Library of Congress Acquires Major Chicano Movement Photography and Manuscript Collection
Library of Congress
Journalists and protesters riding in the back of a pickup truck while covering a Chicano Movement protest ca. 1968-1975.
The Library of Congress has acquired the photographs, manuscripts and periodical collection of Raúl Ruiz, a leading figure in the Chicano Movement in Los Angeles beginning in the 1960s.
Ruiz (1940-2019) was an activist, journalist, photographer, educator and political candidate who advocated for the rights of Mexican Americans. Ruiz was also the editor of the La Raza newspaper and magazine that covered the East LA Walkouts in 1968, the Chicano Moratorium during the Vietnam War, and other issues of interest to the Chicano community.
The Raúl Ruiz Chicano Movement Collection contains an estimated 17,500 photos by Ruiz (prints, negatives, contact sheets and transparencies) and original page layouts for La Raza. It also includes nearly 10,000 pages of manuscripts and original correspondence, the unpublished draft of Ruiz’s book on Los Angeles Times journalist Ruben Salazar, and handwritten minutes from the staff meetings of La Raza. In addition, the collection features published issues of La Raza and select issues of other Chicano periodicals.
Highlights of the collection include:
a contact sheet and two of the corresponding negatives depicting the daily activities of Ruiz as editor of La Raza
photographs documenting Chicano protests in Los Angeles for La Raza in the late 1960s and early 1970s
a photograph of journalists and protesters riding in the back of a pickup truck while covering a Chicano Movement protest ca. 1968-1975
one of Ruiz’s iconic photographs of the scene where journalist Rubén Salazar was struck by a round of tear gas fired by a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department during a protest against the Vietnam War
one of the handmade page layouts for the first issue of La Raza magazine in 1970 covering Católicos por La Raza, a movement of Chicano Catholic student activists in Los Angeles
photo of César Chávez carrying a boycott sign during a protest. Chávez, a friend of Ruiz’s, was co-founder of the United Farm Workers union.
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Library of Congress
Photo of original La Raza magazine layout
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Library of Congress
Scene of police killing of Los Angeles Times journalist Ruben Salazar, Los Angeles, California. 1970.
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Library of Congress
Chicano Protesters during a walkout in L.A.
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Library of Congress
Participants in Chicano Movement protest in Los Angeles, California in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Photo: Raúl Ruiz
The collection is available to researchers by appointment. The Prints & Photographs Division has digitized a selection of photographs from the collection which users can preview in the Library’s online catalog in coming weeks.
The collection was donated to the Library by Ruiz’s daughter Marcela Ponce and one of his close friends, Marta E. Sánchez, professor of teaching and learning at Loyola Marymount University. “The Ruiz collection speaks to the heart of the Chicano Movement and will be an important resource for the study of journalism and Latino history and culture at the Library of Congress,” said Adam Silvia, curator of photography in the Prints & Photographs Division.
