Photographs

Abstract

Bartolo Alvarez was a well-known orchestra director. His collection includes: correspondence, song title sheets, music notes, writings, newspaper articles, concert programs, photographs, and music CDs of Alvarez’s, from the period between 1953 to 1971.

Abstract Andrade has been an active participant in Hispanic labor organizations and held various positions in the Hispanic Labor Committee and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. A life-long activist and leader in the labor movement, Andrade first worked as an organizer in Miami and New York after arriving from El Salvador. She was the director of the Department of Education for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), where she was responsible for worker education...

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Lawyer and civil rights activist. Collection documents leftist movements and radical politics in Puerto Rico and the United States and the role of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party in the United Nations. Also contains information on the decolonization of Puerto Rico as an issue before the UN, the Wells Fargo robbery in Hartford, and Puerto Rican political prisoners. Includes letters, memoranda, reports, flyers, pamphlets and newspaper clippings.

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Community activist and journalist. Collection contains correspondence, articles, photographs, and printed matter pertaining to the participation of Juanita Arocho in the Masons and the movement for the independence of Puerto Rico.

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The Records of ASPIRA of New York, Inc. are an integral resource for the study of early and innovative efforts to aid and increase the educational attainment of Puerto Rican and Latino youth in New York City. The collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, minutes, photographs, flyers, clippings, proposals, reports, speeches, videotapes, slides and financial statements.

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Juan Avilés was a poet from Puerto Rico who was the editor and director of publicity for the Hispanoamerica film company and Commissioner of the Commission for Human Rights of New York He also held leadership positions in several Hispanic writers organizations. This collection includes newspaper articles, certificates, correspondence, poems, a copy of Aviles’ book, personal writings, flyers, publications, photographs and pocket diaries.

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The Herman Badillo Public Relations Records were collected by Jim Vlasto, who served as press secretary and spokesman for Badillo during various stages of his political career. These records include press releases, clippings, correspondence, election campaign materials and other historical documents highlighting his political career in Congress, accomplishments, and setbacks as a candidate for New York City mayor.

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The Alfredo Barela Collection consists of 35 photographs of the theatrical actor, including portraits, scenes from performances and cast shots.

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The Pura Belpré Papers are an important source for the study of Puerto Rican children's literature and Puerto Rican folk tales and legends. They are valuable for examining relationships between the Puerto Rican community and a major institution such as the New York Public Library. The materials include personal documents, financial statements from publishers, correspondence, manuscripts, flyers, clippings, photographs, and illustrations. There are both Spanish and English documents.

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The Frank Bonilla Papers are an important resource for the continued study of the career and contributions of this most seminal of individuals in the fields of Puerto Rican Studies, Latin American Studies and Political Science. The materials in this collection consist of personal documents, clippings, photographs, remarks, speeches, writings, awards, certificates and correspondence.

Abstract Educator, community organizer and activist. Developed civil rights and educational reform organizations. Collection documents the right to equal educational opportunities in the Puerto Rican and Latino community of New York City, advocacy for bilingual education, community efforts to get Latino representation on the Board of Education of the City of New York, and the reform of district boards. Also provides history of the Puerto Rican/Latino Education Roundtable and the National Congress for...

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The Gonzalo Cabassa Ramírez collection consists of personal documents and correspondence belonging or relating to the Puerto Rican independence supporter and member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, including government documents, such as Cabassa Ramirez’s resignation of U.S. citizenship, police and judicial records, intelligence reports, clippings and two military photographs. The collection is arranged by subject, rather than chronologically.

Abstract Pioneering advocate for Puerto Rican and Latino arts and culture, affectionately known as “La Madrina de las Artes.” Sister of activist Evelina Antonetty and library administrator Lillian López. Collection chronicles career with organizations including the Association of Hispanic Arts (AHA), Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, Center for the Media Arts, Hostos Community College, Bronx Council on the Arts and Girl Scouts of the USA, as well as her relationships with Puerto Rican and Latino...

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Boricua-Hawaiana activist and educator. Her papers are an important source of information on the experience of Puerto Ricans who emigrated to Hawaii. Included in the papers are letters, manuscripts, notes, programs, flyers, photographs, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia.

Abstract These photographs depicting Puerto Rican and other Hispanic entertainers, performers, and celebrities were taken by the famed Rudy Castilla Photo studio in East Harlem (El Barrio), New York in the 1930s through the 1960s. Many prints from this period were destroyed when the studio underwent changes in ownership. There are also miscellaneous items, such as postcards of Puerto Rico and unidentified photos. The collection is arranged alphabetically by name, where available. The collection was...

