Category Archives: Acquisitions/Foreign Travel

Acquisitions/Foreign Travel, Benson Latin American Collection, Collections

Benson Acquisition: Augusto Roa Bastos Papers

November 25, 2024 Susanna Sharpe Leave a comment

The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection is thrilled to announce the acquisition of the literary archives of César Vallejo and Augusto Roa Bastos, two giants of Latin American letters. These archives augment the Benson’s already significant collection of materials that represent the region’s writers, thinkers, and intellectual leaders, making the library, and the UT campus, an invaluable resource for students, faculty, and researchers from all corners of the globe.

By MELISSA GUY and DANIEL ARBINO

Paraguay’s most significant writer, Augusto Roa Bastos (1917–2005) is known for his contributions to the Latin American Boom and the post-dictatorship novel, particularly through his works Hijo de hombre (1960) and Yo el Supremo (1974). The latter is a historical fiction of the José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia dictatorship in the nineteenth century.

The book cover of a commemorative edition of "Yo, el Supremo" is a dark mustard-yellow and features a woodblock-print image of a black fist jutting across the page horizontally from the left. Falling from the hand is a large, bright-red drop of blood. — Cover of a commemorative edition of “Yo el Supremo,” published on the centennial of the author by the Real Academia Española.

Roa Bastos grew up in Iturbe, a provincial town where his father worked as an administrator on a sugar plantation. It was there that he was exposed to Guaraní, and developed a tremendous love for Paraguay’s most spoken Indigenous language. He later went to Asunción for his formative school years and, as a young man, served in the Chaco War as a medical auxiliary. Significant portions of his life were spent outside of Asunción, allowing the writer to have a deeper knowledge of the country at large.

Like the characters in Yo el Supremo, Roa Bastos was no stranger to the effects of dictatorship during his lifetime. In fact, he fled to Argentina in 1947 along with 500,000 other Paraguayans to escape the iron fist of President Higinio Morínigo. Roa Bastos would live over four decades in exile between Buenos Aires and Paris before returning to his homeland in 1989 after the fall of the Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship. However, his commitment to Paraguayan culture never wavered as his literary career, which produced short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays, and children’s literature, demonstrated a commitment to the South American nation through his themes: collective memory, bilingualism (Guaraní/Spanish), and Indigeneity. His style, which pulled from magical realist and neobaroque tendencies, blended different time periods (pre-colonial and contemporary) to interrogate Paraguayan society.

Two yellowing sheets of paper side by side have a handwritten list with items numbered 1 through 42. The left-hand sheet is titled Índice (Index). Each line has a short title written in cursive by the author. — Handwritten index related to “Yo el Supremo.” Augusto Roa Bastos Papers, Benson Latin American Collection.

“In acquiring the literary archives of the great Paraguayan writer Augusto Roa Bastos, the Benson Latin American Collection is today blessed with the author’s handwritten notes relating to Yo el Supremo, one of the region’s most exorbitantly ambitious, baroquely virtuosic, groundbreaking novels of the late twentieth century,” writes Professor César A. Salgado of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. “The novel was published in 1974 as part of an agreement among top Latin American Boom writers to produce ‘dictator novels’ that dissected authoritarian regimes in their respective countries. In a group that included Alejo Carpentier’s El recurso del método (1974), Gabriel García Márquez’s El otoño del patriarca (1975), and Carlos Fuentes’ Terra Nostra (1975), Yo el Supremo outdid these other immensely accomplished works by structuring its penetrating, thoroughly researched psychological portrait of José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia (Paraguay’s undisputed ‘enlightened despot’ from 1811 to 1840) as it were a lively philosophical debate about how dictation, writing, literacy, orality (including Guaraní traditions), absolute power, and impermanence could be both complicit and antithetical to each other. If the ludological radicality of Rayuela galvanized the Boom in 1962, Yo el Supremo brought it to a close in 1974 by showing how deep-seated mechanisms of supremacist rule, set up at the start of nation formation in Latin America, could easily resurface across its history. With Yo el Supremo, Roa Bastos thus launched a fully postmodern critical and creative agenda for the region.”

A yellowing sheet of paper, heavily creased in the middle, bears both typed notes and handwritten notes. Some of the typed lines are scribbled over with wavy lines written in pen. The elegant handwritten part looks to be written with an ink pen. — Handwritten and typed notes titled “Themes for Paraguayan Stories,” Roa Bastos Papers. Courtesy Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.

The Augusto Roa Bastos Papers is a versatile collection that spans the author’s career. It contains poetry, speeches, essays, correspondence, and manuscript drafts. Among the jewels of the collection are letters between the author and his daughter, Mirta Roa Mascheroni, and handwritten comments regarding Yo el Supremo and his novel Madama Sui. This collection provides researchers with profound insight into the writer’s life, particularly his time during exile, and his creative process from beginning to end. It pairs well with the Miguel Ángel Asturias Papers for similar topics regarding exile and the Boom.

The Roa Bastos acquisition was made possible in part by the Drs. Fernando Macías and Adriana Pacheco Benson Centennial Endowment.

Melissa Guy is director of the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.

Daniel Arbino is former Head of Collection Development for the Benson.

Acquisitions/Foreign Travel, Archives, Benson Latin American Collection, Collections Highlight, Poetry

Benson Acquisition: César Vallejo Papers

November 25, 2024 Susanna Sharpe Leave a comment

The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection is thrilled to announce the acquisition of the archives of César Vallejo and Augusto Roa Bastos, two giants of Latin American letters. These archives augment the Benson’s already significant collection of materials that represent the region’s writers, thinkers, and intellectual leaders, making the library, and the UT campus, an invaluable resource for students, faculty, researchers from all corners of the globe.

By ADELA PINEDA FRANCO

Peruvian poet César Vallejo (1892–1938) is considered one of the most significant figures in twentieth-century Latin American literature. Born in the Andean city of Santiago de Chuco, he moved to Lima as a young university student, producing there his first collection of poems, Los heraldos negros (1919). Seeking wider cultural and intellectual opportunities, Vallejo left Peru for Europe in 1923, spending most of his remaining fifteen years in self-imposed, impoverished exile in France, with periods in Spain and two trips to Russia. He died in Paris in 1938 at the age of 46.

