[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15421]
[From the U.S. 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 as 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 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.

                          ____________________