Abstract

From December 6-7, 2022, at the request of Hispanic Studies Department faculty Heather Campbell-Speltz, University Archivist Ruth Bryan and Hispanic Studies Librarian Taylor Leigh presented to students in classes SPA 211 and 208 an exhibit of items from the University Archives in the UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center that document the presence of Hispanic and Latinx students at the University of Kentucky. Starting with the first student from Latin America to graduate from the Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1878 (the precursor to today’s university) and going through some of the activities of the Latino Student Union in 2022, the exhibit was organized into five stations: “Enrollment ‘Firsts’ and Statistics,” “1940s-1950s,” “1960s,” 1970s-1990s,” and “2000s-2020s.” Within each station, documents such as newspaper clippings, yearbooks, brochures, pamphlets, flyers, annual reports, and a table and chart of student enrollment data bring to light some of the Hispanic/Latinx student-led and student-serving organizations and student leaders.

In order to share the exhibit with more people, this document includes scans of and citations from all the items from the exhibit, as well as the English and Spanish text of the scavenger hunt that students used to explore the exhibit.

This exhibit would not have been possible without the work of Daniela Gamez Salgado, whose intensive research and 2019 article, "The History of Latino Students at the University of Kentucky, 1865-2019" (Oswald Research and Creativity Competition. 19. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/oswald/19) provided the initial sources and guidance for the exhibit. If the reader of this document finds that the items the exhibit curators chose to highlight ask more questions than provide answers, it is because the contributions, leadership, and struggles of Hispanic and Latinx students, faculty, and staff at the University of Kentucky are generally hidden. There are many more stories to be found in the archives and through oral histories and other sources.

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

12-6-2022

Notes/Citation Information

SPA 211 and SPA 208 class sessions, Margaret I. King Library, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

Related Content

Gamez Salgado, Daniela, "The History of Latino Students at the University of Kentucky, 1865-2019" (2019). Oswald Research and Creativity Competition. 19.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/oswald/19

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