Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

The Adál Maldonado collection contains letters, manuscripts, sketches, photographs, hand-made books, films, music, audio tapes, and other materials produced by (and in relation to) multidisciplinary artist Adál Maldonado (1948-2020).

Correspondence, manuscripts, documents, musical scores, audio tape, cassettes, and related printed materials concerning Hispanic culture, immigration problems, parish conflicts, intercultural confrontation, and linguistic discrimination. Included are correspondence with the members, by-laws, minutes of meetings, membership lists, and records of all the organizations activities. Of particular interest are the files of the Cultura Popular Hispana-Gala de la Hispanidad, October 20, 1984, which included a competition for original manuscripts and musical scores for both religious and secular poetry.

The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center Inc. is a Puerto Rican/Latinx multi-arts cultural institution that has demonstrated a broad-minded cultural vision and inclusive philosophy rooted in NYC's Lower East Side/Loisaida. While focused on the cultivation, presentation, and preservation of Puerto Rican and Latinx culture, we are equally committed to a multi-ethnic / international latitude, determined to operate in a polyphonic manner that provides affordable working space and venues to artists, small arts organizations, emergent and independent community producers that reflect the cultural diversity of the LES and our City.

The Zarzuela Collection at Columbia University consists of almost five hundred different zarzuelas. Both nineteenth and twentieth century works are represented by libretti, scores, and separate instrumental parts. Formats include printed, typewritten, and handwritten items. Many of the libretti contain role assignments and other handwritten notes which indicate they were used by a traveling zarzuela company. Among the authors of the libretti are Javer de Bergos y Sarragoiti, Jose Estremero y Cuenca, Jacinto Benavente, and the Quintero brothers.

A collection of autographs of Latin American patriots and Hispanic loyalists living in the Viceroyalty of Perú during the 19th century. The collection provides a valuable look into daily life in the viceroyalty. Documents to and from military leaders on both sides of the War for Independence describe day to day events of the war (requests for supplies, mess, prisoner and hospital lists, etc.). Among the items by patriots represented in the collection are: a decree by Simón Bolivar, dated 1825, setting up a school system that "la debe igualmente a todos..individuos."; a decree by Tomas de Heres creating the coat-of-arms of Perú, and the heraldry and wording for silver and gold coins of the new government; a list by José Medina of the survivors of the "Vendedores" squadron after the battle of Ayachucho; a letter of José de San Martín to Francisco de Paula Otero; a letter by Antonio José de Sucre to Manuel Martínez de Aparicio; and a letter by José de La Mar to Joaquín de la Pezuela. Among the loyalists represented are: José Fernando de Abascal y Souza, Fernando VII, José Antonio de Areche, Jerónimo Marrón de Lombera, José de Mendizábal e Imaz, Joaquín de la Pezuela, José Manuel Goyeneche, and Manuel Quimper. Also in the collection are two letters by Secretary of State William H. Seward, and two 16th century documents signed by the "conquistadores" Francisco Pizarro and Juan de la Torre. A second box, added in 1980, contains printed and miscellaneous materials from the 1950s.

There are letters, photos, manuscripts, fan mail (as well as may of the actual "Dolores Dice" letters from people all over the country), recordings, and music scores of her plays. There is some unpublished work in various genres, including essays, poetry, teleplays, and theater.