Close-up black-and-white photograph of a man with dark hair, wearing a dark suit. He is resting his chin on one hand and looking into the distance. — César Vallejo, undated. Benson Latin American Collection.

Vallejo’s poetry has no precedent in the history of modern poetry. Written during a period that witnessed the crude consequences of war, imprisonment, and displacement (1919–1922), his avant-garde masterwork, Trilce (1922), challenges the reader with compelling paradoxes, abrupt syntactical turns, irregular spellings, rarefied lexicon, and verses arranged in unfamiliar visual displays.

However, this experimental register goes beyond the drive toward the new that was characteristic of the avant-garde movements. Vallejo’s poetic language is also a consequence of his search for the stark concrete expression of human affect. This is why in Trilce abstract notions of time, space, and being are conflated with raw emotions. No other poet has given shape to the silence that sustains the remembrance of things past with such precision:

Aguedita, Nativa, Miguel,
cuidado con ir por ahí, por donde
acaban de pasar
gangueando sus memorias
dobladoras penas,
hacia el silencioso corral, y por donde
las gallinas que se están acostando todavía,
se han espantado tanto.
Mejor estemos aquí no más.
Madre dijo que no demoraría.

“Poema III,” Trilce, 1922

[Find English translations of the poems cited here at https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520261730/the-complete-poetry]

César Vallejo in Fountainebleu, France, 1926. Courtesy Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.

On the other hand, Vallejo’s poems embody the collective rather than the egotistical self. Familiar references are always a window into the vulnerability of human nature and the resilience of collective struggle, both in his homeland of Peru and in the entire world. A poem on the death of a soldier in the Spanish Civil War reads:

Pedro también solía comer
entre las criaturas de su carne, asear, pintar
la mesa y vivir dulcemente
en representación de todo el mundo.
Y esta cuchara anduvo en su chaqueta,
despierto o bien cuando dormía, siempre,
cuchara muerta viva, ella y sus símbolos.
¡Abisa a todos compañeros pronto!
¡Viban los compañeros al pie de esta cuchara para siempre!

“Solía escribir con su dedo grande en el aire,” España, aparta de mí este cáliz,1939

Vallejo’s oeuvre is thus an affective journey through the troublesome history of the twentieth century. Evidence of this is his posthumous poetry, which pertains to his last years in Europe: Poemas humanos (Human Poems), grouped under this title by his widow Georgette María Philippart Travers in 1937; and España, aparta de mí este cáliz (Spain, Take This Cup from Me,1939), his testament of the Spanish Civil War. Both collections are a centerpiece of the Benson’s recent acquisition.

A yellowed sheet of lined notebook paper, bearing three holes along the right side. The paper is filled top to bottom with Spanish words written in pencil, most of them with commas after them. — “Poemas humanos” manuscript, César Vallejo Papers. Courtesy Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.

Beyond the recurring debate as to whether Human Poems is an appropriate title for this posthumous corpus, it is certain that these poems are an honest and critical reflection on the role of the lettered poet in a world charged with misery and human suffering:

Un albañil cae de un techo, muere y ya no almuerza
¿Innovar, luego, el tropo, la metáfora?

“Un hombre pasa con un pan al hombro,” Poemas humanos, 1937

Vallejo’s poems will always be contemporary, as they shed light on the devastating consequences of societal fragmentation, displacement, and exile. At the same time, his poems remind us of the need to keep longing for human empathy and love, even in times of war. We celebrate the arrival of Vallejo’s papers.

Al fin de la batalla,
y muerto el combatiente, vino hacia él un hombre
y le dijo: “No mueras, te amo tanto!”
Pero el cadáver ¡ay! siguió muriendo.

Se le acercaron dos y repitiéronle:
“No nos dejes! ¡Valor! ¡Vuelve a la vida!”
Pero el cadáver ¡ay! siguió muriendo.

Acudieron a él veinte, cien, mil, quinientos mil,
clamando: “Tanto amor, y no poder nada contra la muerte!”
Pero el cadáver ¡ay! siguió muriendo.

Le rodearon millones de individuos,
con un ruego común: “¡Quédate, hermano!”
Pero el cadáver ¡ay! siguió muriendo.

Entonces, todos los hombres de
la tierra le rodearon; les vio el cadáver triste, emocionado;
incorporóse lentamente,
abrazó al primer hombre; echóse a andar . . .

“Masa,” Poemas humanos, 1939

The César Vallejo Papers consist of materials dated from 1918 to 1992, and include manuscripts, drafts, correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, and some published copies of his written work.

This acquisition was funded in part by the Janet and Jack Roberts Peruvian Endowment.

Adela Pineda Franco is Lozano Long Endowed Professor in Latin American Literary and Cultural Studies, and director of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS) at The University of Texas at Austin. Biographical research on César Vallejo was contributed by Benson Exhibitions Curator Veronica Valarino.

Acquisitions/Foreign Travel, Global Studies

Books, Bookstores, and Bonds

October 10, 2024 urikolodney Leave a comment

Last July I went to Israel for yet another successful acquisition trip, made possible by the generous support of UT’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, The Schusterman Center, and donations to a recent UT Libraries’ HornRaiser campaign. In previous trips, my efforts were centered around the acquisition of unique items for our collection; this is, after all, one of the main objectives of such trips. But this time around, I decided to emphasize networking — meeting old vendors (who are now good friends) and making acquaintances with new ones — while still leaving time for hunting for and purchasing materials. Since it was a relatively short week-long trip, and due to the tension in the region, I mainly visited the Tel Aviv area, with some short-day trips to Jerusalem and Haifa.

