Nueva York (1613-1945)

Large Print Exhibition Text Labels English

PLEASE RETURN WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED 2 Nueva York (1613-1945) Today's "Nueva York," the city's massive and diverse constellation of Spanish-speaking residents, is a relatively recent phenomenon. It began with the surge of new arrivals from Puerto Rico in the 1940s, and expanded in size and composition over roughly the last half century. But long before that, around the time of the American Revolution, a stream of Spanish-speaking immigrants began trickling into the city. Over the 19th and 20th centuries, that stream evolved into an ample river, fed by a network of Latin American and Spanish tributaries. And then, after World War II, it widened out into a mighty delta. Contemporary Nueva York thus has deep roots in the city—a history not of decades but of centuries. Yet the city's relationship with the Spanish-speaking world goes back even farther than the Revolution, back to its very beginnings. And the interactions among Spain, Latin America, and New York had a much bigger influence on shaping the wider city's development than is generally realized. They left a major mark on contemporary New York's commercial, cultural, manufacturing, and financial arrangements. Nueva York (1613-1945) brings these two story lines together for the first time.

3 Gallery 1: Empires and Revolutions: 1613–1825 Labels begin with painting of King Philip IV and continue clockwise through the gallery King Philip IV and the Spanish Empire From 1621 to 1665, Philip IV ruled over an empire that stretched from Spain to the Philippines. This powerful monarch chose his kingdom’s greatest artist for his court painter. In 1623, Diego Velázquez painted one of the first of many images of Philip, capturing the king as a young man with smooth, unlined skin, so unlike the war- and time-worn monarch who appears in the famous 1644 portrait in The Frick Collection (New York) or in the artist’s masterpiece, the 1656 Las Meninas in the Prado. Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (Spain, 1599– 1660), Portrait of King Philip IV , 1623–24. Oil on canvas. Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas, Algur H. Meadows Collection, MM.67.23. Dutch New Amsterdam vs. the Spanish Empire In the 1620s, New Amsterdam (soon to be New York) was a tiny Dutch village with an excellent harbor in the colony of New Netherland. The Dutch West India Company—a militarized private corporation—founded the port to trade in furs, pelts, and lumber. But New Amsterdam was also meant to serve as a base against Spain’s vast empire in the western hemisphere. The Dutch hated the Spanish, to whose monarch they were subject, and had long been in revolt. In 1647, to bolster their North American outpost, the Dutch West India Company transferred Peter Stuyvesant up to New Amsterdam from its Caribbean base of operations in

4 Curaçao. Stuyvesant, who had assaulted the Spanish-held island of St. Martin (losing his leg in the process), now assumed the formal title, “Director-General of New Netherland, Curaçao, Bonaire, and Aruba.” Next label: on the end of the gallery dividing wall New York's First Spanish-speaking Resident In 1613, a Dutch ship left ashore here a man they called Jan Rodrigues, described as "a mulatto born in St. Domingo." He was given a musket, a sword, some knives, and eighty hatchets, probably for trading with the Indians, and was still here when the Dutch returned the following year. And so it was that a Spanish-speaking Afro- Caribbean became the first known non-native resident of New York City. Jan Rodrigues vanished from recorded history in 1614, but scholars are trying to track him down. Could he be the Juan Rodrigues who married Ana Gonsales in 1591? Or the Joan Rodrigues accused by Spain in 1605 of illegally trading with the Dutch? The hunt for answers has begun. Indian axe , 17th century. New-York Historical Society, Gift of R.W.G. Vail, 1946.71. Juan Rodrigues, Ana Gonsales, Libro de Matrimonios , May 27, 1591. Archivo Diocesano de Santo Domingo. Courtesy of CUNY Dominican Studies Institute. Juan Rodrigues and ten others accused of smuggling, 1605. Archivo General de Indias, Seville. Courtesy of CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Next label: on the wall nearest the gallery entrance

5 Spanish Treasure and Dutch Privateers Using forced Indian and African labor, Spain extracted fabulous wealth from silver mines throughout Spanish America, particularly at Potosí’s “El Cerro Rico” (Rich Mountain) in present-day Bolivia. Spanish ships ferried the silver to Havana, Cuba for transfer to heavily guarded fleets, which departed for Spain twice a year. The Dutch West India Company raided the convoys rather than assault Spanish strongholds like Mexico and Peru. In 1628, Admiral Piet Hein scored a celebrated victory, intercepting the treasure fleet before it left Cuba with twelve million guilders worth of silver and other goods. Among the booty was cochineal—the most brilliant and durable red dye available to weavers and painters. Coveted by Europeans, cochineal yielded 17 th -century Spain more revenue than all other New World products besides silver. Piet Hein , ca. 1629. Engraving. John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. Panel, 17th century. Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund and Director's Discretionary Fund, 1984 (1984.301a). Silver bar, ca. 1522–35. Courtesy of The American Numismatic Society. Competition for Cochineal Pre-Hispanic peoples nurtured cochineal insects on prickly pear cactus, then extracted a crimson dye from the dried and crushed remains of the females. Spanish conquistadores quickly discovered cochineal’s value, and by the mid-1500s, Spanish ships were carting home 6 enormous quantities of the dried insects packed in leather bags. Since the cochineal insect could not be cultivated in Europe, Spain’s rivals now had another reason for seeking to seize Spanish possessions. In his treatise of 1777, Mexican scientist and patriot José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez celebrated local expertise with cochineal. Spain may have claimed Mexico for itself, but Alzate’s text claimed cochineal for Mexico. José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez, Gaceta de literatura de México: por, Socio Correspondiente de la Real Academia de las Ciencias de París, del Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid, y de la Sociedad Bascongada , 1792. On loan from The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Cochineal: Crimson Gold Ground into paint and infused into dye, cochineal produced the scarlets and crimsons that painters and master dyers used to create sumptuous art, clothing, and furnishings. Vibrant reds signified power and prestige in Renaissance Europe. And it was cochineal that put the red into the “red coats” worn by the British military. José Antonio de Alzate y Ramí rez (1737–99), Memoria sobre la naturaleza, cultivo, y beneficio de la grana , 1777. Reproduction. Edward E. Ayer Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago. Alonzo Sánchez Coello (Spain, 1531/32–1588), Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia and Magdalena Ruiz . Reproduction. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY. Map: The Atlantic World 1664; Selected Trade Routes Between the Old and New World 7 In 1664, when Britain seized New Amsterdam from the Dutch and renamed it New York, Spain and Portugal dominated the New World. Their conquests, dating back to the days of Columbus, had left them in command of vast territories, whose riches they extracted with slave labor and shipped in heavily guarded fleets. Other Europeans had established only a few hemispheric footholds, in North American port towns and on Caribbean islands. These infant empires, busy establishing their own New World trade routes, also profited from selling goods and slaves to Spanish and Portuguese colonists, and preying upon the treasure ships headed to Spain. British New York vs. the Spanish Empire In 1664, the British took New Amsterdam from the Dutch and renamed it New York. The city thus became part of a new would-be empire. Like the Dutch, the English sought to expand at the expense of the Spanish. Like the Dutch, the English were Protestants, and for most of their reign repressed Catholicism in New York. Like the Dutch, who had fought to liberate themselves from Spanish rule, the English developed a cultural antipathy to Spain, branding their rivals as barbarous, despotic, and cruel. And colonial New Yorkers, like colonial Nieuw Amsterdammers, absorbed the medley of Dutch and British fears and prejudices about the Spanish that became known as the “Black Legend.” The Black Legend Dutch and English animosity for the Spanish was stoked by indictments of Spain’s New World conquests, such as the Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1552), written by Spanish priest Bartolomé de las Casas. 8 Spain’s enemies translated and circulated the las Casas text—newly illustrated with horrific images by Theodor de Bry—and also distributed inflammatory engravings depicting Spanish cruelty to the Dutch. This helped foster a conviction that Spaniards were more violent than other people, creating the “Black Legend” that would dominate attitudes to Spain for centuries. Franz Hogenberg. “The Spanish Fury at Antwerp,” [1576], in Jan Evertszoon Cloppenburch, "Le miroir de la cruelle, & horrible tyrannie espagnole perpetree au Pays Bas ...," 1620. Reproduction. Hyde Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University. Bartolomé de las Casas, Regionum Indicarum per Hispanos olim devastatarum accuratissima descrptio: insertis figuris æneis ad vivum fabrefactis . Heidelbergae: typis Guilielmi VValteri acad. typogr. A.S., 1664. Reproductions. New-York Historical Society. New York and the Imperial Wars In 1741, with British troops off fighting the Spanish in the War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739-48), white New Yorkers uncovered a supposed slave conspiracy to seize the town for the Spanish crown. The purported conspirators included several “Spanish negroes” captured from a Spanish vessel and sold into local slavery. Those convicted were deported, hanged, or burned at the stake—an unwitting demonstration that barbaric cruelty was not limited to one particular people. A new & correct map of the trading part of the West Indies . . . therein contained from the latest and best observations , 1741. Reproduction. Lawrence H Slaughter Collection, The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map 9 Division, The New York Public Library, Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Daniel Horsmanden, A journal of the proceedings in the detection of the conspiracy formed by some white people, in conjunction with Negro and other slaves, for burning the city of New-York in America, and murdering the inhabitants. New-York: Printed by James Parker, 1744. Reproduction. New-York Historical Society. Spanish Jews in New York City Spanish Jews in New York City While Spanish nationals were unwelcome in either Dutch or Anglo New York, there were exceptions. After their expulsion from Spain in 1492, some Sephardic Jews from the Iberian Peninsula eventually made their way to Dutch Brazil. In 1654, fleeing the recapture of this territory by the Portuguese, 23 Jews sought refuge in Dutch New Amsterdam, which Peter Stuyvesant initially refused. When the Sephardic community in Amsterdam (which included substantial investors in the Dutch West India Company) intervened on their behalf, they were permitted to stay. The Jewish community that formed in 17 th -century New York established the Sephardic congregation of Shearith Israel, which still thrives today. Ketubah : Following Jewish tradition, this Ketubah , or marriage contract, was written in Aramaic text and outlined the groom’s obligations to his bride. Burying Ground Map : Shearith Israel used this cemetery at Chatham Square from 1682 to 1828. Only the westernmost portion stands today, on the Bowery at St. James Place.

10 A Letter of Thanks : This letter, written in Spanish, expresses gratitude to Shearith Israel for sheltering Sephardic Jews who arrived in New York from the Dutch colony of St. Eustatius. Commercial Document : Rhode Islander Aaron Lopez developed a commercial network that extended to New York, England, the West Indies, and the Iberian Peninsula. Prayer Book : This prayer book containing the Sephardic liturgy was one of the earliest English translations of a Hebrew prayer published in America. Pineapple Torah Finials : These engraved and chased silver rimonim were a gift to Congregation Shearith Israel on the 1730 opening of its first synagogue building on Mill Street in lower Manhattan. Ketubah, 1796-1797, in Aramaic. Congregation Shearith Israel in the City of New York. Map of the Burying Ground … New York, Aug 14, 1789. Congregation Shearith Israel in the City of New York. St. Eustatius synagogue , letter to Kehila Kedosha Shearith Israel , 1 Octubro, 1772. Congregation Shearith Israel in the City of New York. Aaron Lopez / Mary Woods, clothing manufactures , 1764. Congregation Shearith Israel in the City of New York. Isaac Pinto, Prayers for Shabbath ... According to the Order of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews. New York: John Holt, 1766. New-York Historical Society.

11 Pineapple Torah Finials (pair), ca. 1730, silver and mixed metals. Congregation Shearith Israel in the City of New York. A generous gift from Norman Benzaquen has made this display of treasures from Shearith Israel possible. New York as a Hub of Caribbean Trade Hampered by the limitations of its convoy system, vulnerable to weather and to attack by the privateers of rival empires, Spain could not adequately supply its American colonies with food and other necessities. So colonists in Spanish America turned to traders in the British empire to supply their needs. New Yorkers and colonists in other British seaport cities eagerly expanded their commerce. Selling fish, lumber, and flour to places such as Havana and Mexico City, traders returned with sugar, coffee, and badly needed silver coin. By the 1740s, New Yorkers had established extensive trading networks with Spain’s mainland and Caribbean possessions, and those of the Dutch, French, and Portuguese as well, despite imperial efforts to keep colonial trade within their separate empires. This burgeoning commerce stimulated local production and agriculture and made New York into a significant Atlantic port city. A Taste for Chocolate Mesoamerican chocolate made from cacao beans captivated Europeans, especially Spaniards, who sweetened their chocolate drink with sugar. Here painter Juan Bautista Romero depicts an afternoon merienda (snack) in the Spanish still life style that flourished in the

12 17 th and 18 th centuries. New Yorkers developed their own sweet tooth, mixing their chocolate from Spanish America with sugar from British colonies. Juan Bautista Romero (Spain, 1756–after 1802), Still Life with Chocolate and Strawberries , ca. 1775–90. Oil on panel. North Carolina Museum of Art, Purchased with funds from the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest), G.52.9.184. Benefits of the Spanish Trade The thriving colonial city captured in this rare print derived much of its prosperity and vitality from the Spanish trade. Spanish islanders beckoned New Yorkers to bring food, textiles, and construction materials to them, and in return promised good prices on Caribbean tobacco, sugar, coffee, rum, and wood used for dyes. John Harris, Burgis Plan, NYC , 1717. Engraving. New- York Historical Society, Gift of Berthold Fernow. The British Seize Havana These powder horns (used to store gunpowder) are souvenirs from 1762 when colonial volunteers from New York and New Jersey helped England capture Havana during the global conflict of the Seven Years’ War (1756- 1763). By the time England returned Havana to Spain eleven months later under the terms of peace, 700 English and mid-Atlantic ships were landing each year at Cuban ports. Dominic Serres, engraved by Canot and Mason, Plate XI, Orsbridge, A perspective view of the NW angle of El Morro Castle . . . His Majesty’s sloops of war . . . assisting to

