Latinx Heritage Month*, also known as National Hispanic Heritage Month, is observed each year between September 15 to October 15, to celebrate Americans whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America, including those from indigenous backgrounds.
To highlight these individuals’ contributions, history and heritage, we invite you to explore the following materials from the Library’s collections:
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Chicano Latino Student Affairs Records – Chicano Studies Center Handbook Ballet Folklórico Mexicapan Collection – This collection contains materials pertaining to the history and performances of the Ballet Folklorico Mexicapan Company, which existed for 10 years between 1973 to 1983 in Los Angeles, and aimed to preserve and display the rich traditions of Mexican folklore through dance. The collection comprises promotional posters and flyers, correspondence, photographs and tape recordings of their performances.
- Chicano Latino Student Affairs Records – This collection chronicles the history and student activity of The Claremont Colleges’ Chicano Latino Student Affairs Office, from its establishment in 1969 and onward. A range of materials are featured, including publications, financial statements and newspaper clippings that reflect the involvement of Latinx students in campus events and political activism.
- Darlene Nicgorski Papers on the Sanctuary Movement – This collection documents the activism work and subsequent trial of Sister Darlene Nicgorski during the Sanctuary Movement in Central America in the 1980s. It highlights not only Nicgorski’s fierce advocacy but the global activism that was taking place to denounce the wars and violence taking place in Central America.
Isabel Allende and Connie Martinson Interview - Isabel Allende Interviews – These interviews belong to the Connie Martinson Talks Books Collection, a series of half-hour television interviews conducted by Connie Martinson about literature. The Isabel Allende interviews feature the illustrious and prolific Chilean author discussing her new releases at the time: Paula from 1994, a memoir about the death of Allende’s 28 year-old daughter, and The Stories of Eva Luna from 1989, a collection of fiction stories that combine magical realism with social commentary.
- Matt Garcia Papers – The collection consists of research, writing and teaching materials created by author, educator and historian Matthew J. Garcia. The materials document Dr. Garcia’s work on topics related to agriculture, labor, food, immigration, ethnicity and popular culture in California. Primary subjects of interest include the citrus industry and Mexican-American laborers in Southern California, especially the farm labor movement under Cesar Chavez.
- Rolas de Aztlán: Songs of the Chicano Movement (Smithsonian Global Sound) – A sampling from our Smithsonian Global Sound database, this streaming album includes activist and strike songs from the 1960s Southwest. You can read a historical overview and full lyrics in the PDF liner notes. Explore Smithsonian Global Sound for more genres, cultural groups and places.
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The Claremont Colleges Special Collections Visual Materials Collection – Voces de la Frontera – May Day 2015 Flyer The Claremont Colleges Special Collections Visual Materials Collection
- Voces de la Frontera prints – these prints were created to raise awareness of immigrant rights and wider social justice issues. The Voces de la Frontera organization focuses on protecting refugee families and ‘undocumented’ immigrants, and has collaborated with migrant, immigrant, refugee and student communities for decades.
- Like the Waters We Rise – This is a box set containing a collection of posters, photos and objects featuring the work of several climate justice movements, from 1968 through 2022. The collection particularly centers and uplifts the voices of communities of color and working class communities at the frontlines of climate justice activism for several decades.
- Women’s Studies Archive
- Alicia Escalante Papers – Alicia Escalante was a Chicana activist who championed welfare rights, economic justice and women’s rights in Los Angeles during the 1960s Chicano movement. She was involved in, and arrested for, participation in multiple social and economic justice movements.
- Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional Archives – Founded in 1970 to organize and network with women so that they might assume leadership positions in the Chicano movement and their community, it helped to disseminate news and information regarding the achievements of Chicana and Mexican women. It also promoted programs that provided solutions for the women and their families.
- Hijas de Cuahtemoc – This student Chicana feminist newspaper was founded in 1971 by Anna Nieto-Gómez and Adelaida Castillo while both were students at California State University, Long Beach.
If you are interested in exploring the physical materials featured, we invite you to make a Special Collections Reading Room appointment. Questions can be directed to specialcollections@claremont.edu or (909) 607-3977.
*The Claremont Colleges Library uses the term Latinx to be more inclusive, critical and reflective, acknowledging that the term is complicated, while holding that “Hispanic” may be viewed as an oversimplified term. Read more about the origins of this term.