As always, I bumped into acquisition opportunities that I could not resist. The most exciting one being a set of 118 back issues of Israeli cinema periodicals that fill in gaps in UT’s holdings. When I went to visit Na’im, who works at the Little Prince Bookstore and Café and is a long time vendor acquaintance of mine, he asked me to follow him to his ‘kingdom’ at the second floor… and when he does that, you know that some treasures are to be found! We were sitting there for a couple hours, sorting those issues. A few days later, I returned to the shop and he handed me a box – “look what I found upstairs!” Sure enough, again I could not resist an offer of dozens more items related to Israeli film & cinema.

The Little Prince – Books and Coffee, Tel Aviv, Israel. — *The Little Prince – Books and Coffee*, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Nurturing friendships with vendors proves to be fruitful not only when it comes to acquiring materials; we also work together in order to make the entire process of acquisition easier and more efficient. For example, back at my office in Austin before this trip, I worked with one of my other vendors in Tel Aviv and together we prepared a ‘real-time’ inventory of the library’s main cinema periodicals. I took that inventory with me on my trip and found that it made checking holdings ‘on the ground’ so much easier and it helped me to not acquire duplicates. I used this inventory list extensively when Na’im and I sorted out those issues at his storage.

Also in Tel Aviv, I paid a visit to another dear vendor who has become a friend – Fanny from Fanny’s Bookshelf. Her store is one of those second-hand book stores that one can hardly move in – full with books to the brim. Like Na’im’s ‘secret’ storage area in the café’s second floor, Fanny keeps her special items away from regular customers’ reach—but be sure this is the first area I look at when I drop by! While there have been some visits when I found rare materials there, this time around I didn’t have much luck. Yet, I am undeterred as one could never know when and where the next ‘stellar’ find would appear; when it comes to collecting, patience is a virtue!

Person at far end of tall metal shelves with books in a bookstore. Fanny’s Bookshelf, Tel Aviv, Israel. — *Fanny’s Bookshelf*, Tel Aviv, Israel.

In Jerusalem, I was able to visit and build networks with both people and institutions. For example, I went to see the new building of the Israeli National Library, with a friend who has some ‘connections,’ so we got a tour in their preservation labs and the enormous underground robotic storage area. I also paid a visit to the Hansen House Center for Design, Media and Technology that is housed in an impressive historic building, a former leprosy hospital built in 1887. Meeting with colleagues there, I managed to put my hand on some rare issues of a Jerusalemite independent journal of arts, culture and society titled Erev Rav (“mixed multitude”).

Also while in Jerusalem, I was able to attend the opening event of the Jerusalem Film Festival where I had the opportunity to grab this year’s festival’s catalog. Film festival catalogs are always hard to acquire, because they do not sell in stores and usually, would not be considered as literature to be included in library collections. Yet, they contain valuable information about films, filmmakers, and the local film industry. Acquiring such catalogs is a constant work of hunting and relying not only on vendors, but also on scholars in the field. In fact, the lion’s share of our current holdings of both the Jerusalem and Haifa Film Festivals’ catalogs was donated to UTL by a film studies professor at the Tel Aviv University, who I met during one of my past acquisition trips.

During my career I’ve learned that networking in conferences, combined with work on the ground, could lead to small but significant ‘success stories.’ See for example, this previous post about my 2015 trip. This past summer I has a similar experience in the Association for Israel Studies conference in Prague. I attended a talk by a literature professor who teaches at Oranim college in the north of Israel. When we spoke afterwards over coffee, I mentioned that I’ve been searching for a Hebrew literature periodical published by her college. She immediately introduced me via email to a colleague of hers at their publishing house. When I arrived in Israel a few days later on my acquisition trip, I was gifted a full run of their literature journal, around 25 issues. The impact of cultivating personal connections across continents adds significant value to our collections.

Acquisitions/Foreign Travel, Global Studies

Back in China, after five years

August 13, 2024 ShanYi Leave a comment

After almost five years, I was able to travel back to China in May and June. This time, my first in the country in my current role as East Asian Studies Librarian, I was eager to bring back more unique library materials, meet and connect with library colleagues and vendors in China, and get up to date with the Chinese book scene after so long.

I started my trip in Beijing, the country’s capital city and cultural center. There, I visited a popular weekend book market at Baoguo si 報國寺, an old temple complex first built in the Ming dynasty. In the 1940s, the complex was occupied by both local and central authorities in charge of granary administration. In the late 1990s, the temple complex became a famous antiquarian market. Not until this spring did it welcome second-hand book vendors and rebrand itself into a used book bazaar.

Second-hand and antiquarian book market in Baoguo si.

From the Baoguo si market, I selected several sets of xiao ren shu 小人书, a palm-sized comic book that took shape in post-1949 China. The sets I bought are primarily adaptations of popular foreign films and fiction from the 1980s, an era when Western culture was (re)introduced into China. Through this inexpensive and readily available format, Xiao ren shu became a genre through which Chinese readers gained a peep into popular foreign literature and film.

*Xiao ren shu* comic books on sale at Baoguo si

Similar collectibles can also be found in Beijing’s Panjiayuan second-hand market (Panjiayuan jiuhuo shichang 潘家園舊貨市場). Having taken shape in the early 1990s, the giant market has gradually replaced the centuries-old Liulichang 琉璃廠 to become the biggest antiquarian market in Beijing. Panjiayuan has both “permanent” shops and make-shift booths that have vendors selling jewelry, ceramics, paintings, calligraphy, religious and ritual supplies, furniture, and, of course, books, and occasionally archival and manuscript materials.

Flipping through an old archive folder at Panjiayuan.

Beijing is also home to many of the vendors we work with here at UT Libraries. CIBTC (China International Book Trading Company) and Zhenben are the two book trading companies that UTL has partnered with for decades. In my discussions with representatives from both, I learned so much about the current state of the Chinese publishing market as these vendors are a critical part of the ecosystem of East Asian collections in North America. They help us to work around language barriers and complex legal requirements for exporting and importing library materials and they also help us hunt down rare and unique items our patrons need. I also was able to visit our electronic resource vendors. For example, I met with representatives from CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), a crucial vendor through which we can get access to the vast amount of academic information from China. There, I toured their automated data processing unit and met with the head of the overseas department. I learned about the company’s recent advances in AI, their large language model (LLM) and new products in both the development and deployment pipelines.

