LULAC founders - 1929	National Convention - 1951

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is one of the oldest, largest, and most influential organizations representing the voice of Hispanics. LULAC was formed in 1929 in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the merger of three Mexican American civic organizations: the Corpus Christi chapter of the Order Sons of America, the Order Knights of America of San Antonio, Texas, and the League of Latin American Citizens of South Texas. LULAC has worked consistently and effectively in advocating equal opportunity for Hispanics in government, law, education, and business.

The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection is privileged to be the repository of a wealth of archival materials documenting the history of LULAC. On September 9, 1980, President Peter T. Flawn of The University of Texas at Austin announced his sponsorship of the LULAC Presidential Papers Project, a cooperative effort by the University and the LULAC Organization to gather in one central location the personal papers of former LULAC Presidents to form the nucleus of the LULAC Archives. Since that date the Archives has grown to include the papers of fifteen former presidents as well as papers from thirty-five others documenting the activities of the organization at all levels: local, state, regional, and national.

These materials are preserved in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Unit of the Benson Collection where they are made available to anyone wishing to learn more about the history of LULAC.

The Benson Latin American Collection actively solicits the donation of LULAC materials to be added to the Archives. Materials may relate to any level, local to national. Types of materials include correspondence, convention programs, bylaws and constitutions, publications issued by the organization and its dependencies, publicity releases, photographs, videos, audiocassettes, memorabilia, or any other item which documents the organization. To donate materials or for further information, the Benson Latin American Collection, University Libraries, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78713-8916; telephone 512-495-4520; fax 512-495-4568.

The League of United Latin American Citizens also maintains a web site describing their mission, ethics, and current organizational activities at www.lulac.org