Puerto Rican Diaspora, 1965-1989 and undated

Physical access and technical requirements:

Work or proof prints are typically sized 3 1/2 x 5 inches; there are also pockets of 5x7 and 8x10 inch prints which represent Espada's preferred images that he selected as he worked through the editorial process.

Many work prints bear stamps on the back with the project title, theme, subjects, date, and original identification number.

Specific locations, subjects and dates are reflected in the print titles and work print folder titles, as originally assigned by the photographer. In some cases, multiple date markings on finished prints may reflect the date taken and date printed.

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Extent:

30 Linear Feet (41 boxes)

Scope and content:

Images from the Puerto Rican Diaspora Documentary Project were taken by Frank Espada in over 30 locations throughout the United States and Puerto Rico in the 1970s and 1980s, chiefly from 1979 to 1981, although his interest in the topic began much earlier. The prints are organized by location: Boston, California, Chicago, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin (Milwaukee). Reflecting settlement patterns of the diaspora, the largest series are Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania. Series include finished prints ranging in size from 8x10 to 24x30 inches, small work prints, and contact sheets.

Subjects range widely. The dominant genre is the many portraits of men, women, and children of Puerto Rican ancestry, including individuals of mixed race. Topics explored through the photographs are family life in Puerto Rican communities; Puerto Rican-American culture and street life in large U.S. cities; education, drug rehabilitation, and job training programs; labor issues and Puerto Rican laborers, with one series focusing on mushroom workers in Pennsylvania; and human rights activism in the Puerto Rican communities. In addition to his work in the continental U.S. and Hawaii, Espada also traveled to Puerto Rico, documenting emigrants who had returned to their homeland.

The Diaspora project was funded largely through a multi-year National Endowment for the Humanities grant; among Espada's papers in this collection are many files documenting the project's lifespan and its culmination in many exhibits, educational programs, and a book illustrated with many of the photographs, The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Themes in the Survival of a People (2007), also available in Duke Libraries.

Of additional interest are over 100 oral history interviews conducted by Espada with Puerto Rican migrants, and three interviews on videocassettes about his work on the project; his papers also contain many materials concerning the oral history phase of the project.

Arrangement:

Within the geographical subseries, the photographs are arranged by format, beginning with finished prints in rough order from small to large sizes (approximately 8x10 to 24x30 inches), followed by the contact sheets and small work prints, which number several thousand.

Physical facet:

Approximately 12,323 items

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