Rebellion in the Archive: The Mexican Revolution in the University of New Mexico’s Latin American Library Collections

The Mexican Revolution occurred between 1910 and 1920. The legacy of the war, however, is an ongoing concept that has evolved over one hundred years, which frames and informs present day politics, struggles, and art in Mexico and beyond. The Revolution manifests in various forms, one being the archive. Due to its impressive and vast collections, the University of New Mexico is a key site for research of the history of Mexico. This project is the result of a focused investigation seeking visual material from the UNM Latin American Library Collections that stems from or is related to the Mexican Revolution. Material examined includes caricatures, photographs, graphic prints, posters, excerpts from news journals and publications, bulletins, and book covers. Who participated in the Mexican Revolution? What did life during the war look like? How was the rebellion remembered and constructed? What formats were engaged to invoke and disseminate informa¬tion and narratives about the revolt, the ideas of revolutionaries, and to establish the pantheon of revolu¬tionary leadership? How does post-war Mexico and Mexicans connect to their revolutionary past? This presentation addresses these questions and more. Themes and topics of particular focus are the social and political conditions in Mexico particularly related to the outbreak of the war, civil liberties and human rights, labor laws, access to education, the control of natural resources, the Mexican Revolution and the actors involved, nation building after the war, and the legacy of the insurgency. Theresa Avila is an independent scholar and curator with a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of New Mexico. She specializes in the history, theory, and criticism of modern and contemporary Latin American Art with a concentration in Modern Mexican Art. Recent projects and publications include co-editor for a forthcoming Special Issue of Third Text (2014) entitled “Art and The Legacies of the Mexican Revolution,” her dissertation entitled Chronicles of Revolution and Nation: El Taller de Gráfica Popular’s “Las Estampas de la Revolución Mexicana” (2013), and “Zapata: Figure, Image, Symbol” (2007) as part of The University of New Mexico Latin American and Iberian Institute’s Research Paper Series. Avila was awarded the Greenleaf Visiting Library Scholar travel grant, which is funded by a generous gift to the Latin American and Iberian Institute from Dr. Richard E. Greenleaf. The travel grants provide faculty, graduate students, and independent scholars the opportunity to work with one of the largest and most complete Latin American library collections in the United States.https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/greenleaf_scholars/1010/thumbnail.jp