El Archivo Project
Every family has a story.
Share yours today.
↓ Collections access ↓share your family album
↓ How We Do It
↓ Educational Programs
↓Digital Exhibition "A Glimpse Back atChicago's Communities and Neighborhoods"
↓ OpportunitiesShare your family album…
El Archivo Project was established to document, preserve, and share the history and contributions of Puerto Ricans in the Midwest. This project seeks to acknowledge the historical presence of the community, whose narratives have often gone unrecognized within mainstream cultural institutions. Our growing digital archive consists of photographs dating from the early 1900s to the 1990s.
PRAA partners with the Chicago Cultural Alliance and the Chicago Collections Consortium to gain access to the technical expertise necessary in carrying out this project. While PRAA provides the institutional framework and capacity to execute this project, the desire to preserve Puerto Rican history comes from our communities in Chicago and beyond.
We need YOUR help to make El Archivo Project a reality!
Click image to view fullsize
How We Do It
Seeking photos for our Archivo
Maybe you or your mom or grandparents has an album or box full of photographs stashed in a drawer or closet. Each of those photos can share important insight on your family history and our community. Birthdays, weddings, communions, pageants, parades, picnics, sports, graduation, travel, returning to the island, you name it. You do not have to be Puerto Rican but lived in a neighborhood surrounded by Puerto Ricans to participate. This is an inclusive effort that intends to showcase stories of our Asian and African ancestry, and LBGTQ community. Share your photographs to become part of this important project. We are seeking original photographs (no digital file) especially if they fit in any of the following categories:
Your Family Migratory Experience
Click image to view fullsize
Home &
Family Life
Click image to view fullsize
Social, Education, Sports & Cultural Life
Click image to view fullsize
Labor Force, Business & Military Service
Click image to view fullsize
Everybody has a story and we want to include yours. Make an appointment to meet with our archivist to learn more about this project and determine how to become engaged. Email or mail us to: archivo@praachicago.org or mail us at:
PRAA - El Archivo Project
3000 N. Elbridge Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618
Presenting Educational Programs
El Archivo Project educational programs include lectures and workshops presented by experts in storytelling, genealogy, history, and preservation of photography and documents. Sign up to PRAA’s e-newsletter to receive updates on future events.
Exhibition Development
The photographic content of our collection serves as content to curatorial research and development of exhibitions relevant to our local community. Check out our exhibition schedule to schedule a visit to our galleries; and email us to receive PRAA’s e-newsletter to learn about upcoming exhibitions and educational programs: info@praachicago.org
El Archivo in our Schools
This is a six-week, state-standardized curriculum addressing themes of migration and immigration to Chicago, Midwest, and United States for children/youth of all ethnic backgrounds (grades 3-12). It includes information about the history of Puerto Rican migration and uses this story to encourage students from all backgrounds to examine their own migration/immigration history. All lesson plans are adaptable and are based on Illinois State Standards for Social Studies, English Language Arts (Common Core), and the Social Emotional domain. Illinois Standards for English Language Development for English Learners (ELs), which are linked to WIDA ACCESS for scores for ELs, are also used in the Accommodations for Diverse Student Groups section on each lesson plan.
Recording your Stories
As an organization of color, much of our storytelling have not gone beyond living rooms or kitchen table of our homes.
We have lost so much of our history because there has not been the necessary resources and consorted efforts to document our contributions to America. We must be proud to share our own accomplishments with others. We have plenty of examples where we have made major strides in education, business, and housing to name a few. We too have worked in American farms, steel, textile, automotive industry, assembly line factories, and fought in wars along United States soldiers. While we are not immigrants, because of our colonial relationship to United States, we deeply share the immigrant experience with our Latino brothers and sisters.
Throughout time the Puerto Rican community just like other communities of color, struggled and continues to challenge discrimination and systemic racism in America. El Archivo Project demonstrates the immense care and commitment that the PRAA has to preserve our legacy for future generations. It is important to the PRAA to serve as a platform to this project with dignity and pride.
For information on how to access this resource for your school, contact, archivo@praachicago.org or call (773) 342-8865 x104.
Collections Access
El Archivo Project has partnered with the Chicago Collections Consortium to provide public access of our collection to students and community at large. We intended to provide web access in the year 2021 but the COVID19 crisis delayed the upload of our collection. You can access a small sample of our collection through the link below. We will be adding images throughout the year with a goal of 600 images by the end of 2022.
(Click images to view fullsize)
ALL IMAGES ARE IN COPYRIGHT and all rights are reserved by the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance (PRAA). Permission to copy, reproduce, and/or to purchase a photograph must be requested via email archivo@praachicago.org or mail to:
Attn: PRAA - El Archivo Project
3000 N Elbridge Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618
El Archivo Project created a closed Facebook group seeking community input. Our collection already contains 1000+ donated photographs but most are unidentified which means we don’t know when the photo was taken, where the photo was taken, or who are the people in the photographs. We hope that with the aid of the community in this Facebook group we can gather information and record the stories behind each photo.
Do you want to become a member of this Facebook group?
First, be sure you LIKE PRAA’s Facebook page and email archivo@praachicago.org to discuss your interest and how to join the group.
Opportunities
Interns
El Archivo Project seeks INTERNS in areas of Curatorial Research, Exhibition Design & Development, Collections Management, graphic Design, Latin@ & Latin American History, Library & Archives Studies.
Work-Study arrangements can be done depending on the school, college, or university.
Download the job description and submit letter of interest and resume to: archivo@praachicago.org
