The Sarofim School of Fine Arts is pleased to welcome back Josh Franco, who graduated from SU in 2006 with a degree in Art History. He has since become Latino Collections Specialist at the Archives of American Art, part of the prestigious Smithsonian Institution.

 

He will present a talk entitled ‘Latinx Presence in the Archives of American Art”.

Tuesday, February 23rd. 4:00 PM. Fine Arts Building, room 235.

 

Abstract:

What is the Archives of American Art? The Archives of American Art, a unit of the Smithsonian Institution, is the largest repository in the world for primary source documents related to the history American art. What is American? The response to this is much more complicated. Understanding that the history of American art (and Americanness in general) crosses the borders of the United States, the Archives of American Art contains many documents generated by immigrants to this country from Latin America as well as descendants of those who were here before the idea of the United States of America existed (those who now are understood as Latinx). Many of these figures were and are, after all, artists, critics, curators and art historians. Through the efforts of past targeted initiatives and the recently created position of the Latino Collections Specialist, the Archives works to capture some of these figures’ stories through their personal papers. This presentation will highlight a number of these collections, how they came to be collected at the Smithsonian, and demonstrate the research value of archives generally.