University Library News Release
Date: April 17, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jeanette Smith, NMSU Library, (575) 646-7492, jcsmith@lib.nmsu.edu
NMSU Library Program Introduces New Border Justice Archive
Leaders of several border activist groups will join New Mexico State University faculty and student researchers on Thursday, April 30, to present the results of a year-long project, "Preserving Memory/Promoting Justice," that collects and preserves the records of several area organizations involved in social justice activism.
The free public program will take place at 4 p.m. in the Milton Gallery on the fourth floor of Branson Library.
The program will feature presentations by Dr. Diana Bustamante of the Colonias Development Council, Dr. Yolanda Leyva of the Segundo Barrio organization and a representative of the Lomas de Poleo residents' group in Juárez.
NMSU graduate students Cynthia Renteria (History and Public Administration) and Jon Williams (Sociology) have been working for the past year with the Colonias Development Council in Las Cruces, the El Paso Segundo Barrio group and with the residents' organization of Lomas de Poleo in Juárez to document their work in the areas of housing and environmental justice in the border region. The project was funded by a grant from NMSU's Southwest and Border Cultures Institute.
Cynthia and Jon set out to collect primary source materials from these groups-newspaper clippings, working papers, field diaries, policy statements-as well as to conduct oral histories with activists and organizers. The documentation they have gathered, together with their records of the project, will become part of the Rio Grande Historical Collections (RGHC) in the NMSU Library's Archives and Special Collections Department. The materials will be made available to researchers studying social justice issues in the border region.
Archivist Charles Stanford participated in the planning of the project and trained the students in archival practices for acquisition and processing of documentary records, and he has guided the incorporation of these materials into the RGHC. Other faculty advisers to the project include Molly Molloy (NMSU Library), Neil Harvey (Center for Latin American and Border Studies) and Dulcinea Lara (History).
These new collections on U.S.-Mexico social justice activism build upon the RGHC's recent acquisition of the Esther Chávez Cano Collection, 1990-2006, that documents human rights struggles in Ciudad Juárez.
The NMSU Library's Archives and Special Collections Department has collected materials on the history and heritage of the border region since 1972. These collections include the papers of the prominent local Amador and Armijo families, as well as records from the archbishopric of Durango, Mexico, and the town of Sombrerete, Mexico.
For more information, contact Molly Molloy, the Library's Border and Latin American Specialist, at (575) 646-6931 or mmolloy@nmsu.edu.
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