GalerĂ­a de la Raza archives, bulk 1966-2000

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Summary

Creators:
Galería de la Raza (San Francisco, Calif.)
Abstract:
This collection holds administrative records, programs, subject files, correspondence, clippings, slides, photographs, serigraphs, posters, silkscreen prints, ephemera and other creative materials documenting activities of the San Francisco Bay Area Chicano Cultural Arts Center. Includes work by many of the prominent Chicano/Chicana and Latina/Latino artists such as Juana Alicia, Rodolfo (Rudy) Cuellar, Alfredo De Batuc, Ricardo Favela, Gilbert Lujån (Magu), Ralph Maradiaga, Juanishi Orosco, Irene Pérez, Patricia Rodríguez, and René Yañez.
Extent:
68.66 Linear Feet 68 boxes, 12 albums of 2,737 slides; 9 smaller albums; 14 oversize boxes; and 479 silkscreen prints and posters
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], GalerĂ­a de la Raza archives, CEMA 4. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

The GalerĂ­a de la Raza Collection (GDLR) consists of nine series distributed among 103 archival containers that occupy about 51.54 linear feet of space. Also, there are 479 silkscreen prints, housed in flat file drawers, and 2,737 slides in 21 albums. There are separate guides to the silkscreen prints and the slides.

The archival material includes business records, grant applications, exhibition descriptions and flyers, correspondence, miscellaneous publications, and photographs. These records cover the period of 1966-2003. The early years of the GDLR are minimally represented due to fire loss and accidental disposal prior to their arrival in CEMA.

The collection is divided into nine series. Within each series, folders and boxes generally follow the alphabetical order of the titles that were assigned to them by the GDLR. Folders with the same subject are usually arranged either alphabetically or chronologically.

Biographical / historical:

Galería de la Raza (GDLR) is a non-profit community arts organization that promotes Chicano and Latino art and culture in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Founded in 1970, the GDLR was, like many other such centros, a product of the Chicano civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s. The movement called for artistic emphasis on everyday lives and on community activities of the Chicano/Latino people. These principles guided the GDLR and set it apart from mainstream art organizations in terms of philosophy and organization. Throughout its history, the GDLR has striven not only to make art accessible to the community, especially in the largely Chicano/Latino Mission District of San Francisco, but also to involve the public in the very creation of art works. The origin of the GDLR can be traced to a Spring 1969 exhibition in Oakland, "New Symbols for La Nueva Raza," by the Mexican American Liberation Art Front (MALAF). Aimed at "integrating art into the Chicano social revolution sweeping the country," MALAF brought together four Chicano/Latino artists, Esteban Villa, Manuel Hernandez, Malaquias Montoya, and René Yañez. In 1970, a larger group established the Galería de la Raza as an artistic collective, on 14th Street in San Francisco's Mission District. Members of that group included Rupert García, Peter Rodríguez, Francisco Camplis, Peter Rodriguez, Graciela Carrillo, Jerry Concha, Gustavo Ramos Rivera, Carlos Loarca, Manuelo Villamor, Robert Gonzålez, Luis Cervantez, Chuy Campusano, Rolando Castellón, Ralph Maradiaga, and René Yañez. Later, Maradiaga became the administrative director and Yañez the artistic director. In 1972, GDLR moved to its present location on 24th Street at Bryant Street in the Mission District. In 1985, Humberto Cintrón became administrative director following Maradiaga's death. Enrique Chagoya succeeded Yañez in 1987 as artistic director. In 1990, María Pinedo became executive director of the GDLR, and was succeeded in 1993 by Liz Lerma. She was followed by Gloria Jaramillo in 1995, and by Carolina Ponce de Leon in 1999. In its first decade, the GDLR devoted itself to reclaiming the images and practices of popular Mexican/Latino traditions. It helped introduce and popularize the Mexican artist and political activist Frida Kahlo and the celebration of El Día de los Muertos ("The Day of the Dead"). In 1980, the GDLR started its second decade with the founding of Studio 24, a gift store. Studio 24 has served as a means to generate revenue for the GDLR in face of cuts in federal funds for arts, and as an experiment in a new form of community art organization. During the 1980s, the GDLR expanded its international coverage, with exhibitions on the crises in South Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America. The GDLR has in the early 1990s further expanded its commitment to the Chicano/Latino community by focusing on not only race, but also gender and sexual identity. In 1995, the GDLR launched the (Re)Generation Project with a variety of programs, to celebrate its 25th anniversary and to promote inter-generational dialogs among Chicano(a)/Latino(a) artists. Also that year it mounted a retrospective exhibition "The Defiant Eye" at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Gardens, curated by Teresita Romo.

Acquisition information:
Donated by GalerĂ­a de la Raza, 1986
Arrangement:

Series I, Administrative Records (1971-1985): consists of two subseries and is housed in 13 archival boxes.

The first subseries, History, Staff, and Organization (1971-1985), includes documents from the earliest period of the GDLR, information about its staff, and several re-organization efforts.

