In our first-ever U.S. Poet Laureate guest post, Ada Limón writes of her recent trip to Mexico City to participate in an event with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Dr. Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, wife of the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Enjoy this interview with Meg Medina, a soon-to-be inaugurated National Ambassador for Young People's LIterature, 2023-2024.
Enjoy this interview with Meg Medina, a soon-to-be inaugurated National Ambassador for Young People's LIterature, 2023-2024.
This post was written by Leah Knobel. It was originally posted on the Library of Congress blog. Meg Medina, a writer whose work explores how culture and identity intersect through the eyes of children and young adults, today was named as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2023-2024, the Library of Congress and […]
During the holiday season there are many diverse traditions. One food that is traditional in many Latine households is tamales, prepared at a tamalada, or tamale making party. Tamales are a Mesoamerican dish made with nixtimalized cornmeal dough—masa—steamed in a cornmeal husk, or banana leaf, and seasoned with cheese, beans, meats, and other flavors.
During her internship here at the American Folklife Center, Elisa Alfonso had the opportunity to explore many wonderful digital collections here at the Library of Congress. In particular she found many versions of a Spanish-language lullaby, “Señora Santana,” and noted fascination variations among versions, suggesting that a version collected primarily from Cuban Americans has become a vessel through which migrants talk about the sensations of trauma and loss that come with childhood forced migration. Read her observations, and hear several versions of the song, in her guest post.
Library of Congress Intern Brian Jimenez examines how Ancient Maya heavily incorporated plants into their society and assigned them different roles.
Get ready for two upcoming holidays with the expanded and updated research guide on Halloween and Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) from the Library of Congress! "Halloween & Dia de Muertos Resources" highlights collections from across the Library, including the American Folklife Center, Prints and Photographs, the Hispanic section, Rare Books, Manuscripts, and the National Audio Visual Conservation Center (NAVCC). Items we've added for this year's Halloween season include a player where you can listen to Jack Santino's classic Halloween lecture discussing the deep history of the holiday as well as folktales and other Halloween lore. We've also added: links to notable books to get you started in your Halloween reading; a player to watch the first film version of Frankenstein from 1910; a gallery of classic Dia de Los Muertos posters from the Mission Grafica/La Raza Graphics collection; and links to lots of new content like the witch tales from Aunt Molly Jackson that I blogged about just last week. Find it all at the link in this blog post!
(This is a guest post by Catalina Gómez, Curator of the PALABRA Archive in the Latin American, Caribbean and European division) Following its annual National Hispanic Heritage Month tradition, the Hispanic Reading Room in the Latin American, Caribbean and European division (LAC&E) announces the digital release of 50 new streaming audio recordings in the PALABRA […]
During Hispanic Heritage Month, I thought an ofrenda for Emma Tenayuca would be in order. Emma Tenayuca, born in 1916 in San Antonio, Texas to a Mexican-Comanche family, grew up politically aware of racism and economic disparities. Raised by her grandparents, she would visit the Plaza del Zacate in San Antonio’s Milam Park with her […]
