We proudly introduce our Mexico: Hispanic Division Country Guide, the first online Research Guide in our Hispanic Division Country Guide series. Be on the lookout for more Research Guides on the series’ homepage as we continue to publish one for each country in the Luso-Hispanic world. These guides will provide a selection of Library of Congress resources pertaining to each country, including digitized primary source materials in a wide variety of formats, recommendations for books and periodicals, quick access links to online databases, and tips for searching the Library’s collections.  

When the news of the day seems overwhelming, nothing can soothe frayed nerves more than an interlude, however brief, with poetry or with nature. Listen to some of our audios from our Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape (AHLOT), and some episodes from our podcast La Biblioteca, which include conversations about Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, and Carlos Drummond de Andrade, among other prominent Latin American poets. The Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS) can also point you to poetry resources. This annotation of Doble acento by the Cuban poet Eugenio Florit was written by HLAS Contributing Editor Francisco Cabanillas. Follow the link in the HLAS Web record to listen to an AHLOT recording of the poet reading his work.  

Thanks to everyone who joined our virtual #Herencia transcribe-a-thon on March 19! It was a great chance to get together virtually and help make these historical documents easier to find. We started transcribing 52 new pages, advanced 30 to review, and completed 19! Not bad for a day’s work. Even better, we exceeded our goal of 100 transcribers, with 112 as the day closed.

If you haven’t already, please check out this campaign, and try your hand at transcribing or reviewing the transcriptions awaiting a second pass.

We are excited to announce the publication of Puerto Rico's Plantation Economy: Snapshots from the Library of Congress, an online research guide providing access to historic photographs, film documentation, as well as related print and electronic resources illustrating the 20th century shift in Puerto Rico from a plantation to an industrial economy. This guide highlights key photographic collections from Jack and Irene Delano and Edwin and Louise Rosskam, two couples who documented a pivotal period in Puerto Rican economic history that left an impact in family structures, public health, education and work.

The Library of Congress celebrated its 220^th anniversary the last week of April! Check out this blog post put together by the Library’s international divisions in the 4 Corners of the World blog - Celebrating the Library’s 220th Anniversary with Open Access Digital Gifts from the International Collections. This blog highlights digitized collections, publications, and other electronic tools freely available to you while the physical Library of Congress buildings remain closed to the public.

Here are some quick links to the Hispanic Division’s very own offerings:

• Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape
• The Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS)
• Herencia: Centuries of Spanish Legal Documents - The entire “Disease & Public Health” project is almost done with about 30 pages left to review!
• La Biblioteca Podcast

• LibGuides and Research Guides