Last but not least in Beijing, I was able to visit the First Historical Archives (Di yi lishi dang’an guan 第一歷史檔案館) which moved to a new location in 2021. In my life as a Qing historian, the “Yi shi guan” (as people in the field like to call it) has been a treasure trove. In its new location, they have also established new visitation and usage procedures. For example, foreign and domestic researchers are now treated similarly. Likewise, scheduling is now simplified and online. Under these revised access procedures, I was able to spend some very happy hours reading and transcribing some 18th- and 19th century documents in the brand new building.

The entrance hall of the First Historical Archives.

After Beijing, I traveled to Nanjing and Shanghai. In Nanjing, I revisited the bookshops near Nanjing University that I frequented as a college student over a decade ago–I was glad to see that all the establishments are still in business. Nestled in the narrow streets behind the university, these bookshops continue to be highly aligned with their main clientele’s (professors and students) intellectual interests– one may very well be able to find very rare out-of-print editions that freshly came out from a scholar’s private library. Indeed, I was able to bring several of those back to UTL.

Last but not least, serendipitously, I met with public engagement colleagues at the Shanghai Library, the largest library system in China and according to its claims, the third largest in the world by collection volume. While there, I was intrigued by the innovative strides the library is making to attract the public. One such example is their gamification of the famous Dream of the Red Chamber/Story of the Stone. The masterpiece of Chinese literature is transformed into a role-playing game with well-designed props and plots through which participants gain an immersive experience in the intriguing and poetic world of the fiction and as well as compete with each other in a monopoly-like game.

Part of the *Dream of Red Chamber* game developed by the Shanghai Library.

I have gained so much knowledge of the current state of China’s scholarly publishing landscape and strengthened our collaborations with vendors to get critical research resources available to researchers and students at UT. Trips like this are crucial for us at UT Libraries to keep up with the new developments in the fields and meet the ever-evolving needs of our users. We deeply appreciate the generosity of donors to our Hornraiser fundraising, which has made overseas trips possible and allows the global collections at UTL to grow and evolve. I also thank the Center for East Asian Studies’ generous support to the trip and their continuous support to the UT Libraries.

Acquisitions/Foreign Travel, Area Studies, Global Studies

Returning to Umm al-Dunya

April 4, 2024 DJCorrea Leave a comment

One of the best parts of serving as the Middle Eastern Studies Librarian for UT Libraries is making and maintaining relationships with scholars, publishers, and vendors. I take advantage of any opportunity to travel to continue fostering these relationships, and my trip to Egypt in late January was no different. I was lucky enough to be able to travel specifically for the Cairo International Book Fair. Over the course of two weeks, I bought amazing books and journals from vendors local to Egypt and coming from around the Middle East, met new suppliers of key research materials, and I was able to connect with dear colleagues new and old.

A selfie of Dale Correa at the Cairo International Book Fair.

A ticket to the Cairo International Book Fair.

The Cairo Book Fair is massive. This is not hyperbole: the event is often said to be the largest book fair in the world after Frankfurt, and perhaps more family-friendly than any other. Vendors from all over the world come to offer their wares, and people from all walks of life attend. There are groups of Egyptian schoolchildren on field trips; international students studying at Egyptian universities; scholars of the Middle East from around the world; whole families; teens out for a fun afternoon; and of course, librarians from all over the world who come to find the best, most interesting, rare, or latest publications. I spent my first few days at the Cairo Book Fair at the Children’s Hall and making a preliminary review of the international Islamic vendors in halls 3 and 4. It was in the Children’s Hall that I found the publisher al-Mu’assasah al-‘Arabiyyah al-Hadithah li’l-Tab’ wa’l-Nashr, and they were promoting riwayat al-jib, or pocket novels. In particular, they had produced a boxed set of the full supernatural collection of author Ahmad Khalid Tawfiq. UT Austin already owns a few of his works, including, among others, Mithl Ikarus (Just Like Icarus). The set that I bought includes 81 science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal titles in a small, portable format, with––frankly––delicious cover art. This set, titled Ma Wara’ al-Tab’iah, was the basis of the Netflix series Paranormal.

The entrance to Hall 5 at the Cairo International Book Fair.

Inside Hall 5 at the Cairo International Book Fair.

In Halls 3 and 4, I found the majority of the international and Egyptian Islamic vendors. Of particular interest were the booths and pavilions for the Dar al-Ifta’ organization and Al-Azhar University. The latter had an entire pavilion with exhibits on the manuscripts held at the Al-Azhar Library and the expertise of the preservationists who care for those rare and special materials, as well as art displays and activities for children and adults. I took a peek in their storage room to find what I had originally expected and hoped to find: the classic paperback Azhari texts and textbooks. Researchers focusing on the history of Al-Azhar as an educational institution, or on the history of Islamic education at all levels (for al-Azhar is not just a university, but also operates a K-12 school system), would find these materials central to their work. They are inherently ephemeral, due to their purpose of use and construction, so it was a rare opportunity to find them for UT Libraries’ collection.

A popular shaykh gives a talk in Hall 3.

Over the following few days, I made my way with more intention through halls 3 and 4 and also explored halls 1 and 2. I had the pleasure of visiting with fellow librarian, Dr. Walid Ghali, who is a professor and director of the library at the Aga Khan University (London). Dr. Ghali recently released three novels of his own, and we had a delightful conversation about librarianship and authorship while at the booth for his novels’ publisher, Dar al-Nasim. I also had the opportunity to speak with Ashraf ‘Uways, the founder of Dar al-Nasim. It was wonderful to learn more about his approach to selecting titles for publication, and especially his interest in supporting the publication of Arabic novels by authors in non-Arabic speaking countries in Africa. With such wonderful publishers at my disposal, I was acquiring quite a bit of incredible material. Each day, I arrived at the fair with a suitcase to fill, and I wasn’t the only one. From students to families to scholars, nearly everyone had a bag or cart of some kind to help them transport home their precious finds.

