smithsonian latino art collections - Smithsonian Latino Center

these workers are clustered in low paying, semi-skilled and unskilled occupations. Minorities are grossly
underrepresented in senior level management and professional positions, and virtually nonexistent on
the Institution’s many advisory boards, committees and councils.” 36
The Smithsonian also caught the attention of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus fittingly in
October 1992. In a letter from Congressman Jose E. Serrano to Secretary Adams, members of the
Caucus expressed their “continued interest and concern over issues which are of primary importance to
the Hispanic community and to the Smithsonian.” 37 The Caucus’s main concerns were diversity at the
senior management level; the “perceived failure to formally and visibly move forward on the stated
commitment made by you and many senior Smithsonian staff, to develop the Institute of the Americas
out of the many important, but transitory Quincentenary exhibitions and programs,” 38 and the
“problems and issues [that] have impeded development of a Hispanic American program at the National
Museum of American History…[adding] to better understand this situation, we would like to know what
are the responsibilities and accountability requirements of the Museum’s Director and the Assistant
Secretary to whom he reports.” 39 As a final paragraph, the Caucus praised Alicia Gonzalez’s direction of
the Office of the Quincentenary and thanked Secretary Adams for allowing her a sabbatical to complete
work on a book.
Secretary Adams addressed the Caucus’ concerns at the time that the Institution was trying to
restructure its size due to economic and budget constraints of the time. He mentioned the “effort to
bring on to our staff a person to manage an overall assessment of programmatic needs related to the
Hispanic community.” He added, “we envision that the assessment will be structured along the lines of
the African American Institutional Study Commission which we convened initially in January, 1990…I
would expect to appoint an equally distinguished group of people to explore not only the idea of an
Institute for the Americas, but the broader issue of how the Smithsonian can most effectively embrace
and present the richness of the Hispanic experience in American in the full range of its activities.” 40
At the beginning of 1993, NMAH staff, at the prompting of Director Spencer Crew, began to give
thought to developing the plan for the Hispanic American Program or Program in Latino History. Among
members of the group were Niani Lilkenny, Dwight Bowers, Harold Closter, Marvette Perez, Lucy Green,
Karen Loveland and Lonn Taylor who identified four key areas: strong curatorial scholarly program to
feed public programs, adequate staff with a public programs director, a dissemination plan for TV and
radio, and an advisory group to support curatorial and public programs.
On February 16, 1993 Congressman Esteban E. Torres, a member of the Appropriations
Committee, requested Chairman Sidney R. Yates, Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on
Interior and Related Agencies, to have a series of questions for representatives of the Smithsonian
Institution during the Subcommittee Appropriations hearings on February 18, 1993 (FY1994) about
Hispanic employment at the Smithsonian, the Hispanic American Program at the NMAH and the
36 Ibid, p. 2. At the time of the report, the Smithsonian had one African American Assistant Secretary, hired in June
1989, and two African American Directors of musems “commited/restricted to historically African-American
subject areas:” Museum of African Art and an Acting Director of the Anacostia Museum (notes 4 & 5).
37 Signatories of the letter were Congressmen Solomon P. Ortiz (D-TX), Antonio Colorado (D-PR), E. “Kika” de la
Garza (D-TX), Albert G. Bustamante (D-TX), José E. Serrano (D-NY), Bill Richardson (D-NM), Edward R. Roybal (D-
CA), Esteban Torres (D-CA) and Ron de Lugo (D-VI). Congressional Hispanic Caucus letter to Secretary Adams,
October 6, 1992. Office of the Under Secretary, Latino Task Force Records, 1993-1994. Smithsonian Institution
Archives, Record Unit 95-073, box 1.
38 Ibid., p. 2.
39 Ibid.
40 Letter addressed to the Honorable José E. Serrano. No date. Office of the Under Secretary, Latino Task Force
Records, 1993-1994. Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95-073, box 1.
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