The history of the Latin American Library, now the Doris Z. Stone Latin American Library and Research Center, is best portrayed as a cyclical narrative rather than a linear progression from beginning to end. In this year of centennial commemoration, we chose to tell this story in the manner conceived by ancient Mesoamericans, for whom time and space are intertwined. Beginnings and endings appear side-by-side as the completion of this one-hundred-year cycle stimulates re-creation and renewal in a endless sequence of unfolding.
This online version of the exhibition commemorates this centennial moment in the cycle, preserving the text of the physical exhibition, including the name, “the Latin American Library,” as it celebrates the library’s renewal as the Doris Z. Stone Latin American Library and Research Center.
The displays in this initial part of the exhibition focus at once on the foundations and the futures of the Latin American Library, situated side by side.
We begin with the origin story of the Latin American Library’s renowned collections. Through a mix of manuscript, print, and visual materials, the displays tell the story of how the library came to be, why the initial geographic focus on Middle and Central America and its Indigenous civilizations, and the formative role played by the city of New Orleans and Tulane University in setting the foundations for what would later become the Latin American Library and for its future as the Doris Z. Stone Latin American Library and Research Center.
Opposite this origin story, the displays focus on the library’s futures by creating a dialogue in consonance with and in counterpoint to its foundational story. The visual materials and art installation featured echo the themes of commemoration and ritual as newer technologies and collecting horizons re-create, renew, and engage users with the library and the archive in ever-changing and transformative ways.