angeles de ceniza (1958), Un vuelo casi humano (1960), Privilegio (1965), Del señalado oficio de la muerte (1974), Arbol en vísperas (1987) and Adelfazar (1995). In the area of literary criticism she published several books among them Caminos de la creación poética de Pedro Salinas (1956), Poesía contemporánea en lengua española (1961) and El himno deseado (1979). Ramírez de Arellano was also a frequent contributor to literary publications throughout Latin America and Spain and to Puerto Rico’s El Mundo and Alma Latina.

One of her most important contributions apart from her books, was the creation of the Ateneo Puertorriqueño de Nueva York which she founded in 1963 “to bridge the gap of silence and loneliness of the Puerto Rican artist and scholar in New York.” She served as the Ateneo’s first President and turned it into a space for nourishing the intellectual and cultural life of Puerto Ricans in New York. Ramírez de Arellano was a member of diverse organizations such as the Modern Language Association and the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese which gave her emeritus status in 1983.

Among the many awards she received are the Medalla de Oro del Ateneo de Puerto Rico (The Gold Medal of the Ateneo of Puerto Rico) (1958), Medalla de Plata del Ministerios de Educación por Poesía de Bolivia (Silver Medal for Poetry of the Ministry of Education of Bolivia), and Medal of Honor of the Ateneo Puertorriqueño de Nueva York. La Sociedad de Autores Puertorriqueños de San Juan, Puerto Rico (The Society of Puerto Rican Authors) gave her a special tribute in 1966.

Diana Ramírez de Arellano died on April 30, 1997 in New York City. She made significant contributions to the cultural and literary life of Puerto Ricans and other Latinos in New York and left an important body of published works. Her papers reveal her work as a poet and literary critic and safeguard the history of the Ateneo Puertorriqueño de Nueva York. They also complement the papers of poets Clemente Soto Vélez and Graciany Miranda Archilla, as well as those of the musician, Genoveva de Arteaga which are in the Centro Archives.