Primary Sources: Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal: U.S. Latinos

Full list of U.S. Latino newspapers available at Cornell.

This collection contains files from a traveling exhibit, “Coming Up On the Season: Migrant Farmworkers in the Northeast.” The exhibit was coordinated by Herb Engman and Kay Embrey of the Cornell Migrant Program and Riverhill consulting and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1999. The exhibit explicitly addressed the post 1980s Latin American origins of most migrant workers in the Northeast. Most of the photographs from the exhibit show Latin American migrant workers or their home towns in Mexico and elsewhere. The collection contains exhibit planning documents and the exhibit manual including the crate list, photographs of migrant farm work, transcriptions and tapes of oral histories, reports, grant proposals, articles, contracts and agreements, programs, flyers, research files on migrants in specific regions, scripts, photographs by Drew Harty, and other materials.

The Cornell Migrant Program (CMP) was established in 1971 in response to widespread outrage on the Cornell campus over the living and working conditions of migrant workers on a farm that the university owned in Wayne County, New York. This collection consists of correspondence, grant applications, reports, theses, clippings, memoranda, slides, and other materials created and collected by the office. There is also a collection of tapes and transcripts from forty oral histories conducted with former CMP staff members and affiliates in 2006 and files from program director, Herb Engman’s, office on the Cornell University campus. The Cornell Migrant Program campus collection is a rich source of information on migrant workers and advocacy organizations in upstate New York, particularly the central and western regions of the state. It also traces part of the history of Latinos in upstate New York as they arrived in the state’s agricultural zones.

The Cornell Migrant Program (CMP) was established in 1971 in response to widespread outrage on the Cornell campus over the living and working conditions of migrant workers on a farm that the university owned in Wayne County, New York. This collection contains the administrative files from the Wayne County office of CMP and consists of correspondence, grant applications, reports, theses, clippings, CMP publications, memoranda, and other materials created and collected by the office. It is a rich source of information on migrant workers and advocacy organizations in upstate New York, particularly the central and western regions of the state. It also traces part of the history of Latinos in upstate New York as they arrived in the state’s agricultural zones.

This collection contains the administrative and historical records of the Latino Studies Program, covering the period when university faculty, staff, and students were working to establish the program to 1993 when it sponsored the Year of Hispanic Performance. The files consist of correspondence, reports, flyers, course listings, artist files, clippings, and information about other Latino organizations and services throughout the country.

The Robert Garcia papers include personal papers and organizational files reflecting Garcia's personal life and involvement in lesbian and gay rights, reproductive rights, and AIDS activism in New York City. These organizations include ACT UP-New York, the national organization Men of All Colors Together (formerly Black and White Men Together), and a video collective called House of Color. The collection also contains testimony regarding his arrest for civil disobedience at an ACT UP demonstration. A collection of videocassettes includes biographical material as well as footage related to activism about AIDS, identity politics, race and sexuality, and work by House of Color.

The Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) Collection documents the history of the ACTWU and its predecessors, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA or Amalgamated) and the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA). This finding aid highlights the areas of the collection that relate directly to the Farah Strike. Based in El Paso, Texas, the strike was organized out of the New York office. Around 85% of the striking garment workers were Mexican and Chicana. The Farah documents include publications, dues cards, legal documents, information on the nationwide boycott, clippings, minutes from meetings throughout the country, and other administrative materials. They demonstrate how the New York office coordinated the strike and organizing efforts in Texas with union locals, student groups, religious leaders and other activists throughout the United States.

The records of the Education Department of Local 22 Dressmakers’ Union of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) are made up of correspondence, newspaper clippings, newsletters, programs, photographs, and speeches documenting the activities of the Department from the 1930s to the 1970s. These include social events; field trips; voter education classes; English classes; and tours of Europe, the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Series II includes the correspondence files of Saby Nehama, the union’s longtime liaison to Spanish-speaking garment workers and Education Director in the late 1960s.