13 open the booms, 1764. Reproduction. © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Powder Horn , ca. 1762. Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The J.H. Grenville Gilbert Collection Gift of Mrs. J.H. Gilbert, 1937 (37.131.8). Powder Horn, 1767. Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The J.H. Grenville Gilbert Collection Gift of Mrs. J.H. Gilbert, 1940 (40.105). Contraband Trade Colonists in the Americas became very creative about subverting the trade regulations that England and Spain tried to enforce. Hiding Spanish silver coins in barrels of sugar or coffee was one form of the contraband trade that attracted New Yorkers such as the Ludlows, Bayards, Livingstons, Beekmans, and many other North American merchants into the Spanish Caribbean. The Atlantic World 1763 In 1763, on the eve of the American Revolution, Britain had driven France from North America and was challenging Spanish dominance, both militarily and economically. Rival imperial authorities tried to control commerce within their territories, but colonial merchants routinely evaded such restrictions. East Coast cities like New York thrived on the Caribbean trade—in both its legitimate and contraband versions. Spain Supports the American Revolution & New York Welcomes the Spanish North Americans who fought for independence from 1763 to 1783 relied on battlefield aid, silver coin, and huge loans from both France and Spain. Spain funneled money 14 and supplies through private merchants like Diego María de Gardoqui, of Gardoqui & Sons in Bilbao. After the revolution, grateful for wartime support and recognition of a republican United States, New Yorkers found new tolerance for their former rival and began welcoming the Spanish themselves. George Washington invited Gardoqui to stand with him at Federal Hall during his inauguration as president in 1789. Even more startling, the city’s tiny Spanish-speaking community built New York’s first Catholic church—St. Peter’s on Barclay Street—aided by money and art from Spain and Mexico. Spain’s Minister in New York During the American Revolution, Don Diego María de Gardoqui supplied rebel forces with blankets, quinine, and cloth for uniforms, all paid for by the Spanish state. After the war, he lived in New York from 1785-89 as Spain's minister to the U.S., charged with resolving trade and boundary disputes in Spanish-held Florida and Louisiana. Negotiating for the U.S. was his neighbor and soon-to-be Chief Justice John Jay. This is a rare portrait of Gardoqui. Don Diego María de Gardoqui (1735–98) , ca. 1785. Inscription: Quartermaster of the Royal Armies, Chargé d’affaires of his majesty Don Carlos III in the United States. Oil on canvas. Courtesy New Mexico History Museum, History Collections. Trade with the Spanish World After the revolution, European merchants Dominick Lynch and Thomas Stoughton decided New York was ripe for an import/export business with Spain. Moving from Bruges to New York in 1783 ahead of his partner, Stoughton

15 pioneered new trading networks with Spain and Spanish America, keeping track in his journals of daily expenses and complicated debt arrangements on three continents. Often employing Spanish ships like the Santa del Rosario , Lynch & Stoughton imported lemons, Madeira wine, sherry, brandy, and raisins from Spain and Southern Europe; and sugar, coffee, silver, and “Nicaraguan wood” from Havana, Cartagena, and Central America. Exports included flour and timber to Dublin, Amsterdam, Cádiz, and the Spanish and French Caribbean islands. Transporting the goods posed many dangers, including pursuit by pirates. In 1786, Stoughton and Lynch insured the “body of Capt. John Smith, master of Ship Jenny” against an attack by “Barbary corsairs” on his journey from New York to Lisbon. Stoughton also served as Spanish consul in New York from 1794 to at least 1812, and his relatives maintained business and family connections with Spain. Dominick Lynch and Thomas Stoughton, Journal , 1783– 88. New-York Historical Society. Catholicism in New York New Yorkers’ new-found tolerance for the Spanish extended to the city’s few Catholics. For a brief period under the Duke of York (who became King James II in 1685), local Catholics had been permitted to worship in public. The King’s overthrow in 1688 ended the practice, and until the American Revolution, priests in New York were banned, "papists" barred from voting, and Protestant rule enforced by periodic "no-popery" riots.

16 In 1785, prominent Catholics including Spanish minister Diego de Gardoqui and merchants Dominick Lynch and Thomas Stoughton received permission to build the city’s first Catholic church: St. Peter’s on Barclay Street. Construction was funded by Spain's King Carlos III, the Archbishop of Mexico City, and the Bishop of Puebla. The Archbishop also contributed an oil painting of the crucifixion by José María Vallejo that hangs above the altar to this day. The 18 th -century Virgin shown here—combining elements of Spanish, Spanish American, and Asian artistic traditions—is the kind of religious object that local Catholics were now free to obtain from the Spanish world. La Virgen del siglo XVII, que aparece aquí combinando elementos de las tradiciones artísticas españolas, hispanoamericanas y asiáticas, es el tipo de objeto religioso que los católicos de la ciudad ahora podían obtener libremente del mundo español. Virgin of the Immaculate Conception , probably 18th century. Brooklyn Museum, Frank L. Babbott Fund, 42.384. New York’s First Catholic Church St. Peter’s Church, at 22 Barclay Street, was built in 1786 and improved in the early 1790s. John McComb, Jr.—the future architect of New York City Hall—made this lovely drawing in an unsuccessful bid to do the alterations. St. Peter’s was demolished and replaced in 1840 by the Greek Revival building that still stands today—a designated New York City landmark. The church narrowly escaped destruction on 9/11.

17 John McComb, Front View of St. Peter's Church with the intended steeple , 1785. New-York Historical Society. Spanish American Patriots in New York In 1784, at the very moment that Spain was establishing a New York presence, Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda arrived in town to seek backing from prominent citizens “for the liberty and independence of the entire Spanish- American Continent." He returned in 1806 to raise a military expedition to Venezuela. The mission failed but dampened neither Miranda’s commitment nor New Yorkers’ enthusiasm for the cause of independence to the south. Miranda died in a Spanish jail, but his determination inspired independence leaders such as the Argentinean José de San Martín and the Venezuelan Simón Bolívar. The Spanish American wars for independence lasted fifteen terrible years, from 1810 to 1825. Unlike their northern neighbors, the rebels fought to win an entire continent. In the end, Spain lost all of its colonies except Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines. The year 2010 marks the bicentennial commemoration of Spanish American independence. New Yorkers Join the Ill-Fated Miranda Expedition Francisco de Miranda returned to New York in 1806 hoping to win U.S. support in freeing Spanish America from colonial rule. A military leader and man of letters— erudite and charming—Miranda secured powerful allies, including Colonel William Steuben Smith, appointed Surveyor of the Port of New York by his father-in-law President John Adams, and wealthy merchant Samuel G. Ogden, who turned over one of his armed vessels, the

18 Leander , and helped Miranda outfit it with men and munitions. But Miranda’s expedition to liberate Venezuela ended badly. Consul Thomas Stoughton alerted Spain to Miranda’s plans, enabling the Spanish to counter his every move, eventually capturing and jailing many of his crewmembers and hanging ten of his officers. Ogden and Smith were luckier. Tried in New York for violating U.S. neutrality laws, they were acquitted by a sympathetic jury. Miranda escaped from this episode to continue his revolutionary efforts. Letter from Francisco de Miranda to John Adams: From his base in London prior to 1806, Miranda lobbied ceaselessly with important people on both sides of the Atlantic for aid to Spanish American revolutionaries. Letter from Francisco de Miranda to Rufus King: As diplomat Rufus King feared, Miranda’s unwanted confidences about his expedition would later lend credence to the claim that the U.S. government knew and approved of Miranda’s plans. Petition from a Volunteer’s Wife: With her husband imprisoned for accompanying Miranda, and six children to support, Lydia Heckle applied for a license to open a tavern and grocery store. Francisco de Miranda, Letter to President Adams , March 24, 1798. New-York Historical Society. Francisco de Miranda, Letter to Rufus King , August 23, 1803. New-York Historical Society. Lydia Heckle, Petition to Marinus Willett, Mayor of New

19 York, re: Miranda expedition, May 16, 1807. New-York Historical Society. Samuel G. Ogden Samuel G. Ogden, a supporter of Miranda’s political aims, was also a shrewd merchant. He planned to recoup his huge investment in Miranda’s expedition by sending the Leander on to Jacmel, Haiti, to take aboard a cargo of coffee. Although Ogden escaped relatively unscathed from the episode, he recovered only a fraction of his money. “Plate 406, Samuel Gouverneur Ogden,” William Ogden Wheeler, The Ogden family in America, Elizabethtown branch, and their English ancestry . Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott company, 1907. Reproduction. The Brooklyn Historical Society . Francisco de Miranda Raised in Venezuela, Francisco de Miranda served in the imperial Spanish forces before embracing Enlightenment ideals of liberty and launching his lifelong campaign to liberate Latin America. Better at winning converts than battles, his wrenching losses in Venezuela in 1812 and friction with fellow independentistas led to Miranda’s imprisonment and death in a Spanish prison. Georges Rouget (France, 1784–1869), photographed by Arnaudet, Francisco de Miranda general of the Army of the North 1792 . Reproduction. Chateaux de Versailles et de Trianon, Versailles, France. Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, NY.

20 Why New Yorkers Joined Miranda Miranda’s New York volunteers claimed they knew little about their commander’s full purpose, but still, they sailed. Some may have risked all for political ideals; for others, like Moses Smith, “good pay and a fine uniform, lands and a horse” were enticement enough. Smith published this image in his memoirs following his release from prison. “The Execution of ten of Miranda’s Officers,” Moses Smith, History of the Adventures and Sufferings of Moses Smith, during Five Years of his Life. Brooklyn: Printed by Thomas Kirk, Main-Street, for the author, 1812. Reproduction. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. South America Wins its Independence The Spanish American wars for independence got seriously underway in 1810 and ended in March 1825. Remarkably, the last battle took place in Potosí, Upper Peru, at the same “Cerro Rico” whose silver deposits had enriched the Spanish empire and altered the history of the world. With independence achieved, Upper Peru was renamed Bolivia in honor of Simón Bolívar, Latin America’s most prominent general and leader. New Yorkers celebrated the victory with a public dinner at the City Hotel on March 23, 1825. The toasts rang: “To South American independence!” “May her liberty be as permanently established as her Andes and as pure as the snow on their summit.” “May the people of Spain take a lesson on the science of government from their American children.”

21 Pietro Tenerani (Italy, 1789–1869), Simón Bolívar (1783- 1830), 1831. Painted plaster. New-York Historical Society, Gift of Mr. Alexander H. Stevens, M.D., 1847.3. The New Map of South America By the mid-1820s, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and the United Provinces of Central America were independent, as was Ecuador, though its declaration came later. In 1822, President Monroe was the first foreign leader to officially recognize the new nations; his Monroe Doctrine in 1823 warned would-be recolonizers from Europe that the Western Hemisphere was off limits. Amerique Méridionale, Latin America , 1847. Roberta & Richard Huber . Venezuelan War Hero and his Cavalry Venezuela’s first president, General José Antonio Páez, received a hero’s welcome in New York when political tumult in his homeland sent him into exile in 1850. The general’s son Ramón depicts here a war scene from 1818 when Páez and his llaneros (cavalry) commandeered enemy flecheras (light war boats) to help Bolívar’s army cross the Apure river. Ramón Páez (Venezuela, ca. 1820–97), La Toma de las Flecheras , ca. 1850-1860. Gouache on paper laid onto board, silver leafed wooden frame. Anthony Páez Mullan, Washington, DC Son of a Venezuelan General Resides in New York The artist Ramón Páez stayed on in New York even after his father, General José Antonio Páez, returned to

22 Venezuela. Ramón was also a travel writer and diplomat, friendly with prominent New Yorkers such as Frederic Edwin Church, and author of three books on the themes of travel and education, published here in the 1860s and 70s, that sought to introduce the people of both Americas to each other. Édouart sheet 496 ( Ramón Páez ). Reproduction. New- York Historical Society. . Gallery 2: Trade with Spanish America: 1825-1900 After their revolutions, the U.S. and the countries of Spanish America traded without interference from imperial rulers. U.S. merchants also did a booming business with Spain’s remaining Caribbean colonies—Cuba and Puerto Rico. In the 1800s, the South American trade helped turn the New York-Brooklyn metropolis into one of the world’s most prosperous urban centers. The city’s advantages already included a deep, safe harbor, access to the U.S. agricultural heartland through the Erie Canal, a huge and skilled workforce, and daring entrepreneurs. The growing volume of trade with South America now spurred the development of industry (from sugar refineries to machine shops), infrastructure (docks and warehouses), and finance (banks and marine insurance companies). Beginning with the ship, move counter-clockwise through the gallery Trade Between Continents In order to bolster efficiency and profit, merchants like the

23 Howland brothers extended their business from Latin America to China. Commissioning the Sea Witch from a Manhattan shipyard, Howland & Aspinwall—an offshoot of the original firm, G.G. & S.S. Howland—devoted this sleek clipper to the China trade and installed Captain Robert Waterman at the helm. Waterman’s voyages to China broke multiple world records. En route to Canton, the Sea Witch exchanged goods in silver-rich Spanish America and “Gold Rush” California, collecting the coin needed to trade with Chinese merchants who refused credit. Under Captain George Fraser, the clipper also transported contract laborers called “coolies” from China to Latin America. On March 28, 1856, the ship wrecked and sank near Havana with approximately 500 Chinese laborers on board who had been consigned to Howland & Aspinwall. All the passengers survived. Charles Gerard Davis, Model of clipper ship: Sea Witch , 1936. Courtesy of Mystic Seaport, Mystic, Conn., #1940.377. The Brooklyn Waterfront In the 1850s and 1860s, Brooklyn attracted most of New York’s shipbuilding and waterfront industries. This bird’s- eye view—from the vantage point of a bird hovering over the Navy Yard—captures the spirit of the industrial activity below, though its depiction of South Brooklyn is seriously distorted. John Bornet (United States, active 1850–56), City of Brooklyn, LI, taken from Rush St., 1855 , 1855. Hand- colored lithograph with tint stone. New-York Historical Society. 24 Keeping Current with Prices When New York merchants shipped goods to Latin America, they expected their captains and other representatives to shepherd their cargoes between ports, “buying cheap and selling dear.” But foreign languages, diverse currencies, fluctuating world prices, changing customs regulations, volatile weather, and unforeseen disasters tripped up even the sharpest bargainers. Knowing the current prices helped. Before telegraph lines enhanced communication in the 1860s, captains picked up “prices-current” sheets from ports of call or from brigs and schooners they passed while sailing south. James Middleton, Writing desk , 1829–35. New-York Historical Society, Gift of Miss Marie L. Troup, 1975.30. Quill . New-York Historical Society, Gift of Mrs. Hilary Barratt-Brown, member of the Society in memory of her mother Gratia Houghton Rinehart, 1970.1. Inkwell , ca. 1810–30. New-York Historical Society, Gift of Mr. M. Woolsey Campan and Alexander Macomb Campan, 1941.630. Dallond, Pocket Telescope , ca. 1820. New-York Historical Society, Gift of F. E. Ogden, Sr., 1940.454. Drake Brothers, Prices Current at Matanzas , 1844. Reproduction. Moses Taylor papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

25 Trading Information Santiago and Carlos Drake y Núñez del Castillo— merchant/bankers and sugar growers in Cuba—kept their New York customer Moses Taylor up to date with these prices-current flyers. A note accompanying this flyer happily informed Taylor that “the late insurrection among the negroes in our neighborhood has been quelled,” and that steps had been taken to “prevent a repetition.” The writer referred to the 1843 Matanzas slave conspiracy, known as “La Escalera” for the ladders to which purported conspirators were tied and flogged. Port of New York New York merchants and sea captains went after the Latin American trade with gusto—the Erie Canal (1825) giving them a critical edge over other U.S. competitors. Latin Americans prized high-grade flour, and the waterway linked New York directly to the wheatfields of the Midwest. To service the canal barges and sea-going vessels, neighboring (and still independent) Brooklyn built the Atlantic Docks and Erie Basin. A workforce, swelled by European immigrants, unloaded coffee shipped north from Venezuela and Brazil, hides from Argentina, sugar from Cuba, and guano from Peru. Goods processed and manufactured in New York sailed, and later steamed, back south. The explosion in the north/south trade (as well as the east/west traffic to Europe and China) expanded ancillary businesses like marine insurance and banking Foreign Markets Bolster Local Industry Imports and exports sustained not just the sugar enterprises, but New York's wider manufacturing sector as

26 well. Faced with a burgeoning and accessible Latin American market, local industries tailored goods to suit their needs. The Novelty Iron Works built sugar-mill machinery for plantations and steam engines for ships. Its clients included the Mexican, Peruvian, and Spanish governments. John Penniman (United States, 1817–50), Novelty Iron works, Foot of 12th St. E.R. New York. Stillman, Allen & Co., Iron Founders, Steam Engine and General Machinery Manufacturers, 1841–44. Lithograph printed in colors with hand coloring. Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Edward W. C. Arnold Collection of New York Prints, Maps and Pictures, Bequest of Edward W. C. Arnold, 1954 (54.90.588). Exports to South America & the Caribbean New Yorkers exported goods throughout Spanish- speaking America, satisfying the demand for basic foodstuffs and construction materials, as well as for luxury items like carriages and Windsor chairs. William Colgate's factory shipped soap and toiletries, while the American Bank Note Company printed paper pesos, mil-reis, colones, sucres, and gourdes for circulation in Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Haiti, respectively. “Advertisements,” La América . Reproduction. Courtesy of Instituto de Literatura y Lingüística, Havana, Cuba. “Transporting Grain from the Elevator to a Steamship, for Foreign Consumption,” Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper . Reproduction. New-York Historical Society.

