- Features hundreds of fully searchable newspapers published in the United States by Hispanics
- Based on the "Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project," a national research effort
- Offers unabridged voices, ranging from intellectuals and literary notables to politicians, union organizers and grassroots figures
“Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980, offers a deep retrospective resource for Latino newspapers. Of the 317 titles currently included, 98 are from the 1929-1980 period; all other titles were published prior to that period....It is the single largest compilation of Spanish-language newspapers printed in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. It creates a digital version of a previously unavailable and endangered collection and makes that collection easy and reliable to use.
“The University of Houston partnered with Readex to digitize the newspapers found in Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980. Collecting and analyzing the titles has been a project of Dr. Nicolas Kanellos, Brown Foundation Professor of Hispanic Literature at the University of Houston and Director of the major national research program, “Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage,” which aims to identify, preserve, and publish literary works written by Hispanics. A link to a digital copy of Dr. Kanellos’s essay, 'A Brief History of Hispanic Periodicals in the United States,' is located on the description page of each individual title along with an alphabetical link to the title in the essay’s bibliography. This link allows users to quickly find additional information on the history of each publication....
“Here is where the Readex products shine. Yes, what you will see is an image of the actual newspaper and the full content of each paper is available and indexed. Results appear quickly considering that an image is being produced and researchers can be sure that what they see is what the public got in any edition. The main value added for researchers is the ability to search full text of multiple sources across time knowing they are looking at ‘the real thing.’”
— Holly Ackerman, Librarian for Latin America and Iberia, Perkins Library, Duke University in The Charleston Advisor (January 2010)
“The newspaper has traditionally been an important informational and cultural source for the U.S. Latino community, providing not only routine local and regional news, but also serving as a place for political, cultural, and literary expression and creativity. Short stories, personal essays, and particularly poetry were often first published in newspapers. Many small, local newspapers were published for and by the Latino community throughout the U.S., and their digitization is a great boon to Hispanic scholars in all disciplines.
“The genesis for Hispanic American Newspapers is the important collection of newspapers brought together by the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project headed by Nicolas Kanellos at the University of Houston....This collection includes many prominent newspapers published between 1808 and 1980, e.g., the Latin Times from Chicago and El Heraldo de México from Los Angeles. More importantly, it offers many small historical newspapers, e.g., one issue of the first Latino newspaper, El Misisipi, published in New Orleans in the early 1800s.
“Though the majority of the papers focus on the Mexican American community (145 projected for New Mexico alone), all areas of the country are represented, including Puerto Rican and Cuban newspapers from New York and Florida. Full runs of most newspapers are not included (they seldom exist); thus many papers in the collection have single issues or a selection of years. However, the number of papers available (almost 350 projected) and the variety of places and time periods represented make this an unusually important and interesting research database. It will continue to expand as new papers are added.
“The collection is fully searchable via full text, headline, standard title, and title as published; searches may be limited by dates and eras, article types (e.g., advertisements, news/opinion, death notices), languages, places of publication , and newspaper titles. Users may view an article (or full newspaper page), open it as a PDF, bookmark it, e-mail it or export the citation to a reference management program, and add it to My Collection. Hispanic American Newspapers is part of Readex's larger America's Historical Newspapers....This database will be valuable to libraries with research interests (including genealogical) in the Latino population of the U.S. Summing up: recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above.”
— M. L. Grover, Brigham Young University in Choice (November 2008)
“Hispanic American Newspapers is an invaluable and most welcome endeavor! The digitization of hundreds of Spanish and bilingual newspapers opens neglected portals to a century and a half of U.S. Hispanic thought and actions. Revealing a rich, multi-faceted heritage and transmitting the pulse of regional communities over time and space, these online newspapers will transform our perception of Latino history for generations to come.”
— Virginia Sánchez Korrol, Ph.D., Historian and Professor Emerita, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
“The partnership between Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project and Readex to digitize and make accessible hundreds of Hispanic American newspapers published in the United States between 1808 and 1980 will be seen by future historians of U.S. Latino history as a watershed development. For a decade and a half, the Recovery Project has worked to identify and preserve this generally unavailable and often endangered record of the Hispanic presence in the United States. Having this material available in one fully searchable resource is extraordinary. Hispanic American Newspapers will promote and accelerate research and writing about the history of Hispanics in the United States.”
— Gerald E. Poyo, Ph.D., Chair of the History Department, St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas
“Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project has spent many years building a comprehensive collection of Hispanic American newspapers. This partnership with Readex represents a vital next step in making an essential aspect of U.S. Hispanic history and culture available for scholars, students and the general public for decades to come.”
— Chuck Tatum, Ph.D., Dean of Humanities, University of Arizona
“An exemplary alliance between Readex and Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project will offer unprecedented access to an extraordinary newspaper collection. Capturing an essential part of the voluminous Spanish- language print heritage of the United States, Hispanic American Newspapers offers hundreds of titles published between 1808 and 1980 in what is now the territory of the U.S.
