The Rutgers/Puerto Rico Archival Collaboration Receives Major Funding from the Mellon Foundation
The Rutgers/Puerto Rico Archival Collaboration, Directed by Prof. Aldo Lauria Santiago, is proud to announce that the Mellon Foundation, (Mellon.org) through its Presidential Initiatives, has awarded a million dollar grant to support the work of the PRAC over the next three years. This funding will enhance the ongoing efforts to preserve and make accessible important archival collections and periodical publications from Puerto Rico. The Grant also provides support for the training of young scholars in the humanities.
Project Overview
In March 2022, Professor Aldo Lauria-Santiago, Director of the Rutgers University Center for Latin American Studies, began a major collaboration with sister institutions in Puerto Rico. This project aims to preserve crucial historical materials and facilitate research on Puerto Rico’s history. The PRAC began with the Colección Puertorriqueña of the University of Puerto Rico Library, its Digital Collections held at the Colección Digital Puertorriqueña, and the General Archive and National Library of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña.
Expanding Partnerships and Funding
Since its inception, the PRAC has attracted numerous partners, significantly bolstering its impact:
- Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades: Extended digitization work at the General Archive of Puerto Rico (AGPR).
- Arte Público Press’s Latino Digital Humanities Program: Supported the inclusion of migration-related materials in the digitization efforts at the AGPR.
- Collaborations: Partnerships with the Yale Program in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration, the University of Connecticut’s Puerto Rican Studies Initiative, and contributions from Professors Zaire Dinzey Flores and Ismael Garcia Colon.
Mellon Foundation Grant
The Mellon Foundation’s generous grant will further advance these efforts, supporting the preservation and accessibility of Puerto Rican archival materials. This funding will enable PRAC to:
- Create and make accessible guides, finding aids and catalogs.
- Expand the sites of collaborations beyond the AGPR and Colección Puertorriqueña of the UPR Library
- Enhance digitization of valuable collections.
- Train and assign over thirty interns and support their professional goals.
- Provide opportunities for interpretive essays on the collections and archival materials shared in the process, both by interns and established scholars.
- Facilitate research by providing greater access to these invaluable resources.
- Develop interpretive frameworks for the study of Puerto Rico’s state-generated public records of the 20th Century.
The grant will fund interns, workshops, and publishing for three years, and will support a major conference on the history of Puerto Rico in three years.
Sofia Feliciano will serve as PRAC Manager in Puerto Rico, while the Department of Latino & Caribbean Studies at Rutgers University will receive support to enhance administration of the grant.
The PRAC will continue to work intensely with the Archivo General de Puerto Rico and the Colección Puetorriqueña of the UPR Library, but its efforts will now include a dozen new archival sites.
Stay Informed
For those interested in receiving updates on the progress of our projects, including archival work, please sign up for our email newsletter at sites.rutgers.edu/prac or contact us directly at
Quotes
“This support from the Mellon Foundation is a testament to the importance of preserving and interpreting Puerto Rico’s rich history,” said Professor Aldo Lauria-Santiago. “We are thrilled to continue our collaboration with our partners and expand the accessibility of these invaluable archives.”
About Rutgers University Center for Latin American Studies
The Rutgers PRAC was developed by Professor Lauria Santiago with the support of the Rutgers University Center for Latin American Studies. The CLAS is dedicated to fostering understanding and scholarship on Latin America through research, education, and collaboration. For more information about the CLAS please visit CLAS.Rutgters.edu.
For information on the Mellon Foundation’s Presidential Initiatives visit: https://www.mellon.org/grant-programs/presidential-initiatives
For more information on the PRAC and to join our email list: http://sites.rutgers.edu/prac