27 W. R. Grace and Peruvian Guano Beginning in the 1840s, commercial farmers clamored for a potent fertilizer made from bird droppings (guano) obtained from Peru’s Chincha Islands. William R. Grace— who came to New York via Ireland and Peru—made a fortune shipping the stuff to market. In 1880 he followed the lead of William Havemeyer and went into politics, becoming New York’s first Irish-Catholic mayor. Soluble Pacific Guano, 1857-83. Courtesy of Mystic Seaport, Mystic, Conn., #1994.5. The Landscape of Guano Production Famed photographer Alexander Gardner documented Peru’s guano trade in his South American travelogue. Indentured Chinese laborers worked under wretched conditions at ancient, mountain-like deposits, carting the guano to cliff-top enclosures and funneling it, shovel by shovel, into chutes down to ships anchored below. Alexander Gardner, Rays of Sunlight from South America , ca. 1865. Reproductions. Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Alexander Gardner, Rays of Sunlight from South America “The Great Heap—2,000,000 Tons Guano—Chincha Islands,” 1865 “Chinamen Working Guano—Great Heap—Chincha Islands,” 1865 “Loading Cars with Guano at the Great Heap, Chincha Islands,” 1865

28 “View of the Town, North Island, Chincha Islands,” 1865 “View of the Great Pier, with Shipping Waiting for Guano,” 1865 Imports from South America & the Caribbean In 1860 alone, New York imported 243 million Cuban cigars, 72 million pounds of coffee (primarily from Brazil), 211,000 tons of raw sugar from Cuba and Puerto Rico, and nearly a million cattle hides—largely from the pampas regions of Argentina and Uruguay—which workers tanned and sewed to make leather goods. Clockwise from top left: Shoe advertisement, La América . Reproduction. Courtesy of Instituto de Literatura y Lingüística, Havana, Cuba. Richard Hoe Lawrence , Untitled [unloading ship cargo] , 1886. Photograph. New-York Historical Society. Cigar Art. Emilio Cueto Collection, Washington D.C Havemeyers & Elder Sugar Refiners, Rionda Benjamin receipt , 1877. George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida. Arbuckle Bros. Coffee Company trade cards , 1889. New- York Historical Society. Crouch & Fitzgerald, No. 1 Maiden Lane, No. 556 Broadway, New York, 1876. New-York Historical Society. Center: Fulton St. near Fulton Ferry, ca. 1880. New-York Historical Society.

29 Cuban Children in New York Cuban families who exported sugar to New York often sent their children here to learn the language, business practices, and mores of the country, expecting merchants like Moses Taylor to help settle and supervise their children during their years of schooling. Spain still ruled Cuba, but wealthy Cubans looked increasingly to the U.S. as the place that mattered. Letter Introducing Pablo Duany: This 1836 letter from an associate of the Duany family calls upon Moses Taylor to supervise young Pablo during his stay in New York and deliver him his monthly allowance of $80—a generous sum far exceeding monthly wages in Cuba and New York alike. Belongings of Elena Rionda: Fourteen-year-old Elena Rionda, daughter of a prominent Cuban sugar grower, fondly recalled her 1894 stay in New York. Once back home, she practiced her English in letters to Aunt Harriet and Uncle Manuel Rionda, here gently chiding her uncle that she knew perfectly well how to behave at grown-up parties and balls. “When you are in Cuba, do what the Cubans do.” While Elena’s days were still gay, her reference to General Weyler hints at the brutal state of war that was then transforming life on the island as Spain tried to end Cuba’s bid for independence (see gallery 4). Wright Brooks, Letter to Moses Taylor , May 29, 1839. Moses Taylor papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

30 Elena Rionda in New York City , 1894. George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida. Elena Rionda, 464 W. 145th St. George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida. Elena Rionda with relative in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, ca. 1896. George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida. Elena Rionda, Letter to her aunt and uncle , February 26, 1897. George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida. Depicting Cuba The work of artist travelers like Charles de Wolf Brownell—who lived in New York in the 1860s—helped North Americans imagine the places that produced the goods they enjoyed consuming. Over the course of seven winters spent in Cuba (where his family had sugar and coffee interests), Brownell produced numerous views of the island landscape in precisely rendered detail. Charles de Wolf Brownell (United States, 1822–1909). Havana Bay/Bahía de la Havana , ca. 1856-1866. Oil on canvas. Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Panama. Trade and Cultural Exchange Trade brought English and Spanish speakers into closer contact. Firms based in New York, Barcelona, Havana, and Buenos Aires sent staff and relatives to foreign ports to watch over investments, cultivate clients, and pursue opportunities. In New York, a Spanish-speaking community began to take shape. In 1830 merchants organized the Sociedad Benéfica Cubana y Puertorriqueña to promote commerce

31 with their part of the Caribbean. Businesses sprang up to serve Spanish-speaking residents, such as the newspaper El Mercurio de Nueva York (1828), and the barbers, tailors, and boarding house owners who advertised in El Mercurio 's pages. By the early 1860s approximately 1,300 Spaniards and Latin Americans lived in the city, about half of whom had come from or via Cuba. Cuba also attracted Americans. In 1862, almost 2,500 Americans resided on the island, with Cárdenas in particular becoming known as an "American City" for its large North American population. Links between these counterpart communities further strengthened the U.S.- Cuban connection. The Landscape of Sugar Production Estates like La Fortuna, located in fertile Ponce, Puerto Rico, grew and milled sugar cane, shipping most of their product to U.S. refineries. The owner, a Barcelonan émigré, commissioned distinguished Puerto Rican artist Francisco Oller to paint his house, warehouse, mill, and laborers. Oller applied the impressionist techniques he mastered in Europe to studies of his native landscape. Franciso Oller (Puerto Rico, 1833–1917), Hacienda La Fortuna , 1885. Oil on canvas. Collection of Carmen G. Correa. Afro-Cubans in Sugar Production In the mid-1800s, enslaved and free people of color comprised the majority of Cuba’s population. Even as Afro-Cubans labored on sugar plantations, they created distinctive religious, culinary, and musical traditions that enrich the culture to this day. Writer Cirilo Villaverde

32 famously argued for the humanity of Africans and the inhumanity of slavery in his classic novel about Cuba, Cecilia Valdés (New York, 1882). Antonio Canet (Cuba, 1942–2008), “Plantation Life,” Cecilia Valdé s: 1879 Mayo 1979: grabados en xilografí a y linó leo . Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1983. Reproduction. Library of Congress. Slave shackles , ca. 1866. New-York Historical Society, Gift of Mrs. Carroll Beckwith, 1921.20. Manuel Rionda Manuel Rionda (bottom photo, seated) came to New York from Cuba in 1874 to advance the interests of several intertwined Spanish-Cuban sugar planter and exporter families. In 1909, he formed the wildly profitable Czarnikow-Rionda company. Pepe Fanjul, Manuel’s grand-nephew, donated the photograph depicting family members—including his grandfather, Higinio Fanjul, his father Alfonso Fanjul, and his great uncle Manuel Rionda—to the New-York Historical Society for this exhibition (top photo, men standing). Rionda family. Reproduction. George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida. Group portrait at house of Higinio Fanjul , Linda Vista, Cuba, 1936, (l-r) Arturo Manas, Manuel Rasco, Jesús Azqueta, Higinio Fanjul Rionda, José Manuel Casanova, Miguel Mariano Gómez, Alfonso Fanjul, José García Bayllores, Manuel Rionda, José (Pepe) Gómez Mena, Aurelio Portuondo. Courtesy of J. Pepe Fanjul.

33 King-pins of the Sugar Industry The men depicted on the wall figured prominently in New York’s sugar business. The merchant Moses Taylor invested his enormous profits from sugar in manufacturing and banking, becoming president of the National City Bank of New York, ancestor of Citibank. The Caribbean connection thus helped New York’s economy to grow and diversify. The Havemeyer family kept their focus on sugar refining and went on to monopolize the American sugar business, rebranding their company as Domino Sugar in 1900. The Rionda family included the most successful Cuban sugar merchants operating in 19 th -century New York. The Fanjuls of Florida Crystals, who bought Domino Sugar in 2001, are descendents of Manuel Rionda. Spanish Lesson Book: As trade grew, so did the need to communicate across language barriers. To interact with clients, Moses Taylor relied on his future son-in-law Percy Pyne, a sociable and enterprising employee who taught himself Spanish. Spanish-English Manual: Catering to intra-American commerce, New York authors like Francisco Javier Vingut—a bookstore owner and professor of Spanish literature—published English instruction manuals with sample business letters inside. Francisco Javier Vingut, El maestro de inglés, método práctico para aprender a leer, escribir y hablar la lengua inglesa: según el sistema de Ollendorff . New York: R. Lockwood & Son, 1851. General Research Division, The

34 New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. G.G. & S.S. Howland Brothers Gardiner Greene and Samuel Shaw Howland dealt heavily in sugar, sending their first schooner to Cuba in 1816. In Venezuela, thanks to their friendship with President Páez, they cornered that country’s coffee trade. By 1830, the firm ruled the Latin American waves, its trade spawning a new generation of merchants. Auguste Edouart (France, 1789–1861), Gardiner Howland and Samuel Howland, 1840. Lithograph and cut paper on paper with ink wash. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution: gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Moses Taylor Moses Taylor clerked for the Howlands before opening his own counting house in 1832, specializing in the purchase and transport of sugar from Havana to New York. Here he poses for José Mora, a Cuban photographer whose family moved to New York to oversee its sugar interests. William Havemeyer The Havemeyer family led the exodus of New York’s sugar refiners from Manhattan to Brooklyn in 1856. William Havemeyer served three terms as the city’s mayor, one of the first to parlay an economic fortune won in Spanish America into a political fortune in New York. José María Mora (Cuba, 1850–1926), Moses Taylor , 1870–82. Albumen silver print on card. Special Collections, Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library.

35 José María Mora (Cuba, 1850–1926), Hon. Wm. F. Havemeyer , 1870–74. Albumen silver print on card. Special Collections, Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library. New York as a Sugar Capital New Yorkers began refining sugar in the 1720s, first importing it from British colonies like Barbados and then from the French colony of Saint Domingue. When a slave rebellion (1791-1804) created the free republic of Haiti and disrupted the island’s sugar production, merchants and refiners turned to the Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico and Cuba where slavery survived until 1873 and 1886 respectively. In the 1800s, as planters in the Caribbean installed steam- powered mills to process cane more efficiently, vast amounts of raw sugar reached the refineries of New York and Brooklyn, where it was turned into white sugar. By 1860, Brooklyn had become the world’s center of sugar refining. By 1900, its factories processed millions of pounds each day. Mass production made white sugar a household staple.

Gallery 3: Cultural Encounters: 1825-1900 During the 1800s, commercial and political connections fostered cultural encounters as well, nowhere more so than in New York, the principal hub of communications and shipping. The growing ease of international travel for those who could afford it facilitated exploration. Washington Irving journeyed from New York to Spain; the poet José María Heredia traveled to New York from

36 Havana; and visits and mutual observations among North Americans, South Americans, and Spaniards grew increasingly common. Interaction took place on-the-ground and in the life of the imagination. Artists and writers measured their own society against others, producing paintings, literature, and journalism that helped to define national and cultural identities. Spanish-speakers integrated themselves into the life of the city as they enjoyed its educational and entrepreneurial opportunities, and the freedom it afforded to publish and organize around issues of concern. Spain in the American Imagination The colonial era “Black Legend” that stereotyped Spaniards as cruel tyrants diminished in influence in the 19 th century (though war with Spain would briefly revive it). Two New Yorkers aided this transformation by offering North Americans different ways to think about the Spanish. The writer Washington Irving treasured “romantic” Spain and made Christopher Columbus a central figure in the story of America’s origins. The painter William Merritt Chase, profoundly influenced by the 17th century artist Diego Velázquez, helped make him a model for 19th century American painters. But the new image of Spain was also distorted. If the country was picturesque and exotic, it was also mired in its past. In contrast, North Americans saw their own society as dynamic and up-and-coming, if perhaps a bit too money-minded. Spain thus continued to be a foil for the U.S., appreciated less for itself than as a way to measure America’s gains and losses as it forged ahead in the 37 world. Next label: to your immediate left Washington Irving Popularizes Spanish History Writing as the fictional Diedrich Knickerbocker, native New Yorker Washington Irving riveted readers with his irreverent combination of fact and fancy in A History of New York (1809). A diplomatic posting to Spain in the 1820s gave Irving the opportunity to delve into that country’s past as well. Over the next decade he would produce four books on the theme: The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828), Conquest of Granada (1829), Tales of the Alhambra (1832), and Legends of the Conquest of Spain (1835). These works, which also blended historical research with romantic storytelling, celebrated Spain’s exotic past and venerated present-day remnants of its former glory, like Granada’s palatial (if dilapidated) Alhambra. His exciting tales created a vogue for things Spanish, and inspired generations of writers and artists to make their own pilgrimages to Spain seeking picturesque scenes to portray. Irving’s portraits were also popular because they flattered American sensibilities, casting Spain as a country marooned in the past, while the U.S. chugged into the future. Washington Irving (United States, 1783–1859), The Alhambra. By Washington Irving. Author's Revised Edition. With Illustrations by Felix O. C. Darley, Engraved by the Most Eminent Artists . New York, G.P. Putman, 1851. The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle,