From left, Ashraf 'Uways, Walid Ghali, and Dale Correa at the Dar al-Nasim booth.

The Egyptian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs booth at the Cairo International Book Fair.

Traveling to Egypt was also an opportunity to meet with UT Austin’s regular book vendors. I had the pleasure to see George Fawzy, the director of our beloved vendor Leila Books. We were able to check-in in person about the research priorities at UT Austin and how those shape the materials that we acquire through Leila Books, and we were able to catch up on the state of libraries in North America and publishing in the Middle East. Visiting the Leila Books office is a delight for me because I get to see their incredible work in action, meeting the folks behind acquiring and shipping our materials. I always have to get a photo with the latest UT Austin shipment, and sure enough we had several boxes that were about to be sent out.

From left, Dale Correa and George Fawzy.

Additionally, I was able to meet with a new vendor who specializes in rare materials and visit his warehouse on the outskirts of Cairo. It is from this vendor that I have been able to acquire unique periodicals, including al-Majmu’ah al-Da’imah and al-Majallah al-Misriyyah li’l-‘Ulum al-Siyasiyyah (the Egyptian Journal of Social Science), which I brought back from this trip. Al-Majmu’ah al-Da’imah is a huge, multi-volume work that compiles the official record of judicial decisions issued in Egypt since the beginning of the national court system in 1883, and I would not have been able to locate it without this vendor’s help and some luck. I also found out-of-print significant, even rare, materials from the book market of Azbakiyyah in central Cairo. With the Cairo Book Fair on, the entirety of Azbakiyyah market moves to the Fair, where they have their own dedicated section. The Azbakiyyah booths are the most popular and most lively of the Fair, with materials moving in and out constantly. If you ever want to find a particular scholarly edition, or affordable novels, Azbakiyyah, or perhaps its section at the fair!, is the place to go.

The Azbakiyyah section at the Cairo International Book Fair.

My trip to Egypt was not only about acquiring pivotal materials for the UT libraries—I also took the time to visit key Egyptian cultural heritage institutions and to meet with scholars. I had the honor of finally meeting Dr. Nesrine Badawi (the American University in Cairo) in person. We had an engaging conversation about current trends in Egyptian scholarship and discussed her most recent research on Islamic law and the regulation of armed conflict. Additionally, I was able to visit Alexandria, the second largest city in Egypt, and spend a day at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Although I have visited this beautiful library and its extraordinary collections before, it is always worth a trip for the new exhibits and rotation of special collections on display. On this visit, I was able to tour the reconstructed private library of renowned journalist and director of al-Ahram newspaper, Mohamed Hassanein Heikal. The extensive exhibit was a stunning look inside Heikal’s education, career, and personal and professional relationships. For my own intellectual amusement, I spent a great deal of time in the rare books room, reviewing the latest rotation of centuries-old manuscripts. Bibliotheca Alexandrina now boasts a significant collection of ancient Egyptian art and contemporary Egyptian art, ranging from paintings to sculpture to ceramics.

Dale Correa in front of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

It was a delight and an honor to be able to return to Egypt and to visit the Cairo Book Fair this year. I am sincerely grateful to the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the UT Libraries, and our generous HornRaiser donors for making this trip possible. I look forward to my next trip and the caretakers and creators with whom I will forge relationships.

Acquisitions/Foreign Travel, Area Studies, Benson Latin American Collection, Black Diaspora Archive, Exhibits, Global Studies, LLILAS Benson, Medicine, Students

Spirit of Viche: Black Ancestral Traditions in the Colombian Pacific

February 20, 2024 Susanna Sharpe Leave a comment

by CAMILLE CARR

The Benson Rare Books Reading Room hosts a
student-curated exhibition, funded by an Archiving Black América–Black Diaspora Archive Acquisitions Grant

Spirit of Viche presents scenes of Black life and culture from the Colombian Pacific and features artistry from its four departments—Chocó, Cauca, Valle de Cauca, and Nariño. Its focal point is viche, an artisanal distilled sugarcane drink whose recipe has been passed down from enslaved African women to their descendants for centuries. Viche has medicinal properties, healing general ailments and aiding women during the process of childbirth. Viche is also deeply spiritual, constituting an integral component of everyday life for Black Colombian Pacific communities.

Several glass bottles sit on a wooden table, their contents range in color from orangish to amber yellow to clear. Different bottles have different colored labels. — Bottles of Mano de Buey *viche* sit on a table. The different labels and colors illustrate the varieties of distilled spirits offered by the brand. (Photo: Camille Carr)

Join us on Feb. 29 for a special exhibition talk with student curator Camille Carr, LLILAS Director Adela Pineda Franco, and visiting scholar Dr. William Mina Aragón, Universidad de Cauca, and Biblioteca Afrocolombiana de las Ciencias Sociales at Universidad del Valle, Cali
Event information here

Black women have created viche from sugarcane for centuries, also producing derivates that are important in spiritual and traditional healing practices of the Colombian Pacific. The first step in the artisanal process involves harvesting sugarcane along rivers and grinding it using a mill called a trapiche. Once ground, the sugarcane stalks release a juice called guarapo, which is fermented and distilled for up to three months. During the distillation process, guarapo is cooked over an open flame until it becomes transparent, resulting in viche puro. Viche makers, or vicheras, then infuse the drink with local herbs, fruits, and spices to create the traditional derivates of viche, known as viche curado and tomaseca. Black Pacific communities use viche curado to heal general ailments and tomaseca to aid women with menstruation, reproduction, and childbirth. As a spiritual and medicinal drink, viche functions as an ancestral technology for Black survival.

