PORTAL

Web magazine of LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections

Benson Latin American Collection

A Centennial Gift Honoring One of the Benson’s Own

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

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

Staff Pick: Tecuichpoch / Doña Isabel de Moctezuma—Madre del Mestizaje

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

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

From the Director

THIS IS MY LAST DIRECTOR'S LETTER for Portal, and while time feels as if it’s flown by, LLILAS Benson has achieved many milestones since my term began. In the past four years, the partnership between the academic unit, LLILAS, and the library, Benson, grew from an experiment in collaborative … [Read more...] about From the Director

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