The second subseries, Business and Financial Records, (1976-1984), consists of tax returns, budgets, some business transactions, and payroll journals. The records provide information about the efforts by the GDLR and Studio 24 to develop a self-sustaining route as a non-profit community arts organization.

The third subseries, Grants (1976-1986), includes grant applications and award (or rejection) letters that document the successes and failures of the GDLR in seeking support from governmental funding agencies and private philanthropies. The National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council were among the major sources of such grants. Most of the grant applications were for GDLR's own projects and programs. Sometimes, GDLR acted as fiscal agent to apply for grants on behalf of other organizations or individuals. In those cases, the folder titles identify these organizations and individuals, in contrast to the majority of folders in this subseries where titles follow the funding agencies. The grant applications usually include valuable information about the GDLR's activities as GDLR summarized its various programs in the grant proposal narratives.

Series II, Programs (1968-1989): consists of three subseries.

The first subseries, Exhibitions (1968-1989), is the largest subseries and the heart of the archival material in the collection. It encompasses a variety of materials associated with the set up of exhibitions at GDLR, including correspondence, floor plans, brochures and flyers, exhibition catalogs, photographs of the art works and of the exhibition scenes, introductions, captions, news clippings, and guest comments.

The second subseries,Exhibitions Supplements (1982-1996), was retrieved in 1999 and expands on the materials related to exhibitions held at Galeria de La Raza. Because of its late retrieval date, the boxes numbered 53–68, are included in the exhibition subseries out of sequence to better reflect their relation to Series II. This second subseries contains collected documentation for exhibitions from 1982 to 1996. The subseries is arranged chronologically, according to subject, to the folder level. Within each folder, the order is generally established by the donor and depending on the subject matter of the exhibition, will be found in the following arrangement: 1) announcements, including press releases and public service announcements (PSA) for radio; 2) art originals for announcement brochures and invitations; 3) artists' backgrounds, resumes or statements. 4) Correspondence related to the exhibition; 5) lists of art in the show, gift agreements, loan agreements, condition reports, and pricelists; 6) publicity, including news clippings and tear sheets; 7) originals, including slides, photos and negatives as well as some original art contributions; 8) research materials related to the exhibition, background material on subjects or artists; 9) miscellaneous items not easily characterized otherwise.

The third subseries, Exhibitions Supplements II (1967-1999) is contained in 18 oversize boxes and stored among the oversize section of CEMA. The subseries is arranged chronologically with not dated materials placed in the beginning. The largest section of the subseries Earthquake in Mexico: Tragedy and Hope. (February 21-March 29 1986), covers the 1986 Mexican earthquake and contains an alphabetically arranged listing of artists who photographed the event and were subsequently displayed at the GalerĂ­a. Cross references have been added throughout the guide to exhibitions or artist's work that is included within this subseries. This subseries is primarily visual arts, and photography and does not include documentation for the many exhibitions it covers. Any information available from the images has been listed in this subseries.

The fourth subseries, Special Programs (1972-1984), covers non-exhibition events at GDLR, such as workshops, receptions, festivals, classes, and contests. Although small in volume, this subseries shows the community service aspects of the GDLR.

Series III: Subject Files (1966-1986): includes reports, papers, publications, application materials, and other documents related to non-GDLR organizations and events not directly sponsored by the GDLR. These materials represent the GDLR's professional networking activities and its social and political environments.

Series IV: Correspondence (1973-1987): contains both incoming and outgoing letters that were not integrated within the other series. These include inquiries to the GDLR and letters of recommendation and support, both from and for the GDLR. Unfortunately, due to a fire during the early years and later in 1985 due to the disposal of Maradiaga's papers by family members immediately following his death, the correspondence series is a very small one. Maradiaga had been custodian of the GDLR's earlier records. Much valuable correspondence can be found, however, in the other series, such as the subseries on exhibitions.

Series V: Clippings, Publications, and Flyers (1969-1987) : contains various clippings on GDLR and its programs from newspapers and magazines, publications by other organizations, publicity and announcement flyers for GDLR exhibitions, and catalogs. Like the subject files, these materials provide glimpses of the GDLR's interactions with the community and its social and professional environment.

Series VI: Photographs (1970-2003): contains a small collection of miscellaneous photographs that were not connected to any of the specific GDLR projects.

Series VII: Graphic Arts and Other Media Collection (1973-1985): contains an oversize box of posters, newspaper articles, catalogs, and various artwork revolving around GDLR.

Series VIII: Slides (1910-1996): consists of about 1000 indigenous Chicano art slides categorized into 10 subseries: Assemblage, Center Activities and Programs, Drawings, Graphic Arts, Installation Art, Murals, Paintings, Performance and Conceptual Art, Photography, and Sculptures. The bulk of the slides are from 1969-1996

Series IX: Silkscreens (1969-1993): contains 479 silkscreens all organized by the artist's last name.

Physical location:
Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Written authorization from La GalerĂ­a de la Raza needed for duplication of any portion of the collection. Being amended by GDLR to conform to standard language used now.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Research Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], GalerĂ­a de la Raza archives, CEMA 4. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:
UC Santa Barbara Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
Contact:
(805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
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