The Latinx Center records contain materials documenting the story of Tufts’ Latinx Center, which was founded in 1993 with the goal of providing emotional and structural support to the Tufts Latinx community. These archival materials include crawls of the Center’s website, photographs of people and events, scrapbooks, and video recordings. The collection also contains administrative records, newsletters, and clippings. These materials span the Latinx Center’s evolution from 1993 to 2018, and the collection additionally contains some material from before the Center’s founding. Materials in this collection are written in both English and Spanish.
The Center has undergone several name changes throughout its history. While it was originally founded as the Hispanic American Center, in 1998, it became the Latino Center to create a more inclusive identity. On September 15, 2020, it became known as the Latinx Center, representing the Center’s ongoing efforts to create a space “dedicated to celebrating and furthering the Latinx community” at Tufts.
Since the late 1990s, the Latinx Center has been affiliated with several student led organizations that support Latinx students at Tufts. This includes the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS), which is a student-run organization that holds weekly meetings to discuss issues in the Latino community. The Latino Peer Leaders (LPL) Program assigns upperclassmen that identify as Latinx, Caribbean, or Latin American to first-year students. As a mentors, the LPL provides guidance and support throughout the year. La Casa Latina is one of Tufts’ six special interest housing options, open to juniors and seniors. Tufts Society of Latinx Engineers and Scientists (SOLES) supports minorities majoring in STEM fields.
The Latinx Center Records include unofficial “yearbooks” from the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS) created by the Latinx Center to commemorate the students that were a part of ALAS as they graduated. These yearbooks span from 2000 to 2005 and include many informal and candid photographs of students.
The web crawls included in the collection are captured moments of the Latinx Center’s website throughout the years, charting its growth and development. The earliest capture of the website from December 9, 2015 includes information about student groups, events, peer leaders and other resources. In the September 9, 2016 capture of the website, you can find information about Tufts Students organizing for immigration justice. The version of the website saved on September 9, 2017 displays the website’s updated design, including a new option to connect with the Center on Facebook.
The videos in this collection include recordings of events that were held by the Latinx Center, as well as videos that the Center used at other events. Some of these videos are recordings of interviews at Tufts with influential Latinx figures such as the actor, director, and producer Edward James Olmos and the actress, dancer, and singer Rita Moreno. Other videos are recordings of story-sharing events at the Latinx Center and documentaries covering various aspects of the Latinx experience at Tufts. These videos span from 1980 to 2002.
Most materials in this collection are open for research, though some administrative records are closed for 20 years from the date of creation in accordance with University policy.
The center has been located at 226 College Avenue since 2000 and their website can be found here.