smithsonian latino art collections - Smithsonian Latino Center

Ortega and mid 20 th century works by George López, Felipe Benito Archuleta, Alexander Maldonado,
José Dolores López and Martín Ramírez.
The Smithsonian Institution, the Americas and the 1992 Quincentenary Celebration
Indeed, the 1980s was a pivotal period for the future expansion of collections and programs
related to Hispanic/Latino and Latin American culture and art. In 1985 newly appointed Smithsonian
Secretary Robert MacCormick Adams in an article in the journal Science, was mentioned to have said
that one of his long-term goals, “in the international realm is the establishment of a ‘museum of the
Americas’ at the Smithsonian.” The author of the article added, “He professes himself to be concerned
about ‘the lack of any full recognition [among Americans] of Hemispheric partnership’ and the
multiethnic nature of the United States.” 18 These comments were made in the context of a
conversation about the upcoming 1992 Columbus Quincentenary. According to the article, Adams
expressed his hope for the quincentenary to “bring the New World into the American consciousness, but
he warns that it is a very charged issue” 19 because of two diverging views: one as a celebration of
discovery of the New World, and the other as an alternative view of an invasion of the Americas.
On November 21, 1985 the first meeting for an institution-wide 1992 Quincentenary celebration
took place. Secretary Adams stated: “the impact of the Smithsonian Quincentenary will be felt in the
academic community and among the popular audience, internationally and nationally, and will leave in
place a permanent presence on the Mall focusing on the Americas.” 20 Plans for the 1992 Quincentenary
opened up opportunities for an Institution-wide celebration with exhibitions and programs engaging a
variety of discourses about the meaning of the arrival of Columbus in the Americas and the encounter
between Europeans and American Indigenous populations. Eventually in 1991-1992 The Smithsonian
organized an eighteenth-month long institution-wide commemoration of Hispanic culture and
multiculturalism comprised of exhibitions, public programs, lectures and educational programs. As part
of the American History Museum commemoration, the permanent exhibition American Encounters
which looked at the intersections of the Spanish and Indian cultures in New Mexico featured new
acquisitions of works by Newmexicano artists Charles Carrillo, Marie Romero Cash, Luis Tapia, Ruben
Gallegos, Harold Naranjo, Nora Naranjo, Eric Tafoya. Likewise, the Museum of American Art presented
the traveling exhibition CARA: Chicano Art Resistance and Affirmation 1965-1985 in May-July 1992
featuring the “development of Mexican art and culture that is indigenous to the United States,” 21 while
the Hirshhorn organized Crosscurrents of Modernism: Four Latin American Pioneers and the Museum of
Natural History presented Seeds of Change.
An attempt at establishing a program on Latino history and culture was made during this period
in 1987-1988 by the National Museum of American History –formerly Museum of History and
Technology 22 -- which run a pilot program with curators whose area of expertise was the Southwestern
United States among them Lonn Taylor, Richard Alhborn and others to highlight Hispanic and Latino
music and culture.
18 Constance Holden. “New Directions for the Smithsonian: Anthropologist Robert McCormick Adams wants the
“nations attic” to become national center of intellectual leadership.” Science, New Series, Vol. 228, No. 4707 (June
28, 1985) pp. 1512-1513. Also, section of it quoted in Esteban Torres memoradum to Sidney Yates.
19 Ibid, p. 1513.
20 Quoted in Maria Cristina Garcia’s memoradum to Constance Berry Newman, May 28, 1992, p. 1.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Office of the Under Secretary, Latino Task Force Records, 1993-1994. Accession
Number 95-073, Folder: Materials submitted by the Smithsonian Latino Working Committee to the Special Latino
Task Force, April 12, 1993.
21 National Museum of American Art, “Exhibitions Featuring Latino Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
(including its Renwick Gallery).” Report, July 2000, p. 5.
22 The Museum of History and Technology became the National Museum of American History in 1980.
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