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Exhibits and Collections

Dancers in front of Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery for Dia de los  Muertos festival.

Smithsonian Hispanic Heritage Month

We celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 through October 15 with Smithsonian events, resources, exhibitions, and podcasts. The Smithsonian is building the National Museum of the American Latino to recognize the accomplishments, history, and culture of Latino communities.

Image Credit: Dancers in front of Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery for Día de los Muertos festival (2023). Photo by Matailong Du.

Past Highlights

Graducation cap and gown worn by Jairo Javier Morales that opens up to display butterfly wings.

Latino History

Image Credit: Julio Javier Morales

Young children in typical dresses for Ecuadorian National day holding baskets.

Weaving Community Narratives, Andean Histories & the Library's Collections

Image credit: Children wearing typical dresses for Ecuadorian National Day. 103-14 Roosevelt Ave., Corona Plaza, Queens. Camilo Jose Vergara 2021. Camilo José Vergara's photographs are protected by copyright. Privacy and publicity rights may also apply.

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"¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues" / "En los barrios y las grandes ligas"

Image credit: Smithsonian National Museum of American History

Exhibits and Collections

An Evening of Collective Art-making with Chicano Artist Mario Torero (Library of Congress) The Arquin Slide Collection (site supported by National Endowment for the Humanities) The Art of Power: Royal Armor and Portraits from Imperial Spain (National Gallery of Art) Artwork by Chicano Movement “Artivist” Mario Torero (Library of Congress) Collidoscope: de la Torre Brothers Retro-Perspective Carol M. Highsmith Archive, photographs of Cuba (Library of Congress) The Cubist Paintings of Diego Rivera: Memory, Politics, Place (National Gallery of Art) Documents of 20th-century Latin American and Latino Art: A Digital Archive and Publications Project (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Drawings and prints by Ester Hernandez El Greco Online Tour (Spanish, 1541-1614) (National Gallery of Art) Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Always to Return Folk Arts of the Spanish Southwest from the Index of American Design (National Gallery of Art) Francisco de Goya Online Tour (Spanish, 1746-1828) (National Gallery of Art) Heritage Documentation Programs Highlights Hispanic Architecture (National Park Service) Life and Experiences in the U.S/Mexico Borderlands Virtual Exhibition (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Mesilla, New Mexico: History and Architecture of a Border Town (National Park Service) Mission Gráfica/La Raza Graphics--Collection Overview (Library of Congress) National Register of Historic Places (National Park Service) "El Otro Lado" (The Other Side): Border Art Histories of the MexiCali Biennial (Library of Congress) Passion Plays of Eighteenth-Century Mexico (supported by National Endowment for the Humanities) Picasso: The Early Years, 1892-1906 (National Gallery of Art) ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now (Smithsonian Institution) Rooted in Tradition, Reaching for Social Change: Verónica Castillo’s “Tree of Life” Sculptures (Smithsonian Folklife) Santos & Ofrendas: Ten Highlights of Latinx Art at the Smithsonian (Smithsonian Folklife) Spanish Painting in the Seventeenth Century Online Tour (National Gallery of Art) Unapologetically Maya: Ubaldo Sánchez’s Ephemeral Alfombras (Smithsonian Folklife)