38 The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Washington Irving (United States, 1783–1859), A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus . New York: G. & C. Carvill, 1828. New-York Historical Society. Washington Irving Returns to New York In 1832, New York's cultural and political elite gathered at the City Hotel to offer cheers and toasts to Washington Irving on his return from years abroad. By winning international fame for his works on Spain, Irving had put the city on Europe's literary map. His biography of Columbus would win similar acclaim in the United States, going through 175 editions before 1900. James Hamilton Shegogue (United States, 1806–72), Washington Irving , 1836. Oil on canvas. New-York Historical Society, Gift of the American Geographical Society, 1946.138. Endicott & Swett after Moses Swett, The Irving Dinner at City Hotel, New York , May 30, 1832. Lithograph. Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Edward W. C. Arnold Collection of New York Prints, Maps and Pictures, Bequest of Edward W. C. Arnold, 1954 (54.90.752). Next label: turn around, face the Gallery 3 entrance, on your left William Merritt Chase and Picturesque Spain Like a growing number of New York artists after the 1860s, William Merritt Chase journeyed to Spain in search of the picturesque subjects that Washington Irving had

39 previously popularized in his romantic portrayals of the country. Chase’s painting Sunny Spain , sketched during a trip to Toledo in 1882, captures the sense of a place lost in another time, with its sleepy, pre-modern scenery and intense heat and light. The Spanish light also spurred Chase’s interest in working outdoors, and he became a skilled practitioner of the Impressionist style that became internationally popular in the late 19th century. William Merritt Chase (United States, 1849–1916), Sunny Spain , 1882. Oil on canvas. Lois and Arthur Stainman. Chase Emulates a Spanish Master Chase’s experiences in the galleries of Madrid’s Prado museum transformed his art and life. Transfixed by the paintings of Diego Velázquez, he copied the master’s work, seeking to learn from the man he accounted “the greatest painter that ever lived.” Once back home, Chase even emulated the lifestyle and trappings of the Spanish court in New York, posing family and friends in period costume, and reenacting scenes depicted in Velázquez’s paintings. Helen posed as Velázquez's INFANTA, behind a frame for a tableau vivant, with William Merritt Chase adjusting the frame , ca. 1899. Gelatin printing-out paper. The William Merritt Chase Archives, The Parrish Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. A. Byrd McDowell. William Merritt Chase painting a portrait of Helen dressed as Velázquez's Infanta, ca. 1899. Gelatin silver print. The William Merritt Chase Archives, The Parrish Art Museum, Gift of Jackson Chase Storm. 40 María Teresa as an Infanta by Velázquez . Gelatin silver print. The William Merritt Chase Archives, The Parrish Art Museum, Gift of Ronald G. Pisano. Four-year-old Helen Velázquez Chase Having seen Chase’s daughter dressed as a Spanish princess and posed in the manner of Velázquez, one of Chase’s patrons commissioned this painting. Velázquez had numerous champions in New York; the old master represented the glamour of Spain’s “Golden Age” to Americans then expanding their commercial and political horizons. William Merritt Chase (United States, 1849–1916), An Infanta, A Souvenir of Velázquez, 1899. Oil on canvas. Private Lender. Lessons on Spanish Art and Culture Chase advanced American appreciation for Spanish art through his own Velázquez-inflected paintings, but also through the Spanish-themed events he hosted in his Tenth Street studio, and his teachings at New York’s Art Students’ League and Chase School for Art (now Parsons School of Design). On several occasions he took students on field trips to the Prado museum in Madrid. William Merritt Chase in his Tenth Street Studio, NYC, with copies after Hals, Velázquez and other Old Masters on the wall , ca. 1895. Albumen print. The William Merritt Chase Archives, The Parrish Art Museum, Gift of Jackson Chase Storm. William Merritt Chase and art class, New York School of Art , ca. 1905. Gelatin silver print. The William Merritt Chase Archives, The Parrish Art Museum, Gift of Jackson 41 Chase Storm. William Merritt Chase and students, Madrid , 1896. Albumen print. The William Merritt Chase Archives, The Parrish Art Museum, Gift of Jackson Chase Storm. Art Students’ League brochure, 1878 . The William Merritt Chase Archives, The Parrish Art Museum, Gift of Ronald G. Pisano. Spanish Speakers in New York Political turmoil and economic crises pushed Spaniards and Latin Americans to New York City throughout the 1800s. Cubans in particular fled northward during the long battle for independence from Spain. But poets, educators, and politicians from Mexico to Argentina also headed to New York, some for as little as a season, others for years on end. The city was more than simply a refuge; it was an attraction in its own right. New York was a beacon of modern life, a center for publishing and communications, and a place to do business or get an education without traveling to Europe. Latin Americans and Spaniards took in New York's crowds, shopping, and social life, observed American institutions, and communicated their insights to compatriots through letters, travel accounts, and newspaper articles. These accounts make clear that while they sought and found inspiration for enhancing freedom and progress back home, they also were keenly aware of the city's faults, notably its rampant inequalities. They frequently longed for the comforts—and warmth—of home.

42 Spanish Literary Publishing in New York Political repression in Spain’s colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico drove intellectuals into exile in New York, where they wrote and published prolifically. Guide to the City of New York by Antonio Bachiller y Morales: The eminent Cuban intellectual Antonio Bachiller y Morales escaped Havana with his family in 1869 after learning of his impending arrest. While continuing with his writing and research, he created a scholarly guide to the city’s institutions and customs. His Guía de la ciudad de Nueva York was brought out in 1872 by his son-in-law Néstor Ponce de León, who ran a bookstore on Broadway and published many émigré works. Romances by “Pachín” Marín : Francisco Gonzalo “Pachín” Marín was a typesetter and poet in Puerto Rico before becoming involved in the struggle against Spain. He worked in New York with José Martí, publishing the revolutionary newspaper Patria and continuing to write poetry; the theme of exile features prominently in his Romances , published in 1892. Marín died on a Cuban battlefield in 1897. “Niágara” by José María Heredia: José María Heredia fled Cuba in 1823, having been linked to a conspiracy inspired by Simón Bolívar to make the island an independent republic. While here, Heredia wrote his celebrated romantic poem “Niágara” about the spectacle of the great falls, one of the first poems published in Spanish in New York (and one soon translated into English). A. B. M., Guía de la ciudad de Nueva York y sus alrededores, por A. B. M. New York, Imprenta i libreria de N. Ponce de León, 1876. New-York Historical Society. 43 F. Gonzalo Marín, Romances. New York: Modesto A. Tirado, 1892. Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. José María Heredia, Poesías de Don José María Heredia, ministro de la Audiencia de Méjico . Nueva York: J. Durand, 1862. New-York Historical Society. Spanish Commercial Publishing in New York Spanish language publishing in New York had a commercial as well as literary side. Travel Books: The publisher John Gray calculated that a Spanish-language guidebook to the city would sell enough copies to merit the risk of publication. The resulting 1863 Guía de Nueva York, para uso de los Españoles é Hispanoamericanos promoted must-see sights and also contained ads for Spanish-language hotels and services. Children’s Books: Beauty and the Beast & Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves: In the 1840s, Daniel Appleton had begun translating English books into Spanish for sale in South America, including children’s classics and a Pronouncing Dictionary of the Spanish and English Languages . By 1867, Appleton was exporting nearly fifty Spanish titles a year, using a new printing plant in Williamsburg to meet demand and providing translation work to locals such as José Martí. Argentinean educator and political leader Domingo Faustino Sarmiento—who lived here in the 1860s and admired public schooling in the U.S.—welcomed Appleton’s books as a means to advance education.

44 R. Alvarez and I. G. Grediaga, Guía de Nueva York, para uso de los Españoles é Hispanoamericanos: comprende la historia y descripción de la ciudad de Nueva York . Nueva York: John A. Gray, 1863. New-York Historical Society. William Momberger, Beldad y la bestia . Nueva York: D. Appleton y Ca. libreros-editores, 1864. New-York Historical Society. Ali Baba y los cuarenta ladrones. Nueva York: D. Appleton y Ca. libreros-editores, 1864. New-York Historical Society. Next label: wall panels 1. The Importance of New York “New York [is the] hub from which, thanks to steam and electricity, all intermediary traffic leaves, that operates not only between the two Americas but also from them to Europe … That eminently cosmopolitan city [was] the most important strategic location … for the operations of that great modern force which we call publicity.” –Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna (1831–1886), Chilean Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna. Diez meses de misión a los Estados Unidos de Norte América como ajente confidencial de Chile . Santiago: Imprenta de la Libertad, 1867. John Bachmann, New York & Environs , 1861. Reproduction. New-York Historical Society. 2. Spanish Spoken Here “The demands of commerce provide foreigners with ample means of communication … In several barbershops and

45 stores it is written very clearly: Se habla español (Spanish spoken here), and it is not unusual to enter a store and be greeted by a “buenas noches,” (“Good evening!”) which leaves one stunned; the storeowner lets it be known that he understands the language of Cervantes.” –Guillermo Prieto (1818–1897), Mexican Guillermo Prieto. Viaje a los Estados Unidos . México: Imprenta de Dublan y Chavez, 1877-78. American Photo-Lithography Co., Broadway, North from Cortlandt and Maiden Lane , ca. 1885–87. Reproduction. New-York Historical Society. 3. Skating in Central Park “On the frozen surface people of all ages and walks of life glide away … This mix of citizens, in which all respect each other … is the basis of American democracy, where all human beings have equal rights but each one is free to choose the social circle in which to spin at his or her leisure.” –Manuel Balbontín (1824–1894), Mexican Manuel Balbontín. Un día del mes de enero a los 40 grados de latitud norte . Mexico, Imprenta de V.G. Torres, 1873. Lyman W. Atwater after Charles Parsons, Central-Park, Winter: The Skating Pond , 1862. Reproduction. New-York Historical Society. 4. Croton Water System “Only Rome takes precedence over New York in the construction of gigantic public works … From this great

46 reservoir the water flows, passing on high bridges over the rivers whose path it crosses … The inhabitants of the city, even those on the fourth floor of buildings, get all the water they want just by turning a faucet.” –Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1811–1888), Argentine Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. Viajes en Europa, Africa y América . Santiago: Imprenta de J. Belin, 1849-1851. Translation. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. Travels in the United States in 1847 . Translation and introductory essay by Michael Aaron Rockland. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1970. New York image: View of the High Bridge Near Harlem Constructed for the purpose of conveying the Croton Water across the Harlem River. Reproduction. New-York Historical Society. 5. Mealtime at Hotels and Boarding Houses “The menu, in these establishments, does not have much variety and its uniformity becomes tiring for foreigners. The service is spotless. The simplicity of the meals seems to be offset by their quantity, because in almost all hotels people gather at the table four times a day, and in some, even five.” –Ramó n de la Sagra (1798–1871), Spanish Ramón de la Sagra. Cinco Meses en los Estados-Unidos de la América del Norte . Paris: P. Renouard, 1836. Holt’s New Hotel , 1830. Reproduction. New-York Historical Society. 6. New York Vertigo

47 “You don’t speak any English? Are you overwhelmed by the incessant howling of the locomotives, the vertiginous agitation of the factories, and the vista of a million people hurrying past, trampling each other, yet going on their way as if nothing had happened? … One must find a friend, a friend, or countryman, at all cost … You’re beginning to grow sad. You see no familiar faces. My God! you exclaim. I’m a wretch!” –Pachín (Francisco Gonzalo) Marín (1863–1897), Puerto Rican F. Gonzalo Marín. “Nueva York por dentro: una faz de su vida bohemia,” la Gaceta del Pueblo , 1892. Translation. Pachín Marín. “New York from Within,” in Harold Augenbraum and Margarite Fernández Olmos, The Latino Reader: An American Literary Tradition from 1542 to the Present . Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. Taylor and Meeker, “A Blockade on Broadway,” Harper’s Weekly , December 29, 1883. Reproduction. New-York Historical Society. 7. Poverty in the Five Points “Everything is filth there. Clothing, furniture, food, after going though all the evolutions of the social hierarchy, end up transformed, broken, dismantled at the bottom of that cup of life from which the poor man lives and drinks … The living have become accustomed to the filth of the soul, just as they move and breathe, accepting the filth of the street.” –Eusebio Guiteras (1822–1893), Cuban

48 Eusebio Guiteras. Un Invierno en Nueva York; apuntes de viaje y esbozos de pluma . Barcelona: Gorgas y Ca., n.d. [1869–1890]. “The Tenement Houses of New York,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper , July 1, 1865. Reproduction. New- York Historical Society. 8. New York’s Working People “The neighborhood we lived in teemed with displaced Dominicans, who were now venturing to New York … I got a job that paid six dollars a week with the Nicholls Tubing Company … The working hours were long, from 7:30 to 6, with only half an hour for lunch. I saw then, up close, the exploitation of workers.” –Pedro Henríquez Ureña (1884–1946), Dominican Pedro Henríquez Ureña. Memorias; Diario; Notas de viaje (ca. 1900). México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2000. “East River Suspension Bridge,” Charles Magnus, 100 Views of New York and Environs . Reproduction. New-York Historical Society. Brief Profiles: Latin American ‘Men of Letters’ Excerpts from the writings of these individuals are displayed on the walls to your right. Manuel Balbontín (1824-1894), Mexican Mexican army officer Manuel Balbontín was a hero of the Mexican-American War, fighting against the United States in 1847. A respected historian of Mexico’s wars, Balbontín also wrote a lively account of his stay at a Ninth Street boarding house in New York in January of 1872.