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The CHARAS/El Bohío Cultural and Community Center Records are an important resource for studying Puerto Ricans and other Latino communities in the Lower East Side (known as Loisaida), New York from 1970 to 2010. The collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, minutes, photographs, flyers, clippings, posters, proposals, reports, financial statements, and artifacts.

Abstract Claridad is a weekly newspaper of the Puerto Rican workers independence movement founded in San Juan on June 1, 1959. The paper was the official publication for the independence political movement (Pro Independencia, MPI) and later the Puerto Rican Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Puertorriqueno, PSP) in Puerto Rico. The Claridad USA (known as Claridad Bilingüe, the bilingual) edition became a source of information and a tool to disseminate news from the diaspora perspective in both...

Abstract The Jesús Colón Papers are a significant contribution to the study of Puerto Rican history and especially to the reconstruction of Puerto Rican community history in New York. They support research on such topics as organizational development, political participation among Puerto Ricans in New York, employment, discrimination, and the labor movement. There are letters, notes, drafts of published and unpublished works, reports, clippings, and photographs with a majority of the papers...

Abstract Joaquín Colón-López was a Puerto Rican activist and writer, brother to writer Jesús Colón. He also co-founded Club Democrático de Brooklyn with J.V. Alonso. The Joaquín Colón-Lopez Papers consists of documents and 262 photographs dating from 1917 to 1947. Included among the documents are biographical information, articles, and a typewritten manuscript of Colón-Lopez’s book, Pioneros Puertorriqueños en Nueva York 1917-1947. This manuscript was submitted by Centro and published by Arte Público...

Abstract Actress Miriam Colón Valle founded the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre and was instrumental in bringing Puerto Rican drama and bilingual theatre to new audiences, especially Latino New York City residents. The Miriam Colón papers primarily document Colón's artistic vision, the productions staged by the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, and her own career as a stage and screen actress. The collection spans 1948-2017 and demonstrates the impact and importance of the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre...

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Joe Conzo, Jr. is a photographer from the South Bronx, whose photographic work is influenced by the legacy of Puerto Rican activism and musical culture in New York City. The collection consists of photographs of the Committee Against Fort Apache in the 1980s and five photographs from the exhibit The Bronx: Mi Barrio, Mi Orgullo, Photography by Joe Conzo, the Centro Library in 2010.

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Félix Luis Meléndez Cordero is a photographer and painter. This collection consists of 0.25 cubic feet of biographical information, slides of photographs, descriptive information, exhibit programs, and photographs.

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A resident of Brooklyn since the 1950s, Cortijo is a Puerto Rican artist who created an art form, weaving dolls and other artifacts, such as handbags, baskets and even vests from disposable plastic bags. The María Cortijo collection consists of 0.12 cubic feet of biographical information, a photograph, and woven artifacts. The collection dates to 2003, when Centro exhibited Cortijo’s work in its gallery.

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Genoveva de Arteaga was a pianist, organist, teacher and choir director. Her Papers can support research in the musical and cultural history of Puerto Rico. The collection also documents the development of musical, literary, cultural, and civic organizations among Puerto Ricans in New York. The Papers include personal documents, correspondence, flyers, writings, invitations, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and photographs.

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The Doval Family Collection is a geneaology collection, which contains some family personal documents, family portraits and one copy of an iconic passenger list booklet for the New York and Porto Rico Steamship Company. This family initially moved to New York from Puerto Rico and eventually settled in New Jersey.

Abstract This small collection offers insight into the work of community leaders in East Harlem. Founded in 1979 by residents and community leaders in El Barrio, the East Harlem Council for Community Improvement focused on delivering a broad range of human services to the residents of Manhattan’s Community Planning Board #11. It later expanded its reach and provided services in communities in the South Bronx, Lower East Side, and Central and West Harlem. It consists primarily of news articles,...

Abstract Politician, lawyer, community activist. First Puerto Rican elected to public office in the U.S. An important source for the study of early Puerto Rican political life and of the existent conditions of the East (Spanish) Harlem community in the first part of the twentieth century. In addition, it provides a viewfinder into labor politics and the political and social alliances created amongst emerging ethnic communities in New York City. Collection consists of correspondence, speeches,...

Abstract This collection documents Roberts Garcia’s career as U.S. Representative of the South Bronx (1978-1990), at the time, the poorest congressional district in the country. The papers chronicle his work on the Post Office and Civil Service Committee, the Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, and his legislative work on issues of interest, such as immigration reform, bilingual education, and teen pregnancy. The collection also contains administrative and...

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Jaime Haslip-Peña worked on the steamship Borinquen for the U.S. Customs Service. This collection serves as a documentation of the lives of the steamship merchant marines. It includes an audiotape and 150 photographs.