“In view of the fact that the Spanish language has an unbroken written tradition in North America that antedates English, the availability of this remarkable collection of Hispanic American newspapers promises to transform the study of United States history in general, and the study of U.S. Latina/o history and culture in particular. The collection also contains bilingual newspapers published by Latino communities in the U.S., as well as titles printed in North America but which are held abroad, often as part of the cultural patrimony of other countries. Thus the collection offers a pivotal base not only for new research and knowledge in U.S. Latino history and culture, but also in Latin America, and more broadly, new research and study of the Western hemisphere.
“Researchers can now examine major historical periods and events from U.S. Latino perspectives, which may lead to reinterpretation of American political, religious, economic, social and cultural history. Availability of this impressive collection makes critically important contributions to the development of a new, transnational historiography of the United States.”
— Antonia I. Castañeda, Ph.D., Formerly Associate Professor of History, St. Mary's University
(Updated June 2011)
Enabling researchers to explore nearly 200 years of Hispanic American history, culture and daily life, Hispanic American Newspapers features more than 350 titles published in Spanish and bilingually in Spanish and English. Key titles include:
El Clamor Público (Los Angeles)
El Clamor Público (The Public Outcry) created landmark awareness of the poor treatment suffered by Hispanics in California. Founded by 17-year-old Francisco P. Ramírez, who turned the Spanish section of the Los Angeles Star into a separate newspaper, El Clamor Público provided a state-wide focus on injustice and oppression.
• Includes 103 issues published between 1855 and 1857
El Cosmopolita (Kansas City)
El Cosmopolita helped Hispanic Americans in the Midwest maintain their relationship with the Spanish-speaking world while simultaneously supplying vital housing and employment information and defending them from exploitation.
• Includes 258 issues published between 1914 and 1919
La Crónica (Laredo)
One of the most influential papers along the U.S.-Mexican border, La Crónica was published and written entirely by Nicasio Idar and his eight children. The paper provided support for the civic and political projects of Hispanic Texans and helped establish Mexican schools in Texas.
• Includes 100 issues published between 1910 and 1914
Demócrata Fronterizo (Laredo)
This Mexican immigrant paper features the writings of Sara Estella Ramírez, a passionate voice for gender and labor issues.
• Includes 81 issues published between 1917 and 1919
El Heraldo de México (Los Angeles)
El Heraldo was hailed as a “people’s newspaper” for its blue-collar profile and focus on immigrant workers.
• Includes 3,129 issues published between 1917 and 1928
Hispano America (San Francisco)
This independent, non-political paper offered immigrants news of their homelands in addition to informing them of the culture and customs of life in the United States. Publisher and editor Julio G. Arce’s syndicated weekly column satirized Hispanic-American culture and helped transform his paper into the most important Hispanic publication in the Bay Area.
• Includes 459 issues published between 1918 and 1931
Latin Times (Chicago)
This post-World War II bilingual title, founded by the children of political refugees, became the voice of a new generation of Hispanic-American citizens.
• Includes 874 issues published between 1958 and 1975
El Misisipi (New Orleans)
In 1808, El Misisipi became the first Spanish-language newspaper in the United States, starting a tradition of Hispanic American periodicals that soon spread across the country.
• Includes the one issue published in 1808
Las Novedades (New York)
In the early 20th century, Las Novedades served the interests of a wide range of Spanish speakers, even while Cuba and Puerto Rico were waging wars of independence against Spain and tensions were high.
• Includes 276 issues published between 1888 and 1918
El Nuevo Mexicano (Santa Fe)
The longest running of the nearly 40 Hispanic newspapers that sprung up in New Mexico in the late 19th century, El Nuevo Mexicano strove to strike a balance between cultural preservation and assimilation.
• Includes 41 issues published between 1890 and 1908
La Prensa (New York)
Adapted to meet the needs of Puerto Ricans and other Spanish-speaking nationalities that immigrated to New York City in the 20th century, La Prensa became the nation’s longest-running Spanish-language daily.
• Includes 2,196 issues published between 1919 and 1929
La Prensa (San Antonio)
This important 20th-century paper was founded by Ignacio E. Lozano, one of the most powerful political, business and intellectual figures in the Hispanic immigrant community.
• Includes 17,233 issues published between 1913 and 1959
Pueblos Hispanos (New York)
Published byJuan Antonio Corretjer, a Puerto Rican nationalist and an ardent socialist, this significant paper covered politics and culture in the Soviet Union as well as socialist movements in Latin American countries such as Brazil, Peru and Ecuador.
• Includes 77 issues published between 1943 and 1944
Regeneración (Los Angeles)
After the Mexican government prohibited publication of his work, radical journalist Ricardo Flores Magnón emigrated to California and began publishing Regeneración. The paper proved to be one of the most influential advocates for social change in the southwestern United States.
• Includes 253 issues published between 1910 and 1917
La Revista Católica (Las Vegas, New Mexico)
La Revista Católica (The Catholic Magazine) was founded by Italian Jesuit Donato M. Gasparri. The foundation of the Catholic press in New Mexico, La Revista Católica gave the local Mexican community both a voice and the means to parochial education.
• Includes 363 issues published between 1888 and 1895
Traducción Prensa (Tampa)
The only Spanish morning daily in the South in its time, Traducción Prensa advertised itself as an American newspaper published in the Spanish language.
• Includes 15 issues published between 1941 and 1956