A Black woman holds a bottle and faces the camera. The bottle contains greenish-yellow herbs and liquid and has a pink label. There is a batiked cloth tied around the top. The woman's earrings are large turquoise hair combs and her hair is natural, very full, and reddish. — *Vichera* Mayra (Maja) Arboleda Mina (photo: Camille Carr)

In November 2021, the Ley del Viche (Viche Law) recognized viche as the patrimonial beverage of Black Pacific communities and permitted its commercialization. Presently, vicheras/os aim to protect the drink from cooptation by people outside the Pacific who wish to profit from the efforts of Black communities. With that in mind, this exhibit endeavors to recognize and reiterate this ancestral craft as a practice original to Black Colombian women and their communities.

The materials on display were collected in 2023 by LLILAS master’s student Camille Carr as part of the inaugural Archiving Black América-Black Diaspora Archive Acquisitions Award. The award allowed Carr to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in Cali, the center of Black life and culture in the Pacific region, and build a small archival collection that includes print media, photographs, bottles of viche, artworks, and other materials.

The acquisition of these materials reinforces the Black Diaspora Archive’s mission to document Blackness in the Americas and reifies the presence of Black Colombian culture within the Benson Latin American Collection.

This exhibition was curated by Camille Carr (MA ’24) in collaboration with Benson Exhibitions Curator Veronica Valarino.

Acquisitions/Foreign Travel, Benson Latin American Collection, Collections, Features

Archive of Prominent Nicaraguan Writer and Political Figure Gioconda Belli Comes to Texas

October 18, 2023 Susanna Sharpe Leave a comment

AUSTIN, Texas—The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection at The University of Texas at Austin has acquired the archive of prominent Nicaraguan writer and activist Gioconda Belli.

The acclaimed author of nine novels, a memoir, two volumes of essays, nine poetry collections and four children’s books, Belli is the recipient of several major literary prizes over her decades-long career, including the prestigious Casa de las Américas Prize for poetry (1978) and the Reina Sofía de Ibero-American Poetry Prize (2023).

Known for her feminist writing and erotic poetry, Belli has a broad international following, with works translated into at least 20 languages. The English translation of her memoir, The Country under My Skin, was a finalist for a Los Angeles Times book prize.

A woman in her sixties with light brown wavy hair stands at a stone wall at a place where the wall separates. Her hands rest on the parts of the wall beside her on each side. She smiles at the camera. She is wearing a white long-sleeved shirt, black short-sleeved jacket and pants, and a bright red necklace made of two strands of large beads. — Gioconda Belli, photo by Daniel Mordzinski

Belli was among the leaders of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which defeated the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle in the Nicaraguan Revolution of 1979, and she worked in support of the Sandinista government until 1993. Amid her increasingly vocal criticism of the Daniel Ortega–Rosario Murillo regime, Belli was forcibly expelled, stripped of her citizenship and declared a traitor to her country in February 2023 along with 93 other Nicaraguans. This is her second exile.

A faded newspaper page from La Prensa Literaria has the name Gioconda Belli at the top in large sans serif capital letters. The page contains various poems and other text. The legend "Poemas y prosemas" appears in large blue serif type in the middle of the page. Along the righthand side of the page there is a large black cartoon illustration of a Classic-age woman who holds a long sword in one hand and, aloft, the severed head of a man, blood dripping from it, in the other. — Newspaper clipping, “Poemas y prosemas,” published in *La Prensa Literaria*, 1970s. Benson Latin American Collection.

In celebration of her archive’s arrival at the Benson Collection, Belli will visit the campus of The University of Texas at Austin from March 19-22, 2024, for a series of events, including a public lecture.

Belli discussed her work, the contents of her archive and her decision to entrust it to the Benson in an interview with Benson director Melissa Guy. Read the interview in Spanish here or in English translation.

“As a longtime admirer of her literary work and her activism, I am honored that Gioconda has entrusted the Benson with her collection,” Guy said. “We look forward to engaging students and faculty with the archive, and to welcoming Nicaragua’s greatest living poet to Austin in the near future.”

For more information: Susanna Sharpe, Communications Coordinator, LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections.

Acquisitions/Foreign Travel, Global Studies

Capturing the Israeli Zeitgeist in real-time

September 8, 2023 urikolodney Leave a comment

israeli protest t-shirt: "One of many t-shirts produced during the summer protests. The text reads “Not right, not left -- straight forward!”" — One of many t-shirts produced during the summer protests. The text reads “Not right, not left — straight forward!”

With the support of UT Libraries, and the generosity of donors in a recent Hornraiser campaign, I went to Israel on an acquisition trip on behalf of the UT Libraries in June. I have written in the past about the advantages of field work by a subject liaison in an academic library when it comes to curating and developing our collections. Being on the ground, one has an opportunity to acquire unique items that cannot be purchased remotely online. While networking with vendors and individuals in book fairs and book stores, there is a much bigger chance to come across alternative and non-mainstream materials. Moreover, making acquaintances face-to-face is a great way to spread the word about UT and UT Libraries and to make additional contacts.

My experience during this last trip made me realize yet again why acquisition trips are so beneficial to my work. One of the most significant advantages is the unparalleled opportunity to witness historical events in real-time. This allows for collecting ‘limited editions’ of grey literature that is created for or emerges as a result of current events. Throughout 2023 there has been a lot of civil unrest in the streets throughout Israel in reaction to the newly elected administration’s actions. There have been weekly rallies and marches against, and sometimes in favor of, the government and its officials. During my stay in Tel Aviv, I attended a few of those rallies, not only as a spectator, but also as an avid collector of anything that might be a valuable addition to the library’s Israeli collection. I was able to gather all sorts of ephemeral items distributed only during the protests: fanzines, comic strips, stickers, banners, pamphlets, and even t-shirts. I was reminded of the social justice protests of summer 2011, during which I also managed to put my hand on some materials available only then and there. By acquiring these unique items, adding them to and preserving them in our collections, we are able to capture the local zeitgeist while it is being shaped in real time, and thus, make it accessible for future generations of researchers.

