UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center

The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) was founded in 1969 with a commitment to foster multidisciplinary research efforts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It is one of four ethnic studies centers established at UCLA that year, all of which were the first in the nation and have advanced our understanding of the essential contributions of people of color to U.S. history, thought, and culture. The centers remain the major organized research units in the University of California system that focus on ethnic and racial communities and contribute to the system's research mission.

Organization

The CSRC serves the entire campus and supports faculty and students in the social sciences, life sciences, humanities, and the professional schools. Its research addresses the growing Chicano and Latino population, which now constitutes nearly one-third of California and one-half of Los Angeles, but continues to have disproportionately low access to higher education. Given its campus- and community-wide mandate, the CSRC reports directly to the Office of the Chancellor at UCLA. The CSRC also forms part of the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR), a consortium of Latino research centers located at sixteen institutions in the United States.

Facilities

Since its establishment, the CSRC houses a library and special collections archive, an academic press, research projects, community-based partnerships, two competitive grant/fellowship programs, and the Los Tigres del Norte Fund.

Since the 1970s, the CSRC holds six “institutional FTE” or faculty positions that are placed on loan to departments. These positions were originally designed to increase the center's research capacity, but also to allow the center to serve as a vital force across campus for diversifying the curriculum and the faculty.

Press

Since its founding, the CSRC has played a pivotal role in the development of scholarly research on the Chicano-Latino population. The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press publishes research by and about Mexican Americans. The press was partly responsible for the founding and flowering of Chicano studies in the 1970s—-launching the careers of young academics who could not find mainstream publishers. The press has published the journal of record in the field, Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, for over thirty-five years. It has also published over one hundred scholarly books, research reports, reference guides, policy briefs, newsletters, and DVDs.

Three new series are of special note. The A Ver: Revisioning Art History book series is a ground-breaking effort to document the work of prominent individual Latino artists. The first three books are on Gronk, Yolanda Lopez, and Maria Magdalena Campos. The Chicano Archive book series includes reference guides to special collections on Chicanos, with histories and finding aids. The first is about the renowned community arts organization Self Help Graphics & Art in East Los Angeles. The Chicano Cinema and Media Art series is an effort to preserve the many important Chicano films and videos that are no longer available. The first DVD is about the two earliest Chicano art documentaries. Through its many publications, the press has shaped opinion, policy, and research on the Chicano population, both nationally and internationally.

Library

The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Library and Archive is the first library of its kind and the only freestanding Chicano studies library in the United States. It provides information resources, reference services, and bibliographic instruction for users from UCLA and from around the world.

It's holdings include more than 62,000 items (monographs, serials, pamphlets and clippings, dissertations and theses, maps, posters, films, videotapes, audio recordings, slides, photographs, microfilm, digital resources) and 125 special collections. The Library and Archive has also developed online digital collections in music, photography, and the visual arts.

The library makes its holdings accessible to users from UCLA and from around the world.

The Library and Archive hosts art exhibitions, film screenings, and meetings, and it works closely with other UCLA libraries, community-based resources, and other Latino archives.

The materials in the library may be used within the premises and most may be photocopied. However, they may not be checked out.

Former Names of the CSRC

• Mexican American Cultural Center, UCLA
• Chicano Cultural Center, UCLA
• Chicano Studies Center, UCLA
• Chicano Studies Research Center, UCLA

External links

• Official site.