Afrolatinidad: Art & Identity in D.C. (Smithsonian Folklife) Altered Altars: The Changing Traditions of Día de los Muertos (Smithsonian Institution) American Latino Heritage Projects (National Park Service) Aquí Estamos (Here We Are) Digital Collection (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Collection (Library of Congress) Crack the Cascarón: A Texan Mexican Easter Tradition Continues (Smithsonian Institution) La Cultura Cura: How Latinos Are Reclaiming Their Ancestral Diets (Smithsonian Institution) The Cultures and History of the Americas: The Jay I. Kislak Collection (Library of Congress) Cultural Exchanges in Quechua Dictionaries (Library of Congress) Documenting Ethnobiology in Mexico and Central America, Gettysburg College (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Ethnography and Folklore: Alan Lomax Collection (Library of Congress) Flavors from Memory and “OaxaCalifornia”: The Cookbooks of Bricia Lopez (Smithsonian Folklife) Guadalupe Murals: Devotion on the Streets of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles (Smithsonian Folklife) A Guided Listening Journey: Yorùbá Heritage Abroad (Smithsonian Folklife) How Felicia Montes’s Botanica del Barrio Harnesses Herbs as a Tool for Connection (Smithsonian Folklife) The Journey of a Curandera Total: How María Cristina Moroles Heals Body and Spirit On Language and Colony (Library of Congress) Lowell Folklife Project Collection (Library of Congress) Memories of the Fields: Mexican Migrants in the Imperial Valley 1935-1944 (Library of Congress) New Mexico Folklife Project (Library of Congress) New Roots/Nuevas Raíces: Voices from Carolina del Norte (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Nuestras Raíces: Community Pláticas & Story Gatherings (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Our Family Guide to a Puerto Rican Christmas Feast (Smithsonian Folklife) Parallel Histories: Spain, the United States, and the American Frontier (Library of Congress) The Portuguese in the United States (Library of Congress) The Social Power of the Taco (Smithsonian Folklife) Spiritual Connections through Corn: Chef Rafael Rios’s Farm-to-Food-Truck Cooking (Smithsonian Folklife) There’s a Baby in My Cake! Luck of La Rosca de Reyes on Three Kings Day (Smithsonian Folklife) Thriving in Diversity: Latinas and Latinos with Disabilities U.S.-Mexico Borderlands (Smithsonian Institution) Winged Messengers: How Monarch Butterflies Connect Culture and Conservation in Mexico (Smithsonian Folklife)

1950 Census: Forma P93, Censo de Población y Viviendas: 1950, Puerto Rico (National Archives) 1950 Census Finds: Housing Schedule for Six Puerto Rico Dwellings! (National Archives) Aerial Photograph of Missiles in Cuba, 1962 (National Archives) The Amador Family Papers (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Aerial Photograph of Missiles in Cuba, 1962 (National Archives) Anthony Acevedo donates artifacts to the Holocaust Museum (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on Facebook) Aztecs and the Making of Colonial Mexico (Site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Castillo de San Marcos National Monument -- Fort Matanzas (National Park Service)
Chamizal National Memorial (National Park Service)
A Continuous Line: The Journey and Artistic Practice of Porfirio Gutiérrez (Smithsonian Folklife) De Lôme Letter, 1898 (National Archives) “¡De última hora! Latinas Report Breaking News” Digitized Spanish Mission Records from Tumacacori National Historical Park 1684 – 1848 (National Park Service) Exploring Latino Diversity in the United States The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire (Smithsonian Institution) The Guiding Thread: Women Weave Legacies in the Peruvian Andes (Smithsonian Folklife) ¡a la huelga todos! - The 1942 Sugar Industry Strike in Puerto Rico (Library of Congress) Hispanic American Records on Historypin (National Archives) Hispanic American Webpages Preserved in Library of Congress Web Archives Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Archaeology and History of the Early Americas (Library of Congress) New Mexico, New Spain, Old Cultures: Historic Spanish‐Language Newspapers in Chronicling America (National Endowment for the Humanities) Mexican Border Crossing Records (National Archives)
The Mexican Revolution and the United States in the Collections of the Library of Congress
The Mexican Revolution and the United States in the Collections of the Library of Congress
Military Resources: Mexican War, 1846-1848 (National Archives) National Archives on Flickr Platt Amendment, 1903 (National Archives) Poesias e historias del Caribe (Library of Congress) Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age (Library of Congress) Rare Spanish Manuscript Map Showing the Western Borders of the Louisiana Purchase Arrives at the Library of Congress (Library of Congress) Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Digital Archive (supported by National Endowment for the Humanities) The Red that Colored the World (National Endowment for the Humanities) San Antonio Missions National Historical Park (National Park Service) The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures (Library of Congress) Telling All Americans' Stories: American Latino Heritage (National Park Service) The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (National Archives) Vitality in Mexican Colonia: Water Sources for Mexican Settlement in San Antonio, Texas, March 1939 (Library of Congress) The World of 1898: The Spanish-American War (Library of Congress)