Local 22 Dressmakers Union of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) was established in 1920 after a reorganization of the Ladies Waist and Dressmakers’ Local 25. This collection contains records collected between 1920 and 1933. While bulk of the files contain correspondence, the series also contains meeting minutes, financial statements, advertisements, press releases, and work permits. The series documents a particularly tumultuous period in the history of the ILGWU and Local 22 including reorganization after the 1926 strike; severe financial difficulties in the late 1920s and early 1930s; and growing pains as new immigrant groups and migrant groups including African Americans, Latinos, and Greeks entered the garment industry. It also contains some documentation of the ILGWU’s attempts to expand into Canada and Puerto Rico in the early 1930s.

The Local 22 Dressmakers Union of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) was established in 1920 after a reorganization of the Ladies Waist and Dressmakers’ Local 25. Local 22’s meeting minutes consist of those of the Executive Board and various committee minutes including those of the Grievance and Membership Committees. Of particular interest are the Executive Board Minutes in Series 1 that contain early reports from monthly section meetings in the Bronx, Williamsburg, English-speaking Harlem, Spanish Harlem, and other areas.

This collection contains records of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union Local 23-25, the Blouse, Skirt and Sportswear Workers Union, as well as its predecessors, Local 23 and Local 25. Records consist of bound meeting minutes and ledgers of sick benefits and general funds. These document various activities including political involvement in the Liberal Party and various civil rights organizations. They also show the unions' affiliations with various ethnic organizations including the Italian American Labor Council, the Negro Labor Committee, the Puerto Rican Labor Advisory Committee and the United Hebrew Trades. Documents are primarily in English and Yiddish with printed material in Chinese and Spanish.

The International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) Local 105, the Snowsuits, Ski Wear, Leggings, Infants, and Novelty Sportswear Union, was established in 1941 to cover a group of miscellaneous industries that had previously been under the umbrella of several other locals. The records cover the years 1939-1970 (bulk, 1950-1970) and document the local's fight for higher wages, paid holidays for piece workers, pensions, and severance pay. It also advocated civil rights by picketing companies that maintained segregated lunch counters and spearheading voter registration drives among its Black and Puerto Rican members. In response to rising numbers of Puerto Rican and immigrant rank-and-file members, Local 105 offered materials in multiple languages, sponsored English classes for all members, and required staff members to study Spanish. The records consist of general correspondence, printed material, administrative materials from the office of manager-secretary, records of donations, and other administrative documents.

The National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees 1199 News Photographs files consist of approximately 32,500 black and white photographs in 8”x10” prints; 120/220 and 35mm contact prints; and photographic negatives collected during the publication of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employee’s periodical, known generally as 1199 News. Subjects include the early hospital strikes of the 1950s and 1960s; union activity; hospital interiors and exteriors; individuals and groups including union members and their families, political figures, celebrities, artists, and visiting dignitaries; and social, cultural, and political events sponsored or supported by Local 1199. The bulk of the photographs were taken in New York metropolitan region.

This accretion contains oral history interviews related to the Local 1199 National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees. These interviews were conducted between 1975 and 1981. The respondents in this collection of interviews include officers and staff of Local 1199; rank and file members; delegates and organizers; individuals involved with the Charlestown, SC hospital Strike (1969); administrators of various NYC hospitals; and prominent labor, civil rights and health care industry figures. Interviewees address relations with other unions, politics, attempts to organize unskilled Black and Puerto Rican workers, strikes and ethnic conflict among workers.

The Hospital Division of Local 1199 was founded during the historic hospital workers strikes of 1959. Its collection is a rich resource for the organizing activities of this largely New York City-based African-American and Hispanic union. Included are meeting minutes; financial and membership records; and files on collective bargaining, organizing, contract negotiations, grievances, arbitrations, and mediations. It also includes correspondence and a large number of broadsides, posters, leaflets, pamphlets, and other material publicizing the union and its activities and positions. About 1/8th of the material in this collection is in Spanish.

The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College has an extensive archive documenting the Puerto Rican diaspora as well as documents relating to Puerto Rico.

Of particular interest are the formerly secret FBI files produced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from the 1930s to the 1990s. The files document FBI surveillance activities and counter-intelligence operations that targeted Puerto Rican organizations and individuals.