Series of fanzines published in limited edition during 2023 protests in Israel

Beyond ephemera, I had additional serendipitous, one-of-a-kind opportunities for collection development during my trip. While browsing the tables at one of the rallies, I met activists from the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) which led to a visit to their office a few days later, where I managed to acquire some of their publications which are not distributed to the mainstream market. These publications would complement other emerging pockets of distinctive collections at UT Libraries about communism and socialism such as the Socialist Pamphlets collection, Ernesto Cardenal Papers, Sajjad Zaheer Digital Archive, and fanzines recently acquired by UTL European Studies subject liaison Ian Goodale at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair.

One night I went to watch a movie at the Herzliya Cinematheque, a 30 minutes ride from Tel Aviv. As it turned out, that venue had a small section where they were offering free of charge publications and DVDs. By mere chance, I was lucky to put my hand on a rare publication about adaptations of Israeli literature to cinema — a perfect and rare addition to our Israeli cinema & film collection. Likewise, while browsing an antique and book market one morning in Tel Aviv, I came across internationally unique programs from Israeli film festivals. Chatting with the vendor, he made the effort to introduce me to other vendors around him, all of whom sell publications related to Israeli cinema. These personal, on-the-ground and face-to-face encounters are instrumental to expanding the network of our vendors, leading to future, distinctive acquisitions.

“Getting adapted in Cinema/to film” – rare publication about copyrights for adaptations of Hebrew literature to film. The title is a pun mixing ‘adaptation’ and ‘to get lost’ – two terms that sound identically in Hebrew.

Acquisitions/Foreign Travel, Collections, Global Studies, Uncategorized

Collecting Francophone Zines and Books in Montreal

August 4, 2023 Ian Goodale Leave a comment

Due to generous donor support to a Hornraiser campaign for foreign acquisitions trips, I was recently able to travel to Canada to attend the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair and purchase books for the UT Libraries’ collections. In addition to meeting with vendors and participating in the international community of librarians, zine makers, booksellers, and publishers at the book fair, I collected materials that continue to grow the UT Libraries’ collection of Francophone zines and literature, further developing our collection of rare and distinct materials related to global leftist movements past and present.

The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair is North America’s largest anarchist book fair, and has been held since 2009. Attracting visitors from all over the continent, the fair included over 80 vendor tables where attendees could browse and purchase materials and discuss non-commercial publishing and distribution directly with content producers. Vendors ranged from established presses like AK Press and PM Press to individual creators selling their zines and other materials. The book fair also featured a diverse range of speakers and workshops, including offerings such as an introduction to anarchist thought, a talk on Mastodon and federated social media, and a panel discussion about the book Black Metal Rainbows recently published by PM Press.

A picture of zines and books purchased at the bookfair. — *A small selection of books and zines purchased at the bookfair.*

The book fair offered many opportunities to acquire materials we would not otherwise have access to, and to speak directly with publishers, writers, and artists and to learn about the processes and motivations behind why certain books or zines were written and made. A couple of my favorite acquisitions for the UTL library include a global history of the Industrial Workers of the World, a radical union founded in 1905 that is still active today, and a zine-bibliography highlighting resources on the transfeminism movement. The trip also gave me a valuable opportunity to build our holdings of Francophone materials from North America, expanding our corpus beyond materials published in Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa, thereby making our holdings even broader globally than they already were.

Picture of two books and two zines acquired at the book fair. — Additional books and zines acquired at the book fair.

Beyond all this, the trip allowed me the opportunity to represent UT Austin internationally to a diverse group of vendors, artists, and colleagues, and I’m grateful that I was able to serve the Libraries in such a capacity. I look forward to continuing to build our distinctive holdings and further expand UT’s collections to include diverse ideas and voices.

*Librarian Ian Goodale standing at the entrance to the bookfair.*

Acquisitions/Foreign Travel, Benson Latin American Collection, Collections, Collections Highlight, Distinctive Collections, Global Studies, Humanities & Liberal Arts, LLILAS Benson, Research

The Benson Acquires archive of Nobel Laureate Miguel Ángel Asturias

August 20, 2020 Susanna Sharpe

By DANIEL ARBINO

Vea abajo para versión en español

The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection is thrilled to announce the acquisition of the Miguel Ángel Asturias Papers. Asturias, the 1967 Nobel Laureate in Literature from Guatemala, was a precursor to the Latin American Boom. A prolific writer of poetry, short stories, children’s literature, plays, and essays, he is perhaps best known as a novelist, with El Señor Presidente (1946) and Hombres de maíz (1949) garnering the most acclaim. Asturias’s portrayal of Guatemala and the different peoples that live there—their beliefs, their interactions, their frustrations, and their hopes—mark the profundity of his texts.

Miguel Ángel Asturias, photographed in front of his portrait

The Benson is the third repository to house materials pertaining to Asturias’s life work, the other two being the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris and El Archivo General de Centroamérica in Guatemala City. What differentiates this particular collection is the role that Asturias’s son, Miguel Ángel Asturias Amado, played in compiling it over the course of fifty years. Indeed, in many ways the collection is just as much the son’s as it is the father’s. It features years of correspondence between the two, who were separated after the elder was forced to leave Argentina in 1962. This was not the writer’s first time in exile: his stay in Argentina was due to the Guatemalan government, led by Carlos Castillo Armas, stripping his citizenship in 1954. The letters provide insight into Asturias as a father, writer, and eventual diplomat when democratically elected Guatemalan President Julio César Méndez Montenegro restored his citizenship and made him Ambassador to France in 1966. Moreover, scholars will find within these letters a number of short stories for children that would eventually be collected in the book El alhajadito (1962).

In addition to correspondence with his son, Asturias maintained a longstanding relationship with his mother via letter during his first stay in Paris in the 1920s. Detailed within are the family’s economic hardships as a result of the country-wide crisis in Guatemala caused by the plummeting international coffee market, and information pertaining to the publication of his first collection of short stories, Leyendas de Guatemala (1930). Other communication from this era demonstrates the role that Asturias played in facilitating the publication of other Guatemalan authors and as a journalist for El imparcial.

As a journalist for El Imparcial, Asturias was in constant correspondence about events in Guatemala.

