Since 2001, the CSRC Library has launched major preservation projects in music, cinema, and the visual arts, receiving over $825,000 in grants from the Center for Community Partnerships, Ford Foundation, Getty Grant Program, Haynes Foundation, Los Tigres del Norte Foundation, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, Rockefeller Foundation, and UC MEXUS.

Our goal is to preserve the rich and diverse history of the Chicano and Latino communities for future research, classroom instruction, and the public at large. We work closely with community groups to ensure that our projects not only safeguard the historical record (by archiving important documents) but also contribute to the more immediate needs of the community itself.

Current Archival Projects

Frontera Digitization Project

In October 2001, then CSRC Director Guillermo E. Hernandez initiated the digital preservation of the Arhoolie Foundation's Strachwitz Frontera Collection, the largest repository of Mexican and Mexican-American popular and vernacular recordings in existence. To preserve this unique heritage, the CSRC is now digitizing the first section of the collection, consisting of 30,000 78-rpm phonograph recordings. To date, 10,000 titles have been preserved and will be made available through a web site scheduled for launch in February 2004. The digital archive is hosted by the UCLA Music Library in partnership with the UCLA Digital Library Program. The project is scheduled for completion in April 2005.

External Funding: Los Tigres del Norte Fund, $100,000.

Chicano Cinema Recovery Project

The CSRC has launched a multi-year initiative in collaboration with the UCLA Film and Television Archive to identify, preserve, and make accessible the independent productions of Chicano and Latino filmmakers. The project is currently restoring six films and trailers by pioneer filmmaker Efraín Gutiérrez, followed by a national tour of these films and the publication of a scholarly anthology evaluating the filmmaker's career. This project features several other components that allow it to serve as a model for future efforts in this area: a pilot study to survey 8 mm home movie collections in Chicano-dominant communities, a new course on archival issues for Chicano-produced films, and an acquisitions program aimed at increasing Chicano archival holdings.

External Funding: Ford Foundation, $80,438; Rockefeller Foundation, $30,000; and UCMEXUS, $15,000 (for 2003-04).

Latino Art Survey

Completed Archival Projects

Chicano Studies Archival Program—Processing Project

This project responds to the fact that the center's numerous special collections—housed in the Southern Regional Library Facility—have never been processed. The grant allowed the CSRC to establish an archival program, hire an archivist, process existing collections, and prepare grant proposals for the acquisition and processing of new collections. The project allows the CSRC to establish a pipeline of new collections in the following areas: Latino Los Angeles (all areas); and, nationally, in music, media, performing arts, and the visual arts.

External Funding: The Haynes Foundation, $28,750 (for 2003-04).

Serving the Community, Preserving Cultural Heritage

This project represents a community partnership with Self-Help Graphics and Art in East Los Angeles . The center will inventory Self-Help's on-site collections and develop a computer management system and archival internship program. Self-Help will also donate a representative suite of prints to the CSRC Library. In February 2004, the CSRC and Self-Help will co-host a Latino Arts Summit for L.A.-based Latino arts organizations in order to address preservation and access issues related to their archival holdings.

Campus Funding : Center for Community Partnerships, $39,384 (for 2003-04).

Visiones Archival Project

Visiones is an archival project in collaboration with the CSRC, the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC), and Hector Galan Productions. There are three components to the CSRC Visiones Archival Project: (1) the acquisition and processing of NALAC's document collection, (2) the acquisition of the Visiones documentary series archive, and (3) the solicitation of NALAC member organizations nationwide to participate in Visiones archival project. NALAC's holdings document the organization's role in developing arts spaces and maintaining connections among established arts organizations. Galan's documentary collection will be stored at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. This raw footage will include hundreds of hours of interviews with Latino writers, musicians, arts scholars and artists.

External Funding: NALAC, $9,200

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