Partner Event: Puerto Rican Archives Symposium: Preserving Community Memory

Puerto Rican Archives: Preserving Community Memory is a two-day symposium focused on the political potency of Puerto Rican archives—both on the island and in the diaspora.

The symposium is a collaboration between Digitizing the Barrio (an archival project of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center), The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. It extends the focus on collective histories highlighted through photographs and ephemera documenting social movements and community organizations in the MCA exhibition entre horizontes: Art and Activism Between Chicago and Puerto Rico.

The symposium will foreground archives that house histories of Puerto Rican protest including speakers from presenting Chicago institutions, PRCC and NMPRAC; representatives from Puerto Rico-based organizations Archivo General de Puerto Rico, Archivo Histórico de Vieques, Archivo Comunitario LGBTQ+ de Puerto Rico, and Memoria Decolonial; and CENTRO in New York.

Through panels, a keynote, and workshops, the symposium aims to generate dialogue, connection, and community engaged learning around key Puerto Rico and diasporic archival and memory projects.

The symposium will take place on April 5 and 6, 2024, at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, 3015 W Division St, Chicago, IL 60622.