Benson Latin American Collection

Over the summer, LLILAS Benson and El Salvador’s Museum of the Word and the Image (often referred to by its acronym, MUPI, for Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen) added yet another digital initiative to their long-standing partnership. Since 2012, the two institutions have worked closely to digitize archival materials related to the Salvadoran Civil War (1980-1992), thanks to the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The publishing industry of Cuba experienced a seismic shift in 1959 when Fidel Castro won a revolutionary war against dictator Fulgencio Batista. With this change, underground and subversive media creators of the Batista era became an important part of the new socialist culture. This helped to mobilize the masses in support of the new Castro government and against U.S. capitalistic ideology.

Fidel Castro understood that media and graphic art could guide ideology and could be used as an educational tool because he knew that it had already being used before in Cuba. 

The University of Texas Libraries will highlight the approaching centenary of the Latin American collections at the Benson Latin American Collection with the help of noted journalist Enrique Acevedo.

“An Evening of Discovery” will feature Acevedo discussing how the growth of Latin American populations and expanded interest in their history and culture has influenced the ascendency of Latin American media in the United States.

Por Hannah Alpert-Abrams

Traducido por Susanna Sharpe

¿Cómo le hacemos para entender 80 millones de páginas de documentos históricos?

Esta pregunta es de naturaleza filosófica. Se trata del poder de la mente para asimilar un número tan grande de documentos. El Archivo Histórico de la Policía Nacional (AHPN), en la Ciudad de Guatemala, contiene unos 80 millones de documentos, que abarcan unos 135 años de la historia de la Policía Nacional.