Catalina Delgado-Trunk Papers BY DANIEL ARBINO God, greed, and glory. These values propelled a cataclysm in Tenochtitlan of never-before-seen proportions when Spaniards entered the heart of the Mexica empire with conquest on their mind in 1519. A world was turned upside down, and in its … [Read more...] about Staff Pick: Tecuichpoch / Doña Isabel de Moctezuma—Madre del Mestizaje
Arte/Letras
Staff Pick: “Camas para Sueños” by Carmen Lomas Garza
Carmen Lomas Garza Papers and Artworks BY SUSANNA SHARPE The first time I saw Camas para Sueños (Beds for Dreams) was at the Laguna Gloria Art Museum in Austin, at an exhibition of works by Carmen Lomas Garza. I remember being moved to tears by the painting. Two sisters lie on a rooftop in the … [Read more...] about Staff Pick: “Camas para Sueños” by Carmen Lomas Garza
(Self)Love in the Time of COVID
BY DANIEL ARBINO IT WAS INEVITABLE: the scent of fresh cut grass reminded me that we were in the middle of spring in Austin, Texas.1 I was surrounded by green: leaves, lawns, and the lingering light following an afternoon storm. Yet it was not the storm that forced neighbors to stay indoors, … [Read more...] about (Self)Love in the Time of COVID
Staff Pick: Ernesto Cardenal in Solentiname
Ernesto Cardenal in Solentiname, Ernesto Cardenal Papers, 1925–2016 BY DYLAN JOY The acquisition of the Ernesto Cardenal Papers in 2016 marked a renewed focus by LLILAS Benson on collecting and preserving collections and stories from Central America. Cardenal, who passed away at 95 in March … [Read more...] about Staff Pick: Ernesto Cardenal in Solentiname
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
The Hijuelas Books: Digitizing Indigenous Archives in Mexico
BY MATTHEW BUTLER and JOHN ERARD THE ROADS TO MICHOACÁN: MATTHEW BUTLER IT IS SAID that the history of a Mexican pueblo is the history of its lands. What better way, then, to explore that history than through land records such as Michoacán’s hijuelas books? I first came across these … [Read more...] about The Hijuelas Books: Digitizing Indigenous Archives in Mexico
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: 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