49 Eusebio Guiteras (1822-1893), Cuban A poet, author, and educator, Guiteras went into political exile in the United States in 1853 after being arrested as a conspirator in the Cuban independence movement. Returning to Matanzas in 1858, the Guiteras family had to leave once again in 1869 during Cuba’s Ten Years’ War. They settled in Philadelphia, where Guiteras wrote schoolbooks, and actively participated in the Cuban separatist movement. The year of the trip described in Un Invierno is unknown, but Guiteras arrived in New York in early September, and left in the spring. Photo: “Brief Sketch of the Life of Eusebio Guiteras.” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia . Vol. 5, no. 2 (June 1894) . Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna (1831-1886), Chilean During a long exile, Vicuña Mackenna spent three months in New York in the summer of 1853. The writer, historian, and statesman returned to New York from 1865 to 1867 as an envoy of the Chilean government, and published the newspaper La Voz de la América . Vicuña Mackenna would write prolifically on history and politics and was active in Chilean public life, serving as a senator and as mayor of Santiago. Photo: Eugenio Orrego Vicuña. Iconografía de Vicuña MacKenna . Vol. 1. Santiago: Universidad de Chile, 1939. “Pachín” (Francisco Gonzalo) Marín (1863-1897), Puerto Rican A native of Arecibo, in 1891 Pachín Marín arrived in New York, home to many Antillean political exiles. The poet worked closely with José Martí, collaborated on a 50 separatist newspaper, La Gaceta del Pueblo , and wrote and published poetry, frequently on the themes of exile and the fate of his beloved Puerto Rico. Marín left New York in 1896 to fight for Cuba in its war for independence, and died on a Cuban battlefield. Photo: Pachín Marín (Francisco Gonzalo). Cuadernos de poesía . San Juan, P.R.: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1989. Guillermo Prieto (1818-1897), Mexican Best known as a journalist and lyric poet, Guillermo Prieto was deeply involved in public life in Mexico. Prieto spent most of his adult life either in political exile or in prominent government posts such as senator and minister. He spent three months in New York in the summer of 1877 while on his third trip to the United States. A prolific travel writer, he needed 1700 pages to describe everything he had seen! Photo: Guillermo Prieto. Crónicas de Viajes: Viaje a los Estados Unidos . Vol. 3. México, D.F.: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1994. Ramó n de la Sagra (1798-1871), Spanish Born in La Coruña, Spain, de la Sagra moved to Cuba in 1823 to become the director of Havana’s Botanical Gardens. De la Sagra was a man of many interests and a prolific writer, producing tomes on Cuba’s agriculture, demography, economics, history, and more. In 1835 (on his way back to Spain), he traveled to the United States. His meticulous diaries of the trip, published the following year, were filled with admiration for the technology and material progress he observed, as well as the progressive

51 and liberal spirit of the new republic, which he cited as a model for Spain. Photo: Ramón de la Sagra. Historia física, política y natural de la isla de Cuba . 1842. Facsimile edition. Santiago de Compostela: Xunta de Galicia, 1996. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1811-1888), Argentine Sarmiento, the father of public education in Latin America and the second president of Argentina, was also a devoted observer of the development of the United States. Sarmiento first traveled to the U.S. in the fall of 1847. In 1865 he returned as ambassador, settling in New York to be at the center of literary artistic, commercial and industrial life. Over three fruitful years, he published a magazine and worked on a book on education in the United States as well as a biography of Lincoln. He returned to Argentina in the summer of 1868. Photo: Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. Recollections of a Provincial Past . New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Pedro Henríquez Ureña (1884-1946), Dominican A young Henríquez Ureña traveled to New York from Santo Domingo with his brother in 1900. An aspiring poet, he attended concerts, theater, and the opera constantly, and read assiduously, though money was sometimes tight. He left the city in 1904 at the age of twenty. After stays in Cuba and Mexico, Henríquez Ureña returned to New York as a journalist in 1915/16, and eventually settled in Argentina, where he would become one of the most influential critics and scholars in 20th-century Latin America. Photo: Courtesy of Ediciones Cielonaranja. 52

José Martí Champions the Cuban Cause from New York José Martí, escaping certain imprisonment in Spain for supporting Cuban independence, arrived in New York in 1880. For the next fifteen years he worked in the city as a journalist. From his office at 120 Front Street, Martí published the revolutionary newspaper Patria , and wrote insightful essays on Latin American politics, economy, and culture— as well as essays on New York City—for newspapers and journals in cities such as Buenos Aires and Mexico City. He helped found New York’s Spanish-American Literary Society in 1887 and profiled American writers like Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson; wrote influential volumes of poetry such as Versos Sencillos; and created the popular children’s magazine La Edad de Oro , which combined educational articles with fairy tales and verse. Keenly aware of the positive and negative aspects of North American society, Martí never pressed for U.S. involvement in Cuba’s affairs. He feared North America’s imperial ambitions: “Once the United States is in Cuba," he asked, "who will get her out?" Instead, in influential essays like “Nuestra América,” he argued that Latin America should develop independently, in accordance with its particular conditions. José Martí, Versos Sencillos . New York: Louis Weiss & Co., 1891. George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida.

53 José Martí, La Edad de Oro [New York, 1889]. Havana, Cuba, 1989. Reproduction. Emilio Cueto Collection. José Martí, “Nuestra América,” La Revista Ilustrada de Nueva York , January 1, 1891. Reproduction. The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin. Jose Martí José Martí was a brilliant writer, literary and art critic, and Cuban patriot, one of the stars of Spanish-speaking New York during his fifteen years in the city. Here he visits the summerhouse of the painter and art collector Juan J. Peoli, an important hispano community figure and uncle to Martí’s companion, Carmen Miyares de Mantilla. Seated with Martí : Antonia Alfonso de Peoli and her daughter Laura Peoli de Guiteras (mother of the four children). Adults standing (left to right ): the Peoli nanny, Nené Peoli, Carmen Miyares de Mantilla, unidentifed man, and Juan Peoli’s son. José Martí with Peoli family, Sandy Hill, New York . Reproduction. Courtesy of Enrique López Mesa. Coney Island “From the farthest reaches of the American Union, legions of intrepid ladies and gallant rustics arrive to admire the splendid landscapes, the unrivalled wealth, the bedazzling variety, the Herculean effort, the astonishing sight of the now world-famous Coney Island. Four years ago it was a barren heap of dirt, but today it is a spacious place of relaxation, shelter and amusement for the hundred thousand or so New Yorkers who repair to its glad beaches every day…” 54 –José Martí (1853-95), Cuban José Martí, “Coney Island,” La Pluma . Bogotá, Colombia, 1881. Translation. Esther Allen, ed. José Martí: Selected Writings . New York: Penguin Books, 2001. “Coney Island: Ocean Pier, 1200 feet long,” New-York Historical Society. Patria Martí founded the Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Cuban Revolutionary Party) and its newspaper Patria in New York in 1892. Both helped build a civilian movement for Cuban independence. Puerto Rican party member Sotero Figueroa printed the paper at his Pearl St. shop. Patria , April 16, 1893. Reproduction. Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries. Martí wrote Versos Sencillos and many other pieces in his office at 120 Front Street in lower Manhattan to the right of the corner building). The office also served as headquarters for the Cuban Revolutionary Party and the newspaper Patría . “José Martí’s office,” Revista de Cayo Hueso , September 26, 1897. Reproduction. Courtesy of Enrique López Mesa. In 1891, Swedish artist Herman Normann depicted Martí at work in his Front St. office; it is the only portrait of Martí done from life. The painting hangs in the Museo Casa Natal de José Martí in Havana.

55 Herman Normann (Sweden, 1864–1906), Portrait of José Martí (1853-95), 1891. Oil on canvas. Reproduction. Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami. Heart of the Andes: A South American Sensation When Frederic Church’s Heart of the Andes went on view in 1859 at the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York City, it created an unprecedented sensation. The crowds lining up to see the five-by-ten-foot painting knew little about South America, so Church’s “Great Picture”— cleverly framed to replicate a vista through a window— promised a singular opportunity. Visitors were advised to study his detailed treatment of flora and fauna, and then to step back to appreciate the grand sweep of the mountain chain that included the mighty Chimborazo. Twelve thousand people did just that at the painting’s first exhibition, as did huge crowds in other U.S. cities. North America’s first blockbuster exhibition helped turn New Yorkers’ sights to the south. Exhibition advertisement: The Heart of the Andes at the 10 th Street Studio Building , 1859. Printed on paper. Reproduction. Olana State Historical Site, Hudson, NY, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Sketching Cayambe in the Field Church climbed a 1,000-ft. peak to get this view of the volcano Cayambe, which straddled the equator near Quito, Ecuador. On his two trips to South America, Church filled multiple sketchbooks with notes and details. He referred to these in New York, while working on paintings based in both observation and imagination.

56 Frederic Edwin Church (United States, 1826–1900), Cayambe, Morning, from the Temple of the Sun, Quito, June 24, 1857. Graphite, brush and white gouache on tan wove paper. Gift of Louis P. Church, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Frederic Edwin Church (United States, 1826–1900), Plant and Tree Study , June 2, 1857. Graphite on paper. Gift of Louis P. Church, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. New Yorkers Experience South America through Art Few North Americans stimulated more curiosity about South America than did New York artist Frederic Edwin Church. Church traveled twice to present-day Ecuador and Colombia in the 1850s to explore the equatorial region and capture its magnificence in paint. Upon returning to his Manhattan studio he produced Cayambe (1858). Next Church painted Heart of the Andes (1859), a mammoth work that went on public display in New York and then around the nation. Church’s paintings spurred the imaginations of North Americans. His vast and beautiful Andean scenes inspired spiritual contemplation. His flora and fauna captivated followers of 19th-century science who believed that here was a microcosm of all the world’s creations. His landscapes, largely emptied of human settlement, enthused others with dreams of virgin land ripe for development. To North Americans eager for an introduction to South America and convinced that progress followed in their wake, it was an exhilarating and inviting mix.

57 South American Landscapes Frederic Edwin Church, a leader of what is now known as the Hudson River School, was already respected for his landscape paintings when he left for South America in 1857. Soon after his return, sugar refiner Robert L. Stuart (later president of the American Museum of Natural History), commissioned him to paint Cayambe . Many New Yorkers imagined the lands to their south as Church depicted them here: sublime scenery, brimming with natural specimens, and located far from “civilization.” Frederic Edwin Church (United States, 1826–1900), Cayambe , 1858. Oil on canvas. New-York Historical Society, The Robert L. Stuart Collection, on permanent loan from the New York Public Library, S-91. The Lure of South America Commercial travelers from North America who headed south after the 1820s were later joined by Protestant missionaries, diplomats, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, adventurers, and tourists. In the 1880s, author Lizzie Champney had her lead character Maud “stepping cautiously over deep crevices” with her intrepid chums from Vassar College as they explored the quiescent volcanoes south of Quito that Frederic Church had sketched thirty years earlier. Others flocked south to hunt the tropical birds that fashionable women liked to wear on their hats. A top Parisian milliner designed this creation, which incorporates a Quetzal, a sacred bird in ancient Mesoamerican culture. South American birds lost their lives by the millions for fashion. In the 1880s and ‘90s, women and men horrified at the carnage organized to stop the trade, founding city 58 and state Audubon Societies to inform the public about the plight of plumed birds. Madame Virot, Hat , 1898. Emerald green silk velvet surmounted by complete taxidermied quetzal. Museum of the City of New York, Anonymous gift, 37.252.4. Earrings , ca. 1880s. Natural beetles held by gold prongs. Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Miss Angelica Livingston, 53.80.2ab. Stickpin , late 19 th century. Single natural beetle set in gold. Museum of the City of New York, Gift of William Tanfield, 57.31. Elizabeth W. Champney, Three Vassar girls in South America: A Holiday Trip of Three College Girls through the Southern Continent, up the Amazon, down the Madeira, across the Andes, and up the Pacific Coast to Panama. Boston: Estes and Lauriat, Publishers, 1885. Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University. Best Sellers of the 1840s John Stephens’ accounts of his travels from New York to Mexico and Central America were best sellers. His travel companion Frederick Catherwood’s illustrations of Maya ruins were so remarkably accurate that years later scholars were able to decipher the hieroglyphics. Two large, carved stones brought home by the pair are in the American Museum of Natural History. Frederick Catherwood, “Plate I: Idol, at Copan” [from Dec., 2010, “Plate V: Idol and Altar, at Copan”], Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan , 1844. Hand-colored lithographed plate. Rare Book

59 Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Precolumbian Artifacts This carved relief of an eagle—symbolizing the sun to the Toltecs of Mexico—came from an archaeological site near Tampico, Mexico. The painter Frederic Church purchased it there to donate to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His 1893 gift of two such tablets were among the museum’s earliest Precolumbian objects and are on display there still. Eagle Relief, Precolumbian: Mexico; Toltec, 10th–13th century. Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Frederic E. Church, 1893 (93.27.1). New Yorkers Experience South America through Travel Travel by steamship to Latin America became possible in the 1800s for those with financial means. As travelers returned home with tales and souvenirs, exotic-seeming products became the rage. Fashionable New Yorkers wound tropical birds around their hats and hung beetle carapaces from their ears. The ancient ruins of the Americas attracted widespread interest in the early 1840s after the writer-illustrator team of John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood published accounts of their journeys to numerous Maya cities in Mexico and Central America. The pair attributed the glories they witnessed to indigenous Americans, countering the belief that Europeans or Egyptians must have been responsible. Feeling no obligation to leave the artifacts in place, they carted numbers of them off to New

60 York to start a Museum of American Antiquities. Their plan failed when the structure burned down, destroying many of the artifacts. Rafael Guastavino: Master of the Vaulted Ceiling Many New York churches, museums, public facilities, private clubs, and commercial buildings owe their spectacular, gravity-defying vaulted ceilings to architect Rafael Guastavino, who moved here from Barcelona in 1881. Guastavino’s terracotta tile-and-mortar vaults were fireproof and economical to build, based on traditional technologies imported from Catalonia and further developed by Guastavino and his son. “Guastavino,” Javier Garcí a-Gutié rrez Mosteiro, Las bó vedas de Guastavino en Amé rica . Reproduction. Drawings and Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. Oyster Bar Grand Central Station . Reproduction. Drawings and Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. Pennsylvania Station . Reproduction. Drawings and Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. Underground Loop Station at City Hall, New York , 1913. Reproduction. Courtesy of Barry Bragg. Félix Varela y Morales: A Leading Cuban Separatist and Catholic Félix Varela y Morales was a writer, thinker, and religious leader. He ministered to New York’s Irish Catholics,

61 established Transfiguration and St. James parishes, and became Vicar-General of the New York Diocese. A pioneering advocate of home rule for Cuba, he escaped Spanish vengeance in 1823 and brought separatist activity to New York with publications like El Habanero . The U.S. issued a “Padre Félix Varela” postage stamp in 1997. Felix Varela . Reproduction. Courtesy of St. Augustine Historical Society. “Transfiguration Church,” Transfiguration Church: A Church of Immigrants, 1827-1977 . New York: Park Pub. Co., 1977. Reproduction. Félix Varela, blow up of stamp , 1997. Reproduction. Emilio Cueto Collection, Washington D.C. Félix Varela, El Habanero . Nueva-York: En La Imprenta de Gray y Bunce, 1825. Reproduction. Courtesy of Enrique López Mesa. Bringing Baseball to Cuba Esteban Bellán, and Carlos and Teodoro Zaldo all played baseball while teenage students at St. John’s in Fordham (today’s Bronx). Bellán arrived in 1865, the Zaldos a decade later. All three contributed to Cuba’s enthusiastic embrace of baseball, along with other young men who learned the game while in the states or from Americans in Cuba. Esteban Bellán , ca. 1860s. Reproduction. Archives & Special Collections, Fordham University Library, Bronx, New York.

62 Rose Hills Baseball Club , ca. 1870s. Reproduction. Archives & Special Collections, Fordham University Library, Bronx, New York. Charles Zaldo as a student . Reproduction. Archives & Special Collections, Fordham University Library, Bronx, New York. Learning to Play Baseball at St. John’s From the 1860s to 1880s, up to a quarter of the students at the Rose Hill Campus of St. John’s College (now Fordham University) had Spanish surnames. Most hailed from Cuba. The Roman Catholic St. John’s offered a classical education and one of the nation’s first college baseball clubs, established in 1859. William Rodrigue (United States, 1800–67), St. John's College Fordham, New York, 1846–51. Lithograph with tint stone. Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Edward W. C. Arnold Collection of New York Prints, Maps and Pictures, Bequest of Edward W. C. Arnold, 1954 (54.90.957). The First Latin American in the Major Leagues Esteban “Steve” Bellán was the first Latin American in the major leagues. He went from amateur baseball at St. John’s College to pro ball, eventually playing third base with the Troy Haymakers from 1869–72. During these years the team won this trophy ball in a 25-10 victory and joined what would become the National League. Bellán was fast, graceful, and as one sportswriter put it, full of “courage and activity.” His batting average in 1872 was a respectable .278. In 1874, after becoming a U.S.

