Dr. Renee Hudson (English) recently completed a research trip to Houston, Texas, at the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project archives, a collection meant  “to locate, preserve, and disseminate Hispanic culture of the United States in its written form” from colonial times until 1960.

Dr. Renee Hudson

Dr. Hudson visited the archive to further her research on Young Adult (YA) pioneer authors María Cristina Mena (1893-1965) and Pura Belpré (1899-1982), who are the subjects of two chapters in her current book project, Latinx Girlhood. This research trip was generously supported by Chapman University’s Faculty Grants for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities (FGRSC).

María Cristina Mena was a trailblazing Mexican-American author known for her early-20th-century short stories, which were meant to provide “American readers with insights into Mexican life and customs through her storytelling” (Marjorie Jordan).

Pura Belpré

Pura Belpré was a revolutionary “Puerto Rican librarian, storyteller, and author who played a significant role in promoting Puerto Rican literature and culture in the United States” (Jamie Campbell Naidoo). According to Dr. Hudson, both of these women embody the essence of what her research seeks to uncover–Latina women who broke barriers, carving out spaces for their communities in institutions that weren’t built for them, and highlight the lives of Latinx girls.

During her time in Houston, Dr. Hudson was able to explore many of Belpré’s writing drafts – not just her published works. Getting to see these drafts gave Dr. Hudson a look into how Belpré’s portrayal of Latinx girlhood changed and developed over time. According to Dr. Hudson, this kind of access “gives a sense of the author’s changing intentions” – and while literary studies don’t always focus on authorial intent, seeing how Belpré reworked her narratives is especially useful when trying to understand what Latinx girlhood meant to her. These insights have been a valuable addition to Dr. Hudson’s work on Latinx Girlhood.

María Cristina Mena

The Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project holds thousands of collections containing original books, manuscripts, historical newspapers, microfilmed and digitized materials, photographs, anthologies, and more. Not only did Dr. Hudson examine unpublished works from Mena and Belpré, but she also viewed their oldest works, leading to the discovery of Mena’s publications in Azoth: The Occult Magazine of America, a magazine she wouldn’t have found otherwise.

As she continues to work on Latinx Girlhood, Dr. Hudson is also writing a Latinx horror novel, tentatively set to feature some of Mena’s short story occult work.

To find out more about the archive, you can visit their digital collection here!