Latin American and Latinx Materials at Wilson Special Collections Library: Home

This guide provides short descriptions of Latin American collections and materials housed at Wilson Special Collections Library. Collections and resources listed include the following:

• Bernard J. Flatow Collection of Latin American Cronistas
• Popayan Papers
• George E. and Melinda Y. Stuart Collection
• Louis A. Pérez Jr. Collection
• Prudencio de Hechavarria y O'Gaban Papers, circa 1818-1903
• Rafael Uribe Uribe Papers, 1895-1959 (bulk 1913-1914)
• Mexican 78 RPM Discs released by Arhoolie Records
• Mexican Comic Collection
• Latino Comic Books Collection
• Latina/o Studies Program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records
• Carolina Hispanic Association of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records
• Latin American Women's Textiles in North Carolina Project Collection
• Latinx Life in North Carolina research guide
• Paul Cuadros Photographic Collection
• Student Action with Farmworkers Collection
• Cartoneras
• New Roots/Nuevas Raíces: Voices from Carolina del Norte!/Voces de Carolina del Norte!

The Latinx Life in North Carolina research guide is designed to assist researchers investigating Latinx immigration, culture, and life in North Carolina. Some resources, such as the Southern Oral History Program, record the stories and voices of Latinx residents in the state. Other materials include government-issued broadsides and secondary sources that discuss the lives and work of the state's Latinx communities. Many resources cover the public reaction to various legislative and municipal decisions regarding access to services, employment, public health, and education. This guide does not include all of the resources about Latinx communities held at Wilson Library, but is intended to serve as a starting point for research.

The Bernard J. Flatow Collection of Latin American Cronistas contains books printed as early as 1503 relating to encounters between Europeans and the inhabitants and lands of what would become Latin America. Most books in this collection were printed in Europe and are in multiple European languages. To search this collection, click on "Edit Search" near the top of the page. You may limit by language, date, key words, and other limiters. William D. Ilgen's bibliography, The Bernard J. Flatow Collection of Latin American Cronistas in the Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: An Annotated Catalogue, provides detailed descriptions of many books in this collection. To search the Bernard J. Flatow Collection of Latin American Cronistas, click "Edit Search" button above the search results and enter search terms, leaving the terms in the "Title" field in place.

The Student Action with Farmworkers Collection contains documentary projects and corresponding fieldwork created between 1999 and 2003 by college students who completed Into the Fields internships conducted in North Carolina and South Carolina by Student Action with Farmworkers, a nonprofit organization. Oral history interviews, photographs, videos, audio recordings, and publications document the life stories and experiences of farmworkers, many of whom migrated from Mexico and Central America to the southeastern United States. Topics explored in the students' documentary projects include farmworkers' foodways, oral literature and storytelling, folklore, religious beliefs and practices, holiday traditions and celebrations, life in migrant worker camps, the labor movement, and traditional arts, crafts, music, and dance. Many items in the collection including transcriptions of oral history interviews are in Spanish. To search the collection, browse the "Contents List" or perform a control+f (command+f on a Mac) and enter relevant search terms.

The Latino Comic Books Collection contains books and other graphic material produced by United States-born Latino writers and artists. Some publications document Latino experiences and culture, while others cover more generalized topics. Items include mainstream comics, self-published zines, graphic novels, graphic posters, promotional materials, and realia. To search this collection, perform a control+f (command+f on a Mac) and enter relevant search terms.

This collection consists primarily of Mexican and Mexican American 78 RPM records collected by the Arhoolie Foundation, a non-profit organization rooted in the life's work of founder Chris Strachwitz and his independent record label Arhoolie Records. To search The Arhoolie Foundation's Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American recordings, click "Edit Search" button above the search results and enter search terms, leaving the terms "arhoolie foundation" in the "All Fields" field in place. Please note that use of audio or visual material may require production of listening or viewing copies before use. Contact wilsonlibrary@unc.edu before visiting reading room for more information. Agustin Gurza, Jonathan Clark, and Chris Strachwitz's book, The Arhoolie Foundation's Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Recordings, provides further description and exploration of the artists and their work included in this collection.