63 citizen, Bellán returned to Cuba, where he helped form the pioneering Habana Base Ball Club. Baseball used by Esteban Bellán , 1871. Courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, NY. Haymaker Nine for 1871 , 1871. Reproduction. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y. Spaniards and Latin Americans in New York Spanish-speaking New Yorkers made a significant impact on life in New York City, and the city affected them in turn. The individuals featured here were leaders in sports, religion, and architecture, but Spaniards and Latin Americans also played prominent roles in business, engineering, and the arts. During the latter half of the 19th century, the pre-Civil War Spanish “colonies” (as they were often called) continued to grow. Cubans constituted the largest portion of the 3,600 New Yorkers from Spain and Latin America who were counted by the U.S. Census in 1870. The immigrants sought work, educational opportunity, and political refuge. They founded well over 100 Spanish language newspapers (mostly between 1850-1900), created benevolent societies and literary clubs, and opened enough small stores that a visiting Mexican poet could remark in 1877 that it was not uncommon to find signs reading Se habla español .

64 Gallery 4: Political Encounters: 1850-1930 Spain held onto its plantation colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico even as most of Spanish America won independence by 1825. But activists from the two islands fomented rebellion, and New York played an important role in the insurrectionary schemes and uprisings. One of the first insurgents to arrive here was the Cuban priest Félix Varela, who started in the 1820s what others would continue from the 1850s on. New York became a haven for rebels from the Spanish colonies who met here and conspired in safety, often in alliance with influential locals who advocated North American involvement in the colonial rebellions. In 1898 the U.S. entered the Cuban War for Independence, transforming it into the Spanish-Cuban- American war. Victory and its aftermath directly involved New York in the affairs of the Spanish-speaking Americas. A Flag Flies for Cuban Annexation In May 1850, The Sun newspaper hoisted a never-before- seen Cuban flag from its building in lower Manhattan, timing it to coincide with the launching of a privately- organized military expedition to Cuba by the anti-Spanish separatist Narciso López. Sympathetic New Yorkers outfitted and accompanied López on his three attempts to liberate the island by force. The Spanish eventually executed López and his men, but the cause attracted supporters like the political writer John O’Sullivan, who believed that Anglo-Saxon Americans were destined to rule the North American continent (he coined the term “Manifest Destiny”), and Jane Cazneau, who edited The

65 Sun and the bilingual Cuban separatist paper La Verdad from the Sun building. The 1840s and ‘50s were the high point of a campaign by many Cubans and North Americans to convince the U.S. to annex Cuba by peaceful or military means. Presidents Polk and Pierce tried unsuccessfully to purchase the valuable island but chose not to risk war with Spain by attempting annexation. Narciso López and Cuban Liberation Narciso López, former Spanish military officer and Venezuelan by birth, recruited veterans of the U.S.- Mexican War (1846-48) to liberate his adopted Cuban homeland. His execution in 1851 along with fifty North Americans spurred huge protests in the U.S. When Cubans in New York publicly marched one year later in remembrance, many non-Cuban sympathizers joined in. Narciso López . Antonio Pirala, Anales de la Guerra de Cuba. Madrid: 1895-96. Emilio Cueto collection, Washington D.C. Annexation and Filibusters Not all supporters of the U.S. annexation of Cuba backed López-style military expeditions, especially after the federal government threatened punishment for violating U.S. neutrality. But some continued attempting to take Cuba by force. They called themselves “filibusters”—a term imbued with derring-do and linked to pirates who had challenged Spain’s rule centuries earlier. Cigar Art: Cuban Annex . Emilio Cueto collection, Washington D.C.

66 Cuba in the New York Press New York’s newspapers gave prominent play to López and other filibusters. Cuban émigrés such as Miguel Teurbe Tolón started papers like La Verdad and El Filibustero and lobbied prominent publishers to support their cause against Spain. Spaniards in New York returned journalistic fire through their paper La Crónica . La Verdad (1848–53), March 1, 1849. Reproduction. New- York Historical Society. New York Herald (1835–1924), July–December, 1851. Reproduction. General Research Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. La Crónica (1848–67), May 15, 1850. Reproduction. Library of Congress. El Filibustero (1853–55), January 15, 1854. Reproduction. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. The Sun Hoists the Cuban Flag The Sun reported to its readers that Narciso López had taken with him on his expedition a “flag of free Cuba,” and its facsimile would fly from The Sun’s building so that “freemen in beholding it may know that an oppressed and noble people are ready, under the flag, to strike, as our fathers did, for liberty.” “More Particulars in regard to the Cuban Patriots!” The Extra Sun , May 17, 1850. Reproduction. New-York Historical Society.

67 N. Orr Co ., Interior View of the N. Y. Sun Printing Establishment. Editorial Room. Reproduction. New- York Historical Society. Design of the Cuban Flag In June 1849, Cuban activists including Narciso López and recent émigrés Miguel and Emilia Teurbe Tolón designed the first Cuban flag while gathered in the Teurbe Tolón’s Warren Street lodgings. The design associated the island with the U.S. (through its red, white, and blue color scheme), the hoped for outcome of annexation (via its Texas-style lone star), and with freemasonry (symbolized by a triangle). Its three blue stripes represented the provinces of Oriente, Occidental, and Central. Adopted as the official Cuban flag in 1902, the original is displayed in Havana. Flag of Texas . Reproduction. Flag of Cuba . Reproduction. Cuban Annexation & North American Slavery Newspaperwoman Jane Cazneau—pen name Cora Montgomery—reported enthusiastically in New York papers on Narciso López’s military expedition. Southerner Lucy Holcombe—writing under the name of H.M. Hardimann—penned a romantic account of his martyrdom that was published in New York. Both writers were proslavery. Like many other North Americans who supported López, they sought to add another slave state to the Union by annexing Cuba to the United States. This would strengthen the Southern planters with whose prosperity New York fortunes were linked.

68 Cazneau, who considered New York a “radiating center of opinion and influence,” spent much time here during her life of activism. Cuba’s annexation was only one of the expansionist causes she pursued. A crusading author, reporter, and editor, she also helped to colonize Texas (where she bought land and learned to speak Spanish); conducted a secret mission to Mexico for President Polk during the Mexican-American War (she and the publisher Moses Beach tried to convince Mexican elites to stop fighting); and lobbied her friends in business and government to annex the Dominican Republic and colonize Nicaragua—which William Walker invaded in 1856 with help from New Yorkers. Walker proclaimed himself president and reintroduced slavery in a country that had abolished it. Cora Montgomery, The Queen of Islands: And the King of Rivers . New York: Charles Wood, 1850. New York Historical Society. Cora Montgomery, Our Winter Eden: Pen Pictures of the Tropics: with an Appendix Containing the Seward– Samana Mystery Now First Made Public . New York: Authors' Pub. Co., 1878. New-York Historical Society. Lucy Petaway Holcombe Pickens, The Free Flag of Cuba, or, the Martyrdom of López: a Tale of the Liberating Expedition of 1851. New York: DeWitt & Davenport, 1855. New-York Historical Society. The United States Expands its Borders Territory taken from Mexico transformed the U.S. into a transcontinental nation. In 1845, Congress annexed Texas. In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War and required Mexico to cede 69 half of its land to the U.S., creating the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. Map of the United States , 1853. New-York Historical Society. Next label: on your right Cuba’s Ten Years’ War, 1868-78 In 1868, Cubans and Puerto Ricans rose up against Spain, hoping to win their freedom from colonial rule. In Puerto Rico, Spain quashed the revolt known as the “Grito de Lares.” But in Cuba the “Grito de Yara” revolt marked the beginning of the ferocious Ten Years’ War. New York City played an indispensable role in the rebellion. Cuban exiles—many of them now struggling for independence rather than annexation to the U.S.— organized to promote their cause and provision the insurgents. Spaniards in New York loyal to their government tried to counter the growing influence of the Cuban lobby. They hailed the benefits and glories of Spanish civilization, using the figures of Cervantes and Columbus as exemplary symbols. They also aided war refugees through a Spanish benevolent society ("La Nacional"), which still exists today at 239 W. 14th Street. Spain eventually won the Ten Years’ War, but the loss of life and physical destruction nearly demolished the island’s economy and drove even more Cubans and Spaniards to New York.

70 Promoting the Cuban Cause to American Readers Gonzalo de Quesada y Arótegui, author of War in Cuba , was a longtime New Yorker with a law degree from New York University. His co-author, Henry Davenport Northrop, wrote popular history books. Together they made effective advocates for the cause of “Cuba Libre” (Free Cuba). Gonzalo de Quesada and Henry Davenport Northrop, The War in Cuba: Being a Full Account of Her Great Struggle for Freedom . Chicago: Liberty Publishing Company, 1896. New-York Historical Society. Uniform of a Spanish Loyalist When landowners in eastern Cuba launched a movement for independence in 1868, Spanish authorities unleashed a paramilitary corps of loyalists—known as the voluntarios —who terrorized the populace with vigilante violence. This uniform belonged to Spanish-born Emilio Buch, a decorated soldier in the Cazadores Voluntarios de Matanzas who married and moved to New York just prior to the Cuban uprising. If Buch did return to fight, he made his way back to New York after the war. By 1880 he was living in Manhattan, married to a non-Cuban, and identifying himself as a “gentleman.” Uniform of Emilio Buch , 1850–70. New-York Historical Society, Gift of Emily Buch, 1957.277a–p. Flight from War-torn Cuba Cuba’s descent into war generated large-scale flight from the island. One 1869 estimate counted two to three thousand families leaving each month. Ships arrived at

71 Manhattan’s piers filled to capacity with Cuban and Spanish families. Once here, many joined advocacy groups organized by insurgents or loyalists. “The Cuban Insurgents Burning Plantations,” Harper’s Weekly , December 4, 1869. Reproduction. New-York Historical Society. "Departure of Volunteers from Aragón, Spain, for the Defense of Cuba," Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper , April 24, 1869. Reproduction. General Research Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. “Scene on the House-Tops of Havana during the Embarkation of the Exiles,” Harper’s Weekly , April 10, 1869. Reproduction. New-York Historical Society. New York as a Staging Ground for Revolutionary Activity Exiles escaping war and repression in Cuba and Puerto Rico, and revolutionaries from around the Spanish- speaking world found safe haven in New York. Here Puerto Ricans Ramón Emeterio Betances and Eugenio María de Hostos, Dominican Gregorio Luperón, Chilean Benjamin Vicuña McKenna, and Cubans José Morales Lemus and Emilia Casanova de Villaverde plotted and planned without fear of arrest. One cause that gained ground was Antillean solidarity, later expressed by Puerto Rican poet Lola Rodríguez de Tió as “ Cuba y Puerto Rico son / de un pájaro las dos alas ” (Cuba and Puerto Rico are the two wings of one bird).

72 Independence activists in New York printed newspapers and gave public lectures, fundraised and lobbied, and also ran guns and aided war victims. Among the many organizations that formed, the Sociedad Republicana de Cuba y Puerto Rico (Republican Society of Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1865) advocated against slavery and for independence, and La Liga de Hijas de Cuba (League of the Daughters of Cuba, 1869) mobilized women for the struggle. La Liga de las Hijas de Cuba . Moses Taylor papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Publicaciones de la Sociedad Republicana de Cuba y Puerto-Rico , 1866. Emilio Cueto Collection, Washington D.C. In Aid of Cuban Liberty Benefit Ticket, May 30, 1870. Emilio Cueto Collection, Washington D.C. Lady Rebels Leslie’s Weekly called them “active and wide awake ladies,” these Cuban and Puerto Rican women who exercised leadership during many decades of anti-colonial activity. Women worked to assure the survival of their families in exile, and also to funnel funds to the cause of liberation. The more illustrious figures included Emilia Casanova de Villaverde, Soledad Zaya de Castellanos, and later Carmen Miyares Mantilla, Inocencia Martínez Santaella, and Lola Rodríguez de Tió. L. Hentenaar, Evening Dress , ca. 1870. Burgundy silk faille taffeta with matching silk embroidery and fringe.

73 Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Mrs. David Stuart, 46.342.1a–c. Émigré Activism The stepped-up volume and intensity of Cuban political activity in New York during the Ten Years’ War was aided by their growing numbers; the 1870 Census registered nearly 3,000 Cuban-born persons living in what are now the five boroughs. The émigré population also became more diverse with the arrival of Cubans of color and of modest means, many of them finding jobs in New York’s burgeoning cigar industry. "The Fair in Aid of the Cuban Patriots, at Apollo Hall," Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper , May 15, 1869. Reproduction. General Research Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Theo. R. Davis, “Cuban Ladies in Council at the House of Señora R. Hourritiner, New York City,” Harper’s Weekly , April 17, 1869. Reproduction. New-York Historical Society. Theo. R. Davis, “The Central Republican Junta of Cuba and Porto Rico in Session at New York City,” Harper’s Weekly , May, 15, 1869. New-York Historical Society. “The Cuban Revolution—Volunteers for the Patriot Army Drilling in New York City,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper , May 8, 1869. Reproduction. General Research Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

74 Two Prominent Cuban Militants One hotbed of militant activity was an old mansion in what is now the Hunts Point area of the Bronx. There, the activist Emilia Casanova and her husband, exiled author Cirilo Villaverde, worked in support of the Cuban rebels, and are said to have collected arms and ammunition for smuggling out to Long Island Sound and shipment south to Cuba. Captions for the Casanova Viewer 1. Emilia Casanova supported Cuban independence from a young age, and publicly criticized Spanish rule. 2. Fearful of Spanish retribution, Emilia’s father moved the family to the U.S. He bought this mansion in what is now the Hunts Point area of the Bronx. 3. In the U.S., Emilia met and married the Cuban activist and writer Cirilo Villaverde. 4. Villaverde’s famous book Cecila Valdés (New York, 1882) was one of the first critiques of Spanish colonialism and slavery in Cuba. 5. Unusual for its time, Cecila Valdés also told a story about interracial love. 6. During Cuba’s Ten Years’ War, Emilia raised funds in New York for Cuban widows and orphans … 7. … and advocated for Cuban freedom. Here she is at the White House in 1869. 8. Émigré activists and visiting insurgents also purchased guns in New York to send to Cuba.

