This exhibition, in two parts, provides an overview of the history of journalism in Latin America and Spain through a display of newspapers and periodicals from major collections in the Archives & Special Collections of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. The exhibition highlights the strengths of these collections.

Politics, commerce, social life, and other Latin American and Caribbean affairs of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are covered in the approximately 2000 titles of the Latin American Newspapers Collection. The collection is strongest for the late nineteenth century and contains newspapers from virtually every country of Latin America and the Caribbean. The most notable portion of the collection is represented by newspapers from Bolivia and Peru. Twenty-nine cities of Bolivia are represented with major holdings from the cities of La Paz and Cochabamba. Newspaper titles are also available from 18 Peruvian cities. Examples of some of the larger runs in the collection include El Comercio (La Paz), La Epoca (La Paz), El Telégrafo (La Paz), and El Heraldo (Cochabamba).

The Spanish Periodicals and Newspapers Collection spans three centuries with greatest strength on the middle years of the 19th century. The newspapers and periodicals for this period are rich with information on all aspects of Spanish society, history, literature, science, the arts, religion, economy and trade, as well as offering many details about life in the Spanish territories. Of particular note is their coverage of political and governmental affairs – the turbulence of the Napoleonic era, internal political struggle, and the Wars of Independence in Latin America. A finding list for the collection is available on the World Wide Web at: /DoddCenter/ASC/latin/spanper2.htm.

The two parts of the exhibition are introduced by Miguel Gomes for Latin America and David K. Herzberger for Spain, both faculty in the University’s Department of Modern & Classical Languages. Their essays briefly trace the history of journalism and the press in Latin America and Spain.

For further reading:

Alvarez, Jesús T. and Ascención M. Riaza. Historia de la Prensa Hispanoamericana. Madrid, Editorial Mapfre, 1992.

Checa Godoy, A. Historia de la Prensa en Iberoamérica. Sevilla, Ediciones Alfar, 1993.

Gómez Aparicio, P. Historia del Periodismo Español. Madrid, Editora Nacional, 1967.

Schulte, Henry F. The Spanish Press, 1470-1966: Print, Power, and Politics. Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 1968.

Tarín-Iglesias, J. Panorama del Periodismo Hispanoamericano; desde sus orígenes hasta nuestros dias. Estella, Salvat Editores, 1972.

Zavala, Iris M. Románticos y Socialistas; Prensa Española del XIX. Madrid: Siglo XXI de España Editors, 1972.