The Latin American Women's Textiles in North Carolina Project Collection contains materials relating to Here and There/Aqui y Alla, an exhibit of Latin American women's textiles in North Carolina presented at the 1996 Festival for the Eno in Durham. Kelly Feltault, a graduate folklore student, coordinated both the preliminary fieldwork and the presentation of the exhibit with contract assistance provided by Leila Childs, Kate (Kathryn) Hanser, and Ann Kaplan. The fieldwork and exhibit material focuses on the work, skills, and life experiences of eight Latin American textile artists: Manuela Avila Morales (Guatemala), Elvira Garcia (Mexico), Nazaria Munoz Joaquin (Mexico), and Ereneida Duarte Ocampo (Mexico) in Siler City, N.C.; Juana Pascual (Guatemala) and Agustina Lopez (Guatemala) in Morganton, N.C.; Octavia Mendoza (Mexico) in Kernersville, N.C.; and Gloria Munoz (Mexico) in Winston-Salem, N.C. Exhibit materials include text for the explanatory panels for the exhibit and copies of the printed publications associated with the exhibit and the Festival for the Eno. Some of this material is in Spanish. Photographs include portraits of artists, examples of their work, and the documentation of the actual exhibit. Audio tapes are fieldwork interviews with the artists conducted in Spanish with the assistance of a translator. Tapelogs are also included. To search the collection, browse the "Contents List" or perform a control+f (command+f on a Mac) and enter relevant search terms.

Cartoneras are books bound in cardboard, hand painted, and sold at the cost of production. The cartonera publishing movement began in Argentina in 2003 as a way to provide employment during recession, to promote literacy, and to circulate literary works. The movement and has since spread to countries throughout Latin America and beyond.  UNC's cartoneras are held at Wilson Library and the Art Library. The Hecho a Mano Latin American Book Arts online exhibition provides digital scans of many book covers in the cartonera collection. To search UNC's holdings of Cartoneras, click "Edit Search" button above the search results and enter search terms, leaving the terms in the "Title" field in place.

The Paul Cuadros Photographic Collection contains images of central North Carolina and Latinx immigrant communities in and around Siler City that were taken by Cuadros while he conducted research for his 2006 book A Home on the Field: How One Championship Team Inspires Hope for the Revival of Small Town America . Images document community members including farmworkers, poultry plant workers, and school children; cultural and social events and celebrations such as quinceañeras and Fiesta Latina; church events such as a passion play; and public events including a September 1999 meeting of the Siler City School Board, a February 2000 anti-immigration rally led by white supremacist David Duke, and the local response rallies. Cuadros also documented housing, hog farms, schools, churches, and migrant education programs. To search this collection, browse the "Contents List" or perform a control+f (command+f on a Mac) and enter relevant search terms.

Part of the Southern Oral History Program Collection, the New Roots/Nuevas Raíces collection is a digital archive that contains the oral histories of Latin American migrants in North Carolina and the experiences of North Carolinians that have worked for the integration of new settlers into this southern state. To search this collection, choose a language and search or browse by interviewee name, themes, country of origin, interviewer name, and date.

The Popayan Papers include correspondence and other items, chiefly 1750-1860, of succeeding generations of several interrelated aristocratic families whose members were prominent in business, the church, and government of Popayan, Colombia, capital of the department of Cauca. The papers concern family matters, religious institutions, mining, stock-raising and farming, production and marketing of quinine, legal transactions and cases, and political revolutions of the nineteenth century. Principal families represented are Valencia, Perez, Arroyo, Varila, Arboleda, Hurtado, Cordova, Delgado, and Mosquera. To search this collection, browse the "Contents List" or perform a control+f (command+f on a Mac) and enter relevant search terms.

The George E. and Melinda Y. Stuart Collection contains printed books and other items dating as old as the sixteenth-century relating to Mayan language and culture. Most books in this collection are in European languages. To search this collection, click on "Edit Search" near the top of the page. You may limit by language, date, key words, and other limiters. The digital exhibition Ancient and Living Maya in the 19th and 20th Centuries: Archaeological Discovery, Literary Voice, and Political Struggle provides information on a number of items in this collection. To search the George E. and Melinda Y. Stuart Collection, click "Edit Search" button above the search results and enter search terms, leaving the terms in the "Title" field in place.