75 9. Casanova and Villaverde are said to have stored weapons in their mansion for smuggling to Cuba via Long Island Sound. 10. This boat was captured in Long Island Sound attempting to run guns to the island in 1869. 11. Some weapons got through to the rebels, as depicted here by Harper’s Weekly . 12. Spanish newspapers caricatured Emilia and separatists like Miguel Aldama (to her left), but Spain could not stop the independence movement. 13. Image Credits “Emilia C. de Villaverde,” Apuntes biográficos de Emilia Casanova de Villaverde, escritos por un contemporáneo. Nueva York, 1874. General Research Division, The New York Public Library. Castello de Casanova , 1893. Bronx Historical Society. Cirilo Villaverde, Cecilia Valdés o la Loma del Ángel . Nueva York: Imprenta de El Espejo, 1882. Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries. Antonio Canet, Cecilia Va ldé s: 1879 Mayo 1979: grabados en xilografí a y linó leo . Cuba: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1983. Library of Congress. Emilia C. de Villaverde, “Distribution of Charity Funds,” New York Times , Jan. 29, 1877. N-YHS. “The First Social Reception of Mrs. President Grant . . . Presentation of Cuban Patriot Ladies,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper , Apr. 24, 1869. N-YHS.

76 Receipt for weapons purchase , Dec. 20, 1871. Moses Taylor Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. Atlas of New York and Vicinity . New York: F. W. Beers, A. D. Ellis & others, 1868. Bronx Historical Society. “Capture of the Cuban Expedition in Long Island Sound,” Harper’s Weekly , July 17, 1869. N-YHS. “Landing Arms for the Patriot Forces on the Coast of Cuba,” Harper’s Weekly , Mar. 13, 1869. N-YHS. “Cartoon,” Juan Palomo , Semanario satirico ilustrado. Voz de Cuba Habana , 18 de Diciembre 1870. Emilio Cueto collection. In Defense of Spain Patriotic Spaniards in New York fought back against the rise of Cuban nationalism by arguing that Spanish civilization had brought great cultural benefits to Spanish America. New York’s Catalán newspaper reported on a project to honor Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, with a statue in Central Park . The project consumed the community in 1878, but interest diminished a year later when the Ten Years’ War ended with Spanish victory. La Llumanera de Nova York , June, 1878. Reproduction. General Research Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. A Puerto Rican Voice for Independence Eugenio María de Hostos—portrayed here by prominent Dominican artist Abelardo Rodríguez Urdaneta—was one

77 of Puerto Rico’s most important independentistas and abolitionists. He was a writer, thinker, organizer, and educator, a forceful advocate for the independence of Cuba and Puerto Rico as well as for their union with the Dominican Republic (where he lived for many years). Like other activists from the Antilles islands, Hostos spent time in New York, where he served on revolutionary committees and published the city’s first Puerto Rican newspaper, La Voz de Puerto Rico , in 1874. Hostos Community College in the Bronx is named in his honor. Spanish-Cuban-American War (1895-98) On January 29, 1895, José Martí—poet, journalist, and leader of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York— sent written orders to Cuba to begin a military uprising against the Spanish colonizers. Thus started the second Cuban war for independence. Martí left for Cuba the next day. On May 19 th he died in battle at Dos Ríos, Cuba. Martí’s call to action and his subsequent death galvanized support for the revolution in New York and in Florida, especially among cigar workers. By 1898, the conflict was devastating the island but neither side could marshal the resources to win. U.S. leaders debated what to do. Most believed the island was too important to American economic and political interests to risk a free Cuba, or a Cuba ruled by another foreign power. The explosion of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana’s harbor, the leak of a letter written by the Spanish minister insulting President McKinley, and goading by New York’s English-language press moved Congress and the president towards entering the Spanish- Cuban war.

78 Architect of the Cuban War for Independence José Martí’s ceaseless organizing built a movement to free Cuba that by 1892 boasted a party, a newspaper, and a network of fundraising clubs. In January 1895, Martí and Cuban army head Máximo Gómez called for a war of liberation. Martí’s written order traveled from New York to Key West to Cuba, carried by Gonzalo de Quesada. A reproduction of the original is shown here. José Martí and Máximo Gómez (standing), 1894. Reproduction. Courtesy of Enrique López Mesa. José Martí, La Orden de Alzamiento (Order for the Uprising) . Reproduction. Courtesy of Enrique López Mesa. Puerto Ricans in the Cuban Revolutionary Party Within a few months of Martí’s death in 1895, liberation- minded Puerto Ricans in New York formed the Puerto Rican section of the Partido Revolucionario Cubano. They also created the Puerto Rican flag—still in use today— borrowing and inverting the colors of Cuba’s flag, signaling solidarity in their joint struggle against colonial rule. La Junta Revolucionaria Puertorriqueña en New York , December, 1896. Standing : Manuel Besosa, Aurelio Méndez Martinez, and Sotero Figueroa. Seated : Juan de M. Terreforte, D. José Julio Henna, and Roberto H. Todd. Reproduction. Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, CUNY. Puerto Rican flag .

79 A Puerto Rican Political Club and its Founder A young Puerto Rican activist named Arturo Schomburg co-founded the New York political club The Two Antilles to represent Afro- and working-class Puerto Ricans and Cubans in the liberation movement. In 1896, its members donated weapons to Cuba’s nationalist forces. Schomburg’s later collection of Afro-Americana is housed in the Schomburg Center of the New York Public Library. Portrait of Arthur Alfonso Schomburg, bibliophile, ca. 1900s. Reproduction. New York Public Library, Arthur Alfonso Schomburg Photograph Collection, Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Dos Antillas Political Club page of contributions , July, 1896. Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Free Cuba General Antonio Maceo, second-in-command of the Cuban Liberation Army (the mambí ), was a popular and effective military leader. Known as the “Bronze Titan,” he won the allegiance of white and nonwhite Cubans despite his mixed-race ancestry. The Cuban revolution’s antiracist goals distinguished its course from that of the U.S. where the Supreme Court’s racist ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) had just legalized “separate but equal” facilities for blacks and whites.

80 Julio Martin, General Antonio Maceo . The Hero of Peralejo , 1898. Lithograph. New-York Historical Society. Racial Dimensions of American Involvement in Cuba Race prejudice played a role in persuading North Americans to support U.S. intervention in the Spanish- Cuban war. Whites who desired a racially segregated society shuddered at the prospect of an independent Cuba whose leaders wanted to eliminate the color line. Whites also traded on racial stereotypes to present the multi-hued Cubans as incapable of governing themselves, making it the duty of the U.S. to intervene. Keppler & Schwarzmann, “The Duty of the Hour:— To Save Her Not Only from Spain but from a Worse Fate,” Puck , 1898. Lithograph. New-York Historical Society. Americans Revive the “Black Legend” As the U.S. government debated whether to intervene in Cuba’s conflict with Spain, old prejudices against Spaniards were resurrected. In the 17 th century, Spain’s Dutch and English enemies had translated a 1552 tract critical of Spain by the Spanish friar Bartolomé de las Casas, added terrifying images that purported to show a Spanish penchant for cruelty, and disseminated their respective versions widely. In 1898, a New York publisher borrowed the tactic. He combined in this little booklet some of the old fearsome words and images with new accusations about Spain’s recent atrocities in Cuba. Bartolomé de las Casas, An Historical and True Account of the Cruel Massacre and Slaughter of 20,000,000 of

81 People in the West Indies by the Spaniards . New York: J.B., 1898. New-York Historical Society. Arguments for War Brutal tactics used by the Spanish in quelling the Cuban insurgency gained converts for the rebels. Spain’s policy of forcing rural Cubans into fortified towns—where about 200,000 “ reconcentrados ” died from starvation and disease—made it easier for critics, such as the publisher of this poster, to evoke atrocities from earlier centuries and revive the old claim that Spaniards were uniquely cruel. Why Are We at War? 1898. New-York Historical Society. Declaration of War Two surprise events tipped the balance toward war. A private letter stolen from the Spanish minister that insulted President McKinley found its way via New York’s Cuban activists into the sensationalist New York Journal , published by William R. Hearst. Days later, the Brooklyn- built battleship USS Maine exploded in Havana’s harbor (likely from a mechanical cause). Locked in competition for readers, Hearst’s Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s World blamed Spain and beat the drums for war. On April 19, 1898, Congress authorized military intervention against Spain. "War with Spain," Police Gazette , 1898. New-York Historical Society. Wreck of the USS Maine , 1898. New-York Historical Society. Crowds in front of New York Journal Building , 1898. New- York Historical Society.

82 New York’s Role in the War and its Aftermath The U.S. entered Cuba’s war against Spain in April 1898 and ended it 100 days later. New York loomed large in the preparations for war and in battle. The city’s newspapers and magazines sold the war to the American public. Battleships produced in Brooklyn’s Navy Yard ferried New Yorkers to the fight and bombarded Spanish positions. And New Yorker Teddy Roosevelt became the war’s most vaunted commander. In 1901, following McKinley’s assassination, Roosevelt became the nation’s 26th president. With the acquisition from Spain of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, and the assertion of America’s right to intervene at will in Cuban affairs (the Platt Amendment), the U.S. became an overseas power. Victory also facilitated an extended U.S. military and commercial presence elsewhere in Latin America. Preeminent in this drive southward were the great corporations and banks headquartered in New York’s Wall Street. New York After the War New Yorkers went wild over America's emergence as an imperial power, with their city as its de facto capital. They held a colossal celebration for returning heroes like Admiral Dewey; the artistic community collaborated in creating a mammoth triumphal arch (out of lath and plaster) at Madison Square. New York had come a long, long way from the colonial days when it feared the power of the Spanish Empire. Theodore Roosevelt: Proponent of Expansion: Theodore Roosevelt’s brief adventure as Lieutenant Colonel of the “Rough Riders” cavalry excited the public and won him 83 New York’s governorship in 1898. As president (1901-09), Roosevelt supported the creation of a powerful fleet of armored steel battleships to secure American power. Seven battleships were made in Brooklyn Navy Yard between 1906-26, helping to strengthen the city’s industrial base. Debating Imperialism: New Yorkers and other Americans debated the pros and cons of imperial expansion. Opponents formed the Anti-Imperialist League to protest the U.S. war against Filipino liberation forces (1899-1902). One theme that emerged often during the debate was the supposed inferiority of “tropical” peoples. Popular imagery depicted Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Filipinos, and Hawaiians (also annexed by the U.S. in 1898) as child-like and in need of guidance and control. Clockwise from top left: Presidential campaign textile of T. Roosevelt , 1900. New- York Historical Society, Purchase, 1952.300. Illustrated Guide to the Brooklyn Navy Yard . Brooklyn: Eagle Book and Job Printing Department, 1901. New-York Historical Society. Game of War , ca. 1900. New-York Historical Society, The Liman Collection, 2000.483. Felix Adler , Can We Afford to Rule Subject Peoples? New York: Anti-Imperialist League of New York, 1900. New- York Historical Society. Hen with eggs . José Rafael Méndez Archives. Cigar Art: Home Finder . Emilio Cueto Collection, Washington D.C.

84 The United States as an Imperial Power A century of acquisition and conquest—including lands taken from American Indians and Mexicans in the South and West—had turned the U.S. into a continental power. Now the nation had an overseas imperial presence as well. The provocatively titled Our Islands, Their People by Mexican-American José de Olivares—a Spanish- American War veteran—was one of many works that introduced Americans to their new domain. Acquiring the nation’s first overseas possessions provoked a major change in constitutional law. After the 1898 war, the U.S. Constitution no longer “followed the flag” into all newly acquired territories. In the Insular Cases (1901), the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. could have possessions that might not become states or receive the “full panoply of constitutional rights.” Guam and Puerto Rico would become the longest-standing examples of such non-incorporated territories. “Mr. Nobody from Nowhere,” is what Dr. Julio Henna— who fought Spanish colonialism and helped design the Puerto Rican flag—called his people’s new status in 1900. Four years later the court began to define the standing of Puerto Ricans when it ruled that a Puerto Rican woman named Isabel González could not be refused admission to New York since Puerto Ricans were not “aliens,” hence not subject to immigration laws. (Immigration officials had barred Ms. González, saying she was likely to become a public charge.) In 1917, Congress made Puerto Ricans American citizens by passing the Jones Act, but retained a governance

85 structure for the island that severely limited popular participation. On wall: The National Publishing Company, The United States and its possessions, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Hawaii, Philippine Island and Alaska , 1900. New-York Historical Society. In case: José de Olivares and William Smith Bryan, photographs by Walter B. Townsend, Our Islands and their People as Seen with Camera and Pencil . New York: N. D. Thompson Publishing Co., 1899–1900. Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, CUNY. Francisco Oller Paints President McKinley Like other prominent Puerto Ricans who had wanted Spanish rule to end, Francisco Oller held high hopes that Puerto Rico would prosper after the Spanish defeat. He painted this portrait and sent it to President McKinley only months after the occupation. Oller grew disillusioned with the Americans when he found them entirely uninterested in supporting the development of the arts on the island, but he continued to work in his signature realist-impressionist style, painting views of Puerto Rico and its people in landscapes, still life, and portraiture. This is the first public showing of the McKinley portrait in ninety years. Franciso Oller (Puerto Rico, 1833–1917), Portrait of President McKinley , 1898. Oil on canvas. Colección Privada Dr. Eduardo Pérez & familia.

86 Immigration from the Spanish-speaking World Millions of immigrants from around the world arrived in the city in the early decades of the twentieth century. Tens of thousands of them came from Spain and the Spanish- speaking Americas, propelled by economic, political, and military upheavals, as well as by individual circumstance. The biggest contingent came from Puerto Rico—or “Porto Rico,” as the U.S. renamed it (a change that lasted until 1932). The newcomers joined fellow islanders who had settled here in previous decades. The passage of the Jones Act in 1917 extended American citizenship to Puerto Ricans and facilitated their migration to mainland communities. By 1920 there were 7,364 Puerto Ricans in New York, a number that would grow substantially over the next decade. Bernardo Vega, S.S. Coamo , 1916 … “At the dawn of the first day, the passengers began to act as if they were all family members … The overriding theme of our conversations, however, was what we expected to find in New York City … All of us carried our individual castles in the air.” - Memorias de Bernardo Vega (1977) Migrants from Puerto Rico The ships of the Porto Rico Line provided the principal means of transportation between Puerto Rico and New York. The sleek Coamo made the run between San Juan and New York in 3 days, 15 hours. Many of the ships were named for island towns, becoming part of the lore of the journey for the migrants, some of whom appear on these

87 identity cards, issued to Puerto Ricans between 1930 and 1989 as proof of their American citizenship. Pier 1, San Juan, Puerto Rico . José Rafael Méndez Archives. New York & Porto Rico Steamship Company postcards . José Rafael Méndez Archives. Worker Identification Cards. OGPRUS, Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, CUNY. The New York & Porto Rico Steamship Company The New York & Porto Rico Steamship Company— commonly known as the Porto Rico Line—began business in 1890 carrying sugar from Puerto Rican mills to New York refineries. The company initiated passenger service in 1896, and by 1909, vessels came and went every week between New York and the island. “Sailings every Saturday,” the flyers advertised. Tourists headed south for sun and relaxation. Island residents steamed north to seek jobs and education, often joining relatives who had already put down stakes in the city. Typical journeys in 1917 lasted 4 to 5 days. Before 1928, ships docked near Brooklyn Heights at Pier 35; later travelers disembarked at Pier 16, at the foot of Wall Street. Porto Rico Line memorabilia . José Rafael Méndez Archives.

