The Aguilar Papers and Photographs include the personal and professional materials of Laura Aguilar and occupy 2.75 linear feet. The collection traces through correspondence with mentors and friends both Aguilar's artistic development and her struggle with dyslexia. Her professional achievements are detailed in the series on exhibitions and published works. The print series includes original prints of three of Aguilar's photographic series: Latina Lesbians, Plush Pony, and Clothed/Unclothed.

Laura Aguilar is a photographer whose works are mostly portraits. Professor Chon Noriega of UCLA's Department of Film and Television writes that Aguilar's work documents "social groups and identities that remain invisible in mainstream culture: Latina lesbians, black couples, obese people, et al." She cooperates with her subjects so that "her work is not about power differentials between photographer and subject as is often, if implicitly, the case with...the social documentary tradition." An autobiographical element is also apparent in Aguilar's work. Art critic Diana Emery Hulick noted that "the circumstances of [Aguilar's] life are reflected overtly in her art." Aguilar, Hulick wrote, "is large, lesbian, and Chicana, acutely aware of her separateness, yet comfortable enough with herself to present us with a personal vision that is both intimate and authoritative."

2.75 linear feet.

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