University of Southern California, Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies

The Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies was founded in 1985 with a donation of an 80,000 volume book collection related mainly to the study of Spain, Portugal and Latin America. However, this first donation also included books and pamphlets related to Alta and Baja California, the U.S. Hispanic Southwest, the U.S.-Mexico border region, and a small collection of early 20th century books and pamphlets published in Spanish in Los Angeles. Since the mid-1990s the Boeckmann Center has consistently documented the presence of Hispanics in Southern California. This initiative included the creation of the Cuban California Archive (est. in 1997) which focuses on contributions of Cuban Americans and Cuban exiles to Los Angeles and Southern California. Highlights include materials donated by Cuban American composer Aurelio de la Vega, newsletters from the community group the Patronato Jose Marti, items from the Lorente Family including the archive of Carlos Sebastian Lorente's B.L Engineering firm, photographs and playbills of the Havanafama theater group, copies of the Directorio Cubano de Los Angeles and books by and about Cuban American writers in Southern California. The Hispanic Community Archive (est. in 2004) includes the personal and scholarly papers of Luis Andres Murillo and his collection of bilingual ephemera and pamphlets, published in Los Angeles, exemplifying contemporary Spanish language usage in the area. Other donations include a collection related to the Escuela Argentina de Los Angeles, from Dr. Samuel Marks, a donation by Los Angeles teacher and music historian Raymond Valencia Lopez of printed works created for early bilingual education instruction, in the Los Angeles school district. Another collection contains materials relating to the Chicano Movement, Cesar Chavez and journalist Ruben Salazar. Among the Spanish language community newspapers in the collection, published and/or distributed in Los Angeles are complete runs, on microfilm or in hardcopy, of La Voz Libre, 20 de Mayo, Bohemio News, De Norte a Sur, and Tango Reporter. The Chicano Studies Serial Collection on microfilm contains numerous serial titles published in Los Angeles and Southern California. The Boeckmann Reference collection provides information on Mexican Americans, Chicanos/Latinos and other Hispanics in Los Angeles, in addition to reference works related to Spain, Portugal and all countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.