The Louis A. Pérez Jr. Collection contains letters, memoirs, and printed items pertaining to Cuba, Cubans, and Americans living in Cuba. Louis A. Pérez Jr. is a New Yorker of Venezuelan, Cuban, and Puerto Rican ancestry. To search the collection, browse the "Contents List" or perform a control+f (command+f on a Mac) and enter relevant search terms.

The Prudencio de Hechavarria y O'Gaban Papers chiefly document events in Cuba and Spain in the 19th century, a period of great intellectual and political upheaval. Included are poems, letters, clippings, and other materials written by or relating to Prudencio de Hechavarria y O'Gaban. Also included are letters, legal documents, reports, pamphlets, leaflets, and other items pertaining to Prudencio's brother, Bernardo de Hechavarria y O'Gaban, and letters, printed items, and family papers of members of Bernardo's family, including his sons, Prudencio de Hechavarria and Bernardo de Hechavarria, and to Enrique Ledesma, presumably his brother-in-law. There is also a poem by Spanish poet and politician Francisco Martinez de la Rosa.

The Rafael Uribe Uribe Papers contain letters and telegrams, printed materials, and other items. Letters and telegrams were sent to Uribe Uribe between 1909 and 1914 (bulk 1913) from politicians, doctors, journalists, businessmen, workers, students, Colombia governmental departments, and the general public. Topics are wide-ranging, but chief concerns are journalistic and political, and in particular the Colombia Liberal Party. Also included are printed materials, including newspapers, clippings, broadsides, and bulletins. The bulk of the printed material is from 1914 and chiefly concerns events related to Uribe Uribe's assassination. Other topics are ongoing military conflicts and political matters, particularly those associated with the Colombia Liberal Party. There is also a 1914 commemoration honoring Uribe Uribe's accomplishments and services to the Republic of Colombia, which was given to his family after his death; a group of broadsides and bulletins regarding the 1901 attempt by Venezuelan conservative Carlos Rangel Garbiras to organize the overthrow of liberal Venezuelan President Cipriano Castro with the aid of Colombian conservative troops (Uribe Uribe played a key role in suppressing the invasion); a topographical map of the Talca-Linares area in Colombia; and other items.

Wilson Library is located in the center of UNC’s campus, directly across South Road from the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower. If using a GPS device to locate us, please use 200 South Rd, Chapel Hill, NC. Disability access to Wilson Library is from the side (east) entrance of the building facing the Undergraduate Library. UNC disability parking spaces are behind the Undergraduate Library, directly across from Stadium Drive and accessible from the South Road entrance. Inside the building, elevator access is available past the stairwell on the east side facing the Undergraduate Library. The elevator allows access to all public areas in Wilson Library.

The Research Room at Wilson Library is open by-appointment. All researchers are encouraged to contact us, write to wilsonlibrary@unc.edu, or schedule a virtual consultation to discuss research needs and service options. 

The Mexican Comic Collection contains comic books and other graphic material produced in Mexico by Mexican writers and artists between 1972 and 2017, with the bulk of the materials dating between 2010 and 2017. The collection gives a broad picture of current comic books and graphic novels in Mexico. The collections include mainstream comics, self-published zines, graphic novels, graphic posters, promotional materials, ephemera, and more. To search this collection, browse the "Contents List" or perform a control+f (command+f on a Mac) and enter relevant search terms.

The Latina/o Studies Program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records consist of clippings related to the Latina/o Studies Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, informational and promotional materials, a list of speakers hosted by the program, records related to the Latino Alumni Reunion, a report on Hispanic Heritage Month, materials related to the proposal of a Latina/o Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, and ephemera. Materials on the Carolina Latina/o Collaborative and digital materials on the Latina/o Studies Program are from the files of John Ribó, former Latina/o Studies program assistant. Also included is a transcript of an interview conducted by student Gladys Sanchez with program director María DeGuzmán in 2017. To search the collection, browse the "Contents List" or perform a control+f (command+f on a Mac) and enter relevant search terms.

The Carolina Hispanic Association of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records consist of event posters and flyers. Materials from the 2017-2018 academic year were created and distributed digitally, but were compiled and printed prior to transfer to the archives. To search this collection, browse the "Contents List" or perform a control+f (command+f on a Mac) and enter relevant search terms.