Inventory of the Gloria Anzaldúa Altares Collection
Irene Reti
The University Library
Special Collections and Archives
University Library
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California, 95064
Email: specoll@library.ucsc.edu
URL: http://library.ucsc.edu/speccoll/
© 2006
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Inventory of the Gloria Anzaldúa Altares Collection
Collection number: MS 308
The University Library
Special Collections and Archives
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
- Processed by:
- Irene Reti
- Date Completed:
- September 2006
- Encoded by:
- UCSC OAC Unit
© 2006 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Gloria Anzaldúa Altares collection
Dates: 1942-2004
Collection number: MS 308
Creator:
Anzaldúa, Gloria
Collection Size:
13 cartons, 1 map roll
Repository:
University of California, Santa Cruz. University Library.
Special Collections and Archives
Santa Cruz, California 95064
Abstract: This collection of figurines, small clay pots, masks, rattles, candles, altar cloths, and other ephemera was used by Gloria
Anzaldúa as altar (altares) objects at her home in Santa Cruz, California. These altares were an integral part of her spiritual
life and creative process as a writer.
Physical location: Stored in Special Collections & Archives: Advance notice is required for access to the collection.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
This collection is open.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and
their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce the material, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Preferred Citation
Gloria Anzaldúa Altares collection. MS 308. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of
California, Santa Cruz.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Anzaldúa Family in 2005.
Biography
"I sit here before my computer, Amiguita, my altar on top of the monitor with the Virgen de Coatlalopeuh candle and copal
incense burning. My companion, a wooden serpent staff with feathers, is to my right while I ponder the ways metaphor and symbol
concretize the spirit and etherealize the body. The Writing is my whole life, it is my obsession."
Gloria E. Anzaldúa from Borderlands/La Frontera (Aunt Lute Books, 1999)
Independent scholar and creative writer Gloria E. Anzaldúa was an internationally acclaimed cultural theorist. As the author
of Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Anzaldúa played a major role in shaping contemporary Chicano/a and lesbian/queer
identities. And as editor or co-editor of three multicultural anthologies, she played an equally vital role in developing
an inclusionary, multicultural feminist movement. Anzaldúa's writings have been included in over 100 anthologies to date.
Her works greatly impacted a wide variety of academic disciplines, including (but not limited to) American studies, Chicano/a
studies, composition studies, cultural studies, ethnic studies, feminism and feminist theory, literary studies, queer theory,
and women's studies.
A versatile author, Anzaldúa published poetry, theoretical essays, short stories, autobiographical narratives, interviews,
children's books, and multigenre edited collections. Her published works include This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by
Radical Women of Color (1981, co-edited with Cherr?e Moraga), a ground-breaking collection of essays and poems widely recognized
by scholars in Women's Studies as the premiere multicultural feminist text; Borderlands/La Frontera (1987), a founding text
of Chicano/a Studies and Border Studies, as well as a classic of twentieth-century American literature; Making Face, Making
Soul/Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists-of-Color (1990), a multigenre collection used in many
university classrooms; two bilingual children's books "Friends from the Other Side/Amigos del otro lado and Prietita and the
Ghost Woman/Prietita y la Llorona; Interviews/Entrevistas (2000), a memoir-like collection of interviews; this bridge we call
home: radical visions for transformation (2002, co-edited with AnaLouise Keating), a multigenre collection that examines the
current status of feminist/womanist theorizing; and additional stories and essays.
Anzaldúa and her works won numerous awards, including a fiction award from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Before
Columbus Foundation American Book Award, the Lamda Lesbian Small Book Press Award, the Susan Koppelman Award, the Smithsonian
Notable Book Award, and the Americas Honor Award. Borderlands/La Frontera was selected as one of the 100 Best Books of the
Century both by Hungry Mind Review and by Utne Reader.
Anzaldúa was born in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, the eldest child of Urbano and Amalia Anzaldúa. She received her
B.A. from Pan American University, her M.A. from University of Texas, Austin, and her Ph.D. (awarded posthumously) from the
University of California, Santa Cruz.
AnaLouise Keating
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection of figurines, small clay pots, masks, rattles, candles, altar cloths, and other ephemera was used by Gloria
Anzaldúa as altar (altares) objects at her home in Santa Cruz, California. These altares were an integral part of her spiritual
life and creative process as a writer.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Anzaldúa, Gloria--Archives
Altars
Altarpieces
Idols and images--Worship
Authors, American--California--Santa Cruz County
Mexican American lesbians--Fiction
Mexican American women--Ethnic identity
Women and literature--United States--History--20th century
Other Finding Aids
Gloria Anzaldúa's archive will be available to the public starting in November 2006 - at the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American
Collection, University of Texas.
Separated Material
The following items have been on display and are currently available by special request.
- Gloria's felt hat
- Mousepad with Virgin de Guadalupe
- Handmade face mask
- Wooden snake on wheels
- Stone turtle
- Metal horse
- Metal mirror
- Rattle
- Javelina
- Clay pot
- Stone turtle
- Corn wax candles
- Sage sachets
- Mortar and pestle
- Lizard incense burner
- Green wooden painted lizard
- Metal woman
- Snake pot
- Virgin candle
- Yellow jaguar woman
- Basket with cut ribbons
- Small basket with shells
- Skeleton ornament
- Small face masks
- Abalone shell
- Small box with rubber turtles, medicine pouches, incense, crystals
- Ceramic hummingbird
- Yemaya candle
- Dia de los muertos creche
- Two small stuffed snakes
- Miscellaneous rocks
- Frida Kahlo ashtray
- Button collection
- Eskimo knife mentioned in Borderlands
- Serpent staff
Container List
Box 1
Green hanging wooden frog
Box 2
Wooden hand with cowboy ornaments
Box 2
Glass hummingbird and figurines
Box 3
Basket with dangling silver beads
Box 3
Colorful ceramic Mexican water jug
Box 3
Ceramic tile with steer head on it
Box 4
Jaguar head - wooden mask
Box 4
Ceramic hand-painted rattle gift
Box 4
Wooden painted cactus box
Box 5
Small virgin with calla lillies
Box 6
Turtle carrying figures on its back (large, Mexican painted style)
Box 6
Ceramic jaguar hanging ornament
Box 7
Women writer with beasts small display
Box 7
Wooden horse with broken leg
Box 7
Large ceramic layered face mask
Box 7
Misc. small altar objects
Box 7
Small green painted wooden easel
Box 8
Unframed pictures and cards
Box 8
Framed pictures and cards
Box 9
Framed pictures and cards
Box 10
Unframed pictures and cards
Box 10
Anzaldua captions 2006 McHenry library exhibit
Box 10
2006 McHenry Library Exhibit comment book
Box 11
Framed pictures and cards