Alberto Nepomuceno Collection (Library of Congress) California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties (Library of Congress) A Dance of Devotion: The Matachines of Bernalillo, New Mexico (Smithsonian Institution) Daughter of the Sea: An Intimate Portrait of Yoruba Traditions on Film (Smithsonian Folklife) Hispano Music and Culture of the Northern Rio Grande: The Juan B. Rael Collection (Library of Congress) How REBOLU’s Afro-Infused Rhythms Bridge New York City and the Colombian Coast (Smithsonian Folklife) How Urban Corridos Became the Soundtrack to South Central L.A. (Smithsonian Folklife) Inter-American Music Festival Foundation papers (Library of Congress) Laurindo Almeida Papers (Library of Congress) Lauro Ayestarán Collection (Library of Congress) The Legacy of Santa Claus and His Mariachi Family (Smithsonian Folklife) Luiz Heitor Corrêa de Azevedo Collection (Library of Congress) A Mariachi Opera? How Two Art Forms Combined to Celebrate the Immigrant Story (Smithsonian Folklife) Music and Foodways of Las Posadas in Pico Rivera: Pozole Rojo, Ponche Navideño, and Empanadas Dulces (Smithsonian Folklife) Music Industry's “Biggest Day” Marks a Mariachi Milestone (Smithsonian Folklife) Musical Migrations: The Creative Travels of César Castro (Smithsonian Folklife) Gershwin Prize: Emilio and Gloria Estefan to Receive 2019 Award The Perplexing Origins of George Washington's Birthday Celebration in Laredo, Texas (Smithsonian Folklife) The Sound of Resistance in Puerto Rico: Bomba Connects La Perla Community (Smithsonian Folklife) The Sounds of California in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles (Smithsonian Folklife) Spanish language newspapers available in the Chronicling America Historic American Newspapers Online Collection (Library of Congress) Trezoro Ladino: Treasures of Ladino at the Library of Congress [PDF, 890KB] -- special display accompanying this performance: Ladino Songs from Sephardic Diaspora [webcast] William P. Gottlieb Collection, Latin Jazz photographs (Library of Congress)

About the Hispanic, Portuguese, and Caribbean Collections: Overview and Researcher's Guide Birth of Ybor City, the Cigar Capital of the World Cesar Chaves: Labor Leader Born Chavez Ravine or Dodger Stadium: Topics in Chronicling America Collections Overviews - American Studies: Hispanic American Studies Cortés, Vicenta, Informe sobre la colección de manuscritos relativos a la América Latina en la Biblioteca del Congreso. Dolores Huerta, Labor Activist Born Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS) Online Hispanic Americans in Business and Entrepreneurship: A Resource Guide Hispanic and Portuguese Collections: An Illustrated Guide Ladino Books in the Library of Congress (Finding Aid) Latin America and the Caribbean in Photographs at the Library of Congress Latin American Composers: A Guide to Resources at the Library of Congress Latinx and Chicanx in STEM A Latinx Resource Guide: Civil Rights Cases and Events in the United States Latinx Studies: Library of Congress Resources The Luso-Hispanic World in Maps: A Selective Guide to Manuscript Maps to 1900 Mexican-American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Topics in Chronicling America Mexican Revolution: Topics in Chronicling America Nina Otero-Warren: Topics in Chronicling America Octaviano Larrazolo: Topics in Chronicling America Occupation of Vera Cruz: Topics in Chronicling America Pancho Villa: Topics in Chronicling America Primary Sources for Latin American Composers at the Library of Congress United Farm Workers Organizing Committee Recognized by AFL-CIO Yo Soy (I am): The Historical Trajectory of Language in Puerto Rico