If you love NYC Bodegas, grab your favorite order and join CENTRO Archivist, Herbert Duran, during lunch as he explores the Johnny Torres papers housed at CENTRO. Torres was a former businessman and president of the Metropolitan Spanish Merchants Association, also known as La Metro. After successfully running several bodegas, Torres became a food wholesaler … Continued
For this month's Library & Archives Lunch Hour, we are so excited to dive into the collection of Ibrahim Aqil Adbush Shakur González, known as Ibrahim González. González was a multifaceted artist; musician, photographer, radio host, activist, and educator born in East Harlem well known for helping set up one of the first Latino-Muslim organizations … Continued
Join CENTRO on the opening night of Diasporic Collage: Puerto Rico and the Survival of a People, on view at the CENTRO Gallery in El Barrio from March 13th, 2025 to September, 2025. This exhibition honors Puerto Rican identities in the archipelago and its diasporas. The Puerto Rican diaspora can be understood as a collage … Continued
Cumbre Afro is coming to New York for the first time and will be ending in East Harlem, nestled between two prominent archives, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (CENTRO) and the NYPL's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. This year's theme for Cumbre Afro, Sites of Black Memory: Our Ancestors, … Continued
Iconic Afro-feminist and Afro-Caribbean poet and visual artist Ángela María Dávila Malavé left as part of her legacy, animal fiero y tierno/fierce and tender animal, a force of rhythm and a delicate combination of the of the expressive and the colloquial in the language. Originally published in 1977 (Editorial QueAce, Puerto Rico), it has never … Continued
April is poetry month, so celebrate in style with The Nuyorican Poets Cafe at CENTRO. Join us for an evening of spoken word and connect with your favorite poets in the heart of El Barrio. Attendees will have an opportunity to recite some poetry, meet new poets, check out the CENTRO archival poetry collection, enjoy … Continued
Join CENTRO for a Cafecito Con…Professor Rudy Guevarra, author of Aloha Compadre -Latinxs in Hawaiʻi, the first book to examine the collective history and contemporary experiences of the Latinx population of Hawaiʻi. Since the early 1830s, the Latinx community continues to help shape Hawaiʻi’s history, yet their contributions are often overlooked. Latinxs have been a … Continued
How long have you lived in El Barrio/East Harlem? If you've been here long enough, you've likely witnessed the neighborhood’s transformation—corner bodegas closing, familiar faces leaving, and new buildings rising where old landmarks once stood. Join the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) for Echoes of East Harlem, a multisensory journey into the heart of … Continued
The tradition of lacemaking in Puerto Rico spans many generations. Brought to the island by Spanish settlers, the Puerto Rican bobbin lacemaking tradition, called mundillo (which translates to "little world") became an important economic activity for women across the archipelago. Artist Glorimar Garcia, whose work is featured in Diasporic Collage: Puerto Rico and the Survial … Continued
In 1958, an emerging Puerto Rican community was displaced from the Lincoln Square and San Juan Hill neighborhoods to make way for the construction of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Utilizing never before seen archival documents made available to CENTRO by the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts and other archival materials, this exhibit … Continued
The Diasporican Cultural Summit is designed to address the pressing need for gathering spaces that bring together diasporic cultural workers, fostering connections with the next generation of scholars, researchers, and artists. By creating a multidimensional learning environment, the DCS not only facilitates meaningful exchanges between cultural practitioners and emerging academics but also builds bridges to … Continued