AGENCY TESTIMONY
Recent acquisitions and collaborations in indigenous collections
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NYPL has recently expanded its indigenous collections through new acquisitions and collaborative efforts. The library has focused on acquiring visual works by contemporary indigenous artists and forming partnerships to enhance access to rare materials.
- Acquired works by indigenous artists from various regions, including Canada, Colombia, Brazil, and other Latin American countries
- Organized panels and events featuring indigenous authors and translators
- Collaborated with the Juan de Cordova Research Library to digitize rare indigenous language materials
Jason Baumann
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Building on these published works and historical collections, our curators have grown our visual collections by indigenous artists in recent years, acquiring works by interdisciplinary Dine Dakota Dine artist Dakota Mace, photographs by indigenous Inuit Canadian artists for our recent exhibition about the Arctic, as well as acquiring a collection of the first photographs of indigenous communities in Colombia, important collections of photo documentation of indigenous communities in Brazil, and artist books from indigenous creators in Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Peru, among others.
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Beyond acquisitions and offerings, the library's curator for Latin American, Iberian, and US Latino studies works intensively on showcasing relevant holdings and connecting them to Latin American indigenous communities in New York City.
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In 2019, this team organized and hosted the panel, Identity, Culture, and Poetics in Latin America, reading and conversation with Elekura Chiwali Chiwalef, Jose Marmol, and Miguel Angel Zapata.
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Mister Chiwalef is considered one of the most influential Mapuche Chilean authors.
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He writes in Mapundungun and in Spanish, and has been translated into many other languages.
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In April 2024, the same department connected with the Colibri Collective, an organization in New York City of indigenous, translators working with the Department of Education and Health to provide translation and interpretation services of Latin American indigenous languages.
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Our curator gave the collective an orientation on the diversity of books and periodicals that the library holds in dozens of indigenous languages that can aid them in their work.
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The team also published a research guide in Spanish to facilitate the discovery of these materials, and it's provided similar orientations for students in the Center For Latin American and Caribbean Studies at NYU.
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This year, our Latin American, Iberian, and US Latino studies curator additionally took steps took the first steps to establish a collaborative relationship with the Juan de Cordova Research Library, a renowned cultural institution in Oaxaca that specializes in indigenous languages from the Americas.
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Our organizations coordinated to digitize La Rosa de la Amor, an extremely rare 19th century pamphlet in Zapotec language whose only surviving copy is held at NYPL's Stephen a Schwarzman building.
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This pamphlet will eventually be published in a facsimile edition by the state of Oaxaca to promote the reading of texts in Zapotec.
