With the Columbus Quincentenary now only five years away, the AHA, the Library of Congress, and the National Endowment for the Humanities are joining forces in an effort to improve access to the materials critical to historical scholarship on the Hispanic experience in North America. The three institutions have invited over sixty historians, archivists, and librarians to meet later this month in Washington to discuss priorities and produce guidelines for identifying and copying materials held principally in the archives of Spain and Mexico and not yet available in this country. The goal is to promote long-range scholarly projects that will enable us to more fully understand the complexities and implications of the quincentenary and the influence of Hispanic culture in the United States. At its June meeting the Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission endorsed this goal, designating the conference an “Official Quincentenary Project.”
As chair of the conference, Professor Lawrence A. Clayton of the University of Alabama has worked closely with representatives of the three sponsoring organizations to develop a program that will address the concerns of both providers (archivists and librarians) and users (scholars). Scheduled for September 22–25 at the Library of Congress, the conference program will include a series of papers on research and collection needs, reproduction methods, and access questions, with ample opportunities for comment and discussion both in formal sessions and in smaller working groups. Attention will be given as well to earlier attempts to address archival needs and the various related projects currently underway.
During the course of the meeting, the organizers hope to secure agreement on a common agenda for reproducing Hispanic archival materials, to develop guidelines for record reproduction, and to establish a coordinating mechanism to eliminate needless and wasteful repetition and foster cooperation among participating scholars and institutions. Because of funding limitations, the conference will focus on materials pertaining to the area of the present-day United States and the period 1492–1850, but obviously the project will have broader implications for research on the Americas.
Perspectives will publish a report on the conference in December.