Beyond letters, scholars will find a multifaceted collection. Manuscripts of poetic prose, such as “Tras un ideal” (1917), and an early theater piece titled “Madre” (1918) are included with loose-leaf fragments from El señor presidente. News clippings are also prominent. Those written by Asturias reflect his time at El imparcial while those written about him focus on his Nobel Prize. Perhaps an unexpected highlight is the audiovisual component of the collection. The author contributed an array of caricatures, doodles, and portraits, as well as a robust collection of photographs. Furthermore, there are several audio recordings of Asturias reading his work.

This hand-written manuscript of “Madre” (1918) is Asturias’s first foray into theater.

Finally, scholars will also be able to access studies dedicated to the work of Asturias and first, rare, and special editions of his books. These editions, meticulously collected and cared for by his son, reflect the author’s continued popularity.

The addition of the Miguel Ángel Asturias Papers will bolster a growing collection of prominent Central American subject matter at the Benson that includes the Ernesto Cardenal Papers, the Pablo Antonio Cuadra Papers, the Victoria Urbano Papers, the Arturo Taracena Flores Collection, and the Digital Archive of the Guatemalan National Police Historical Archive. Once Benson staff can safely return to our offices, we will announce plans to process the collection . In the meantime, questions can be directed to Daniel Arbino, Benson Head of Collection Development, at d.arbino@austin.utexas.edu.

La Colección Benson adquiere el archivo del Premio Nobel Miguel Ángel Asturias

Por DANIEL ARBINO

La Colección Latinoamericana Nettie Lee Benson se complace en anunciar la adquisición de los documentos de Miguel Ángel Asturias, Premio Nobel de 1967. El autor guatemalteco fue un precursor del boom latinoamericano. Escritor prolífico de poesía, cuentos, literatura infantil, obras de teatro y ensayos, es quizás mejor conocido como novelista, y El señor presidente (1946) y Hombres de maíz (1949) son las más aclamadas. La representación de Guatemala y sus variados pueblos, creencias, interacciones, frustraciones y esperanzas, marcan la profundidad de sus textos.

La Benson es el tercer archivo que reune materiales de la vida de Asturias, después de la Bibliothèque nationale en París y El Archivo General de Centroamérica en la ciudad de Guatemala. Lo que distingue a esta colección en particular es el papel que desempeñó el hijo de Asturias, Miguel Ángel Asturias Amado, en su recopilación a lo largo de cincuenta años. De hecho, la colección es, en muchos sentidos, tanto del hijo como del padre. Presenta años de correspondencia entre los dos, que se separaron después de que el padre tuvo que abandonar la Argentina en 1962. Ésta no fue la primera vez que el escritor se había tenido que ir al exilio: su estadía en la Argentina se debió a que el gobierno guatemalteco, liderado por Carlos Castillo Armas, le había despojado de su ciudadanía en 1954. Las cartas dan una idea de Asturias como padre, escritor y eventual diplomático, después de que Julio César Méndez Montenegro, el presidente de Guatemala democráticamente elegido, restauró su ciudadanía y lo nombró embajador en Francia en 1966. Además, los investigadores encontrarán dentro de estas cartas una serie de cuentos para niños que se recopilarían en el libro El alhajadito (1962).

Aparte de la correspondencia con su hijo, Asturias mantuvo una larga relación epistolar con su madre durante su primera estancia en París en la década de los 1920. Ahí se detallan las dificultades económicas de la familia como resultado de la crisis que atraviesa la sociedad guatemalteca, por la caída del precio del café a nivel internacional, e información relativa a la publicación de su primera colección de cuentos, Leyendas de Guatemala (1930). Otra comunicación de esta época demuestra el papel que desempeñó Asturias al facilitar la publicación de otros autores guatemaltecos y como periodista de El imparcial.

Como periodista para El Imparcial, Asturias mantuvo comunicaciones constantes sobre la situación en Guatemala

Asimismo, los investigadores verán una colección multifacética. Los manuscritos de prosa poética, como “Tras un ideal” (1917) y una obra de teatro titulada “Madre” (1918) se incluyen, tanto como fragmentos de hojas sueltas de El señor presidente. Los recortes de periódicos también son prominentes. Los escritos por Asturias reflejan su tiempo en El imparcial, mientras que los escritos sobre él se centran en su Premio Nobel. Quizás un punto destacado inesperado es el componente audiovisual de la colección. El autor contribuyó con una serie de caricaturas, garabatos y retratos, así como una colección robusta de fotografías. También, hay varias grabaciones de audio de Asturias en las cuales realiza lecturas de sus obras.

Este manuscrito de la obra “Madre” (1918) es la primera incursión de Asturias en el mundo del teatro.

Por último, los académicos también podrán acceder a los estudios dedicados al trabajo de Asturias y a las primeras, raras y especiales ediciones de su trabajo. Estas ediciones, meticulosamente recopiladas y cuidadas por su hijo, reflejan la continua popularidad del autor.

La adquisición de los documentos de Miguel Ángel Asturias reforzará una creciente colección de materiales destacados de Centroamérica en LLILAS Benson, que incluye el archivo de Ernesto Cardenal, el archivo de Pablo Antonio Cuadra, el archivo de Victoria Urbano, la colección de Arturo Taracena Flores y la colección digital del Archivo Histórico de la Policía Nacional (AHPN) de Guatemala. Una vez que el personal de Benson pueda regresar de manera segura a nuestras oficinas, pronto seguirán los planes para procesar la colección. Mientras tanto, las preguntas pueden dirigirse a Daniel Arbino, Jefe de Desarrollo de Colecciones de la Benson.

The Benson Rare Books Reading Room hosts a student-curated exhibition, funded by an Archiving Black América–Black Diaspora Archive Acquisitions Grant

La Colección Benson adquiere el archivo del Premio Nobel Miguel Ángel Asturias

UT Libraries

The Benson Rare Books Reading Room hosts a
student-curated exhibition, funded by an Archiving Black América–Black Diaspora Archive Acquisitions Grant