[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 135 (Friday, September 19, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1454-E1455]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HISPANIC READING ROOM OF THE LIBRARY OF 
                                CONGRESS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DINA TITUS

                               of nevada

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 18, 2014

  Ms. TITUS. Mr. Speaker, October 12, 2014, marks the 75th anniversary 
of the Hispanic Reading Room of the Library of Congress which is 
located in the Jefferson Building. Since 1939, the Hispanic Division 
has been systematically acquiring books, journals, newspapers, 
photographs, prints, maps, posters, sound recordings, and other 
materials from and about the greater Hispanic world. Today with more 
than 13 million items, the Library of Congress possesses the most 
extensive collection in the world on the history and culture of Latin 
America, the Caribbean, Iberia, and U.S. Hispanics/Latinos.
   Hispanic Division specialists assist scholars from all over the 
United States and indeed around the world with information about 
materials in all formats in the Library's collections. The reading 
room's website www.http://loc.gov/rr/hispanic which can be accessed in 
English, Spanish, and Portuguese, is an important resource for students 
as well the wider public for finding books, maps, images, audio-visual 
materials, music, and many other sources to learn about the history and 
culture of the greater Hispanic world. The website is visited more than 
100,000 times per month.
   The recently issued Hispanic American Members of Congress, 1922-
2013, published by the Government Printing Office and available online, 
was compiled by the Office of the Historian of the Clerk of the House, 
with help from specialists in the Hispanic Division who provided 
expertise and access to the vast collections of the Library of 
Congress. The first and much smaller edition of this directory was 
prepared in the Hispanic Division in 1994 and published in 1995 by the 
GPO.
   The Hispanic Division's major annual publication is the Handbook of 
Latin American Studies, an annotated bibliography providing an 
indispensable guide to publication about Latin America. Compiled and 
annotated in the Hispanic Division since 1939 and currently published 
by the University of Texas Press, the Handbook is a collaborative 
effort drawing on the knowledge and expertise of a network of 
contributing U.S.-based scholars who volunteer their efforts to the 
project. Available in print and searchable through an online database 
www.loc.gov/hlas the Handbook lists and describes the most important 
scholarly publications in the humanities and social sciences from and 
about Latin America and the Caribbean.
   A unique resource in the Hispanic Division is the Archive of 
Hispanic Literature on Tape, begun in 1943, which holds audio 
recordings by more than 700 multi-lingual poets and prose writers from 
the U.S., Hispanic areas, and the Caribbean, including Haiti and 
Suriname. Richard Blanco, the poet who read at President Obama's second 
inauguration, recorded in 2013, and Octavio Paz is one of nine Nobel 
laureates in the archive.
   Two years ago the Hispanic Division inaugurated a bilingual portal 
``Distant Neighbors: The United States and the Mexican Revolution, 
1910-1917,'' which contains photographs, manuscripts, maps, and other 
rare

[[Page E1455]]

documents from the Library's collections chronicling this important 
period in the history of both countries. It is invaluable for students 
and researchers because it provides access to rare documents about the 
U.S.-Mexico border.
   The Hispanic Reading Room is ``. . . a home away from home for 
researchers from all over the world,'' according to Jaime Benitez, 
noted educator and Puerto Rican Commissioner during 1973-1977. With its 
arched ceilings, vivid murals by Brazilian artist Candido Portinari, 
and architecture reminiscent of renaissance Spain, the reading room 
provides an inspiring space for those seeking to research their 
ancestors, complete school assignments, or write books. With its vast 
Hispanic collections, the Library provides both exploratory materials 
for beginning students and rare published or other materials--maps, 
manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings--for advanced scholars. 
These materials allow those of us in the United States and in other 
parts of the world to better understand Hispanic heritage and history, 
and its lasting and ongoing influence within our country.
   My husband, Latin American historian Dr. Thomas C. Wright, can 
personally attest to the incredible resources available through the 
Division to scholars and authors. We congratulate the Hispanic Division 
and its staff and celebrate the valuable work they have done over the 
past 75 years.

                          ____________________