Nuestras Raíces: Community Pláticas & Story Gatherings

FAIN: PY-263641-19

Rhode Island Latino Arts (Providence, RI 02907-1353)
Marta V. Martinez (Project Director: May 2018 to October 2021)
Marta V. Martinez (Project Director: October 2021 to December 2021)

Three digitization events to collect local history materials and a series of complementary public programs (pláticas or talks) focused on the Latino community in Rhode Island.  The events would be managed by Rhode Island Latino Arts (RILA), a community-based organization that has been collecting oral histories in the state since 1991, many of which are available online through support from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.  The proposed project would support a collaboration between RILA and the Providence Preservation Society, faculty and students at Roger Williams University, two public libraries, and one social services agency to document the history, language, and heritage of Rhode Island Latinos through the digitization of documents, such as photographs, personal papers, business documents (menus, business cards, and brochures), and objects, such as woven spools of yarn.  With donor permission, the digitized materials would be used to create a visual complement to RILA’s oral histories through, among other projects, an expansion of a photo mural project featuring Rhode Island Latino history on bus shelters in Providence.

To collect, document and preserve RI Latino history through community conversations and the arts. The first Community Archive on Latino History will be created, indexed and made accessible to the public.

Media Coverage

How Oral History Projects Are Being Stymied by COVID-19 (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Eddy Martinez
Publication: Smithsonian Magazine
Date: 6/9/2020
Abstract: As the current pandemic ravages minority communities, historians are scrambling to continue work that preserves cultural heritage.
URL: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-oral-history-projects-are-being-stymied-covid-19-180975055/

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