UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center

Social Studies, Arts :

Since its founding in 1969, the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) has played a pivotal role in the development of scholarly research on the Chicano-Latino population, which is now the largest minority group in the United States. Our research mission is supported by five distinct components: a library with special collections archive, an academic press, collaborative research projects, public programs and community-based partnerships, and a competitive grant, scholarship, and fellowship program.

UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center's collections

The Nell and Phil Soto Papers

Nell and Phil felt the call to serve their country at a young age. During World War II, Phil was a bombardier in the US Army Air Corps and Nell worked at a factory that made bomb crates. It was at this factory that Nell and Phil met. They married in 1949 and reared six children. Nell (1926–2009) was among the first Latina/o legislators to champion environmental causes. During her term on the Pomona City Council, from 1987 to 1998, she was appointed to the board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. In 1998, at the age of seventy-two, she was elected to the California Assembly, representing the 61st District. Two years later Nell successfully ran to represent the 32nd District in the California Senate, where she was instrumental in the passage of legislation that improved the quality of drinking water. She returned to the Assembly in 2006, after serving two terms. Philip L. Soto (1926–1997) served on the La Puente City Council before being elected in 1962 to represent the 50th District in the California Assembly, a seat he held for two terms. He was one of the first Latinos elected to the legislature since the state’s early days. An activist for civil and labor rights, he marched with César Chávez from Delano to Sacramento in 1966 to protest the treatment of farm workers. Phil was also active in national politics, serving as campaign manager for La Puente during John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign and as an advisor for the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy. The Sotos were trailblazers throughout their careers. They pushed forward policies and legislation that put community first by focusing on better and safer education, cleaner air and water, better transportation, fair and equal housing, and green spaces and parks for children. Family, Community, Country: The Nell and Phil Soto Story highlights the couple’s work in the state legislature, their contributions to the Kennedy campaigns, their involvement with civil rights activism in the 1970s, and family and community life. The exhibition draws from the Nell and Phil Soto Papers, recently donated to the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. #latinoHAC #repatriation #unconstitutionaldeportation #massexpulsion

UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center

Ricardo Munoz Repatriation Papers

Ricardo Munoz was a Los Angeles lawyer and later an administrative law judge with the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. This collection includes photographs that document his family history during the Mexican Repatriation era of the 1930's. Many of the photographs include handwritten descriptions and dates on the back sides. #LatinoHAC #UnconstitutionalDeportation

UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center

Pedro J. Gonzalez

A telegraph operator for Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution; a radio personality and popular recording artist in Los Angeles; an immigration activist framed for political purposes and sent to San Quentin prison; and finally, a man fighting for the rights of his fellow veterans. Pedro Gonzalez played all these roles and this collection consists of his papers, music, media coverage, and many photographs and photo montages documenting his life. #LatinoHAC #UnconstitutionalDeportation

UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center

Los Angeles Latino Families Photo Project

The Los Angeles Latino Families Photo Project was launched at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) spring 2012. It is an extension of an earlier initiative launched in 2007 to combat the invisibility of the Mexican American contribution to Los Angeles and California history predating the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s within textbooks, trade, and academic books and articles. With the generous support of the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, the CSRC was able to digitize close to 3,000 images from the Edward R. Roybal Papers and the Yolanda Retter Vargas Collection of Orphan Photographs. The first collection documents Edward Roybal’s public service career from the 1940s to the 1990s as a Los Angeles city councilman and a U.S. congressman. The second was collected by the previous librarian, Yolanda Retter-Vargas, who found the photographs at various flea markets. This collection consists of “orphan” photographs—images with no provenance information. They appear to belong to six families. Both collections have been completed and are available on the UCLA Digital Library. After completing this project we quickly realized that Los Angeles Latino history is incomplete without the stories of its citizens. The Los Angeles Latino Families Photo Project was developed as a way to fully capture the complexity of this city’s history as well as address the issue of preservation through the digitization of vulnerable image-based collections. The photographs found in this particular collection were digitized and preserved during a Friends of the Library workshop held at the Chicano Studies Research Center spring 2012. They highlight the day-to-day lives of Latinos and Latinas living in Los Angeles over time. They document their families' histories and cultures capturing their movements between the United States and Latin America. One of the project’s goals is to provide the opportunity for community members to contribute additional photographs and information for the archival record. #LatinoHAC

UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center

UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center