88 Gallery 5: An Hispano Landscape: 1900-45 After the Spanish-Cuban-American War, Spaniards and Latin Americans came to New York in ever-greater numbers, increasingly making their presence felt in the wider city. Their communities and organizations served as portals , through which home country cultural influences flowed, and as crucibles , wherein innovative cultural forms were created in fruitful interplay with metropolitan institutions and peoples. The colonia hispana—to use a contemporary term that embraced all the city's Spanish-speaking communities— also mobilized around social and political issues. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-9), New York hispanos rallied to both sides of the conflict. In doing so they left behind older antagonisms, rooted in Latin American struggles against the Spanish empire, that had divided them along national lines. The result was a more cohesive Spanish- speaking community, one better prepared to meet the challenges of the postwar era. Hispano Domain The 1940 Census counted about 165,000 people of Spanish and Latin American descent living in New York City—77,000 from Puerto Rico, 26,000 from Spain, 28,000 from Cuba and the West Indies (including the Dominican Republic), 29,000 from Central and South America, and 6,000 from Mexico. The map shows some of the places where they founded businesses, ran newspapers, established social and political clubs, contributed to the arts, created theatrical and musical venues, and labored in factories.

89 Like other New York ethnic/linguistic groups, hispanos tended to cluster. The most popular neighborhoods were Brooklyn’s Red Hook and Williamsburg; Manhattan’s Lower East Side, West Village, Chelsea, and particularly, East Harlem’s el barrio ; and the South Bronx. Not all doors were open to them, as New York was a de facto segregated city. Hispanos —especially those of color—suffered discrimination in housing, employment, and education. In response, they organized to protect and advance their communities. Political and Cultural Contributions New York’s hispano residents made their presence felt in many aspects of city life. Don Azpiazu & His Havana Casino Orchestra: The New York recording and performances of The Peanut Vendor ( El manisero) by Don Azpiazu and His Havana Casino Orchestra ignited a nationwide “rhumba craze” in the 1930s. Azpiazu’s singer was Antonio Machín, sometimes referred to as “el Rudy Valentino cubano.” Pura Belpré & her Puppets, Pérez and Martina : Pura Belpré was New York’s first Puerto Rican librarian and an accomplished storyteller, folklorist, and author. Hired by the 135 th Street library in 1921 to assist the growing number of Spanish-speakers in the area, she began sharing and writing down folktales she heard as a child. Her first book was a love story between a cockroach and a mouse (1932), based on a story she learned from her grandmother. Alex Schomburg & Captain America: Alex Schomburg arrived in New York as a twelve-year-old orphan in 1917,

90 the year that Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens. He grew up to be a cover artist for the comics—the man behind Captain America. Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee called Schomburg “the Norman Rockwell of comics.” He and his brothers were distant cousins of political activist Arturo Schomburg. Oscar García Rivera & the Politics of 1937: A coalition of political parties—American Labor, Republican, and City Fusion—elected the first Puerto Rican, Oscar García Rivera (1900-1969), to the New York State Legislature in 1937, representing East and Central Harlem. His wife Eloisa García Rivera trained and registered voters, even arranging baby sitters so mothers could get to the polls. Another galvanizing event of 1937 was the “Ponce Massacre.” Several thousand protestors gathered in East Harlem’s Park Palace to denounce the killings of twenty- one nationalists at a protest march in Puerto Rico. Congressman Vito Marcantonio and Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, lawyer to imprisoned nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos, rallied the crowd. Clockwise from top left: Don Azpiazu and his Havana Casino Orchestra, El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor) , 1930. 78 rpm Victor recording. Raíces Latin Music Museum, New York City, Promised Gift of Louis Bauzó. Pura Belpré . Reproduction. Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, CUNY. Pura Belpré , Pérez y Martina . Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, CUNY.

91 Pérez and Martina puppets . Pura Belpré Papers, Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, CUNY. Captain America Comics #26 , May, 1943. Collection of Susan Schomburg. Schomburg and coworkers . Reproduction. Collection of Susan Schomburg. Telegram to Assemblyman Oscar García Rivera, 1937. Oscar García Rivera Papers, Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, CUNY. Masters of the Arts Lorenzo Homar, one of the masters of modern Puerto Rican graphic art, moved to New York in 1928, at the age of fifteen. Here Homar pays homage to one of the island’s premier poets, Julia de Burgos, also a New Yorker, who represents a high point in Caribbean poetic expression. I don´t want the sea to touch this other shore of my land… Dreams? They´re all gone, crazed like shadows on the sand. -Julia de Burgos, excerpt from “Rompeolas,” El Mar y Tú , 1954. Translation for Nueva York by Oscar Montero. Lorenzo Homar (Puerto Rico, 1913–2004 ), Julia de Burgos , 1969. Silkscreen, artist proof. Collection of Alicia Díaz-Concepción and Family. Musical Arts New Yorkers embraced the sounds of Spanish and Latin music as early as the 1920s. Talented musicians from

92 throughout the Spanish-speaking world found inspiration, audiences, and paying gigs in the city’s music venues and its radio, recording, and film industries. They also found new sources for creativity in its rich mix of ethnicities and sounds. Music lovers enjoyed popular and classical styles—flamenco, zarzuelas, tango, plena, merengue, son, and rumba, to name a few—in cabarets, nightclubs, bars, ballrooms, dance halls, meeting rooms, hotels, theaters, and private living rooms in every borough. Small bands and large orchestras played at social and political events for local audiences in Latino communities who knew and loved the music in all its complexities. At the same time, bands playing simplified styles of Latin music made it commercially viable and accessible to new audiences the world over. Two Maestros Frank (Machito) Grillo and Xavier Cugat symbolized the Uptown/Downtown cultural worlds shaped by race and class. Machito held sway at the uptown dance halls, Cugat at the downtown ballrooms. Machito and Mario Bauzá, both Cuban-born, together founded the first band to combine jazz arrangements with Afro-Cuban rhythms, creating a uniquely New York Latin Jazz style. Nuyorican legend Tito Puente began his career in Machito’s band before being drafted into the Navy. Spanish-born, Cuban-raised Cugat became a successful “society” bandleader, beginning with a decade-long engagement at the Waldorf-Astoria. His band was a stepping-stone for the likes of Desi Arnaz, Machito, Tito Rodríguez, and Miguelito Valdés.

93 Tito Puente . Reproduction. Tito Puente . Reproduction. Ronald Puente's private collection. Machito and His Afro-Cubans, New York , 1940s. Reproduction. Courtesy of Bobby Sanabria. Hilda Grillo in front of the Park Plaza, ca. 1940s. [Grillo was Machito’s wife.] Reproduction. Raíces Latin Music Museum, New York City, Courtesy of the Frank “Machito” Grillo family. Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra , with Miguelito Valdés . Movie still from You Were Never Lovelier , Columbia Pictures, 1942. © SONY Pictures Entertainment. Raíces Latin Music Museum, New York City. Promised Gift of Louis Bauzó. Masters of Percussion At Simón Jou’s La Moderna Bakery in Harlem, a Latino percussionist could order a birthday cake for his kid while buying a drum for himself. Virtuosic Cuban conguero, Cándido Camero, remembers: “All the Latin percussionists used to go to Simón for skins, congas, bongos, clave, maracas, cowbells. . . . He was also very famous on the bakery end as well.” Nuyorican percussionist Benny Bonilla recalls that “all the drummers would hang out in the back. That was the only place you could go for drums in the 1940s.” Jou started out on Lenox Avenue near 116 th Street and moved to the address shown here. Benny Bonilla and Orlando Marín . Reproduction. Courtesy of Benny Bonilla.

94 La Moderna Repostería y Pastelería advertisement. Reproduction. Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, CUNY. Musical Melting-pot In New York’s thriving, diverse music scene, Latinos and African Americans created new sounds in jazz, and Argentine tango and Afro-Cuban music enlivened fiestas as well as bar mitzvahs. The Hellfighters, an all-black World War I fighting regiment and military band, included eighteen Afro-Puerto Ricans who became part of New York’s music scene, including the future composer of Lamento borincano, Rafael Hernández. Carlos Gardel, a beloved tango composer and singer, starred on New York radio, screen, and stage. Don Justo Azpiazu’s orchestra introduced mainstream audiences to Afro-Cuban music at the Palace Theater, and his version of El manisero hooked them. “Carlos Gardel,” La Nación , June 17, 1934. Reproduction. Gentileza Archivo Diario LA NACION. P. L. Sperr, Manhattan: 7th Avenue–47th Street , 1932. Reproduction. Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Hellfighters Rafael and Jesús Hernández . Reproduction. Courtesy of Raíces Latin Music Museum, New York City. James Reese Europe, Noble Sissle, and Eubie Blake, Goodnight Angeline . New York: M. Witmark & Sons, 1919. Reproduction. Sheet Music Collection, The John Hay Library, Brown University.

95 Fine Arts As New York thrust its way onto the world scene in the early 20th century, aspiring artists made their way here from around the U.S. and throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. The city offered well-heeled patrons, galleries and museums, a lively international scene, art schools, and commercial enterprises where their artistic skills earned them a living. New York also plunged its inhabitants into the vortex of modern life. Artists who responded to its aesthetic and practical challenges advanced their work and careers and added to the creative energy. The experimental workshop run by Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros was one hub of modern art; another was the New School for Social Research, where Mexican José Clemente Orozco and Ecuadorian Camilo Egas painted murals and Egas ran the studio art courses. No place topped the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)—where Diego Rivera had a one-man show in 1931—for introducing New York and the nation to the arts and artists of the Americas. Diego Rivera In 1933 the Museum of Modern Art published a portfolio of prints featuring Diego Rivera’s frescos in public buildings in Mexico. These prints made the Mexican painter’s works even better known in the U.S. Rivera also painted frescos in New York, including Man at the Crossroads (1932), intended for Rockefeller Center but destroyed by Nelson Rockefeller because it included an image of the communist leader Vladimir Lenin.

96 Diego Rivera (Mexico, 1886–1957), Cane Workers , 1933. Print. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art Library. Diego Rivera (Mexico, 1886–1957), Emiliano Zapata, 1933. Print. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Museum of Modern Art Library. José Clemente Orozco José Clemente Orozco was one of the three great Mexican muralists (with Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros)—all of whom spent time in Manhattan. Always a socially-concerned artist, some of his New York work depicted the bleak realities of poverty and urban life. The gift of Subway initiated the Museum of Modern Art’s Latin American Collection. José Clemente Orozco (Mexico, 1883–1949), The Subway , 1928. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, 1935. Joaquín Torres-García A native of Uruguay, Joaquín Torres-García spent many years abroad. In New York from 1920-22, captivated by the city’s “thousands of new forms in motion,” Torres- García painted the tall buildings and modes of transportation that linked “Business Town” to the rest of the world. His style of modernist expression would later exert great influence in Latin America. Joaquín Torres-García (Uruguay, 1874–1949), New York Docks , 1920. Oil and gouache on cardboard. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Collection Société Anonyme.

97 Mexican Art on Exhibit in Manhattan Renowned Mexican painter and caricaturist Miguel Covarrubias, who was a longtime New Yorker, helped curate Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art , a monumental 1940 Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) exhibition that aimed for a “complete and balanced picture” of Mexican art. Covarrubias also recreated the exhibit’s glittering opening night for the readers of Vogue . The original plan to open the exhibit in Paris in May 1940 was frustrated by the threat posed to the precious cargo by Nazi U-boats. Nelson Rockefeller (then president of MoMA) persuaded Mexican President Cárdenas to switch venues to Manhattan. Miguel Covarrubias (Mexico, 1904–57), Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art at the Museum of Modern Art , 1940. Watercolor. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Sra. Rosa R. de Covarrubias. Frank Crowninshield, "New York Goes Mexican," Vogue , June 15, 1940. Reproduction. Copyright © Condé Nast. Transporting Mexican Treasures to New York In three heavily guarded boxcars, treasures of Mexican art and culture from Precolumbian to modern times (up to several thousand objects) traveled from Mexico to New York. Exhibited at MoMA in the summer of 1940, the impressive displays prompted Vogue to announce “New York Goes Mexican” and Macy’s to hold its own Mexico in Manhattan show. Installation view of the exhibition, "Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art.” The Museum of Modern Art, New York, May 15, 1940 through September 30, 1940. Reproduction. The 98 Museum of Modern Art, New York (IN106.7C). Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY. On-Site Creation of an Orozco Fresco MoMA commissioned distinguished Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco to paint a fresco in six moveable panels in conjunction with the Twenty Centuries exhibit. Orozco worked in the midst of the museum’s public, watched by the likes of Jackson Pollock. Dive Bomber and Tank is currently on display at MoMA. José Clemente Orozco painting fresco, "Dive Bomber and Tank," 1940 during the exhibition, "Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art." The Museum of Modern Art, New York, May 15, 1940 through September 30, 1940. Reproduction. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY. Dive Bomber and Tank When asked to explain Dive Bomber and Tank for the 1940 issue of MoMA’s Bulletin, Orozco wrote, “A painting is a Poem and nothing else. A poem made of relationships between forms as other kinds of poems are made of relationships between words, sounds or ideas.” Orozco’s “poem” for the exhibition featured the tools of mechanized warfare in six interchangeable panels. José Clemente Orozco (Mexico, 1883–1949) © ARS, NY, Dive Bomber and Tank , 1940. Reproduction. Commissioned through the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Digital Image ©

99 The Museum of Modern Art / Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY. Amelia Peláez Amelia Peláez studied in New York at the Arts Students League in 1924 and then in Paris. Returning to Havana, she produced work inspired both by cubism and the stained glass and iron grill-work characteristic of Cuban architecture. The Museum of Modern Art included this work in its Latin American Collection (1943) and Modern Cuban Painters (1944) exhibitions. Amelia Peláez del Casal (Cuba, 1896–1968), Still Life in Red , 1938. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Inter-American Fund, 1942. Emilio Pettoruti Having studied in Europe and absorbed futurist and cubist styles, Pettoruti helped found a radically modern art in Argentina in the early 1920s. This work, which evidences his personal approach to cubist form, was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art and included in its monumental 1943 exhibition, The Latin American Collection . Emilio Pettoruti (Argentina, 1892–1971), The Verdigris Goblet , 1934. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Inter-American Fund, 1943. Rufino Tamayo Tamayo was one of the most important Mexican artists of the 20 th century. Younger than Rivera, Siqueiros and Orozco, he rejected the socially conscious subject matter of these muralists in his own work. Tamayo likely painted

100 this image while living in New York (1926-48, off and on) and teaching for a time at the Dalton School. Rufino Tamayo (Mexico, 1899–1991), El Helado de Fresa (Strawberry Ice Cream) , 1938. Oil on canvas. Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art, New York. Nueva York, A film by Ric Burns ( running time 30:00) Following the close of World War II, hundreds of thousands, then millions, of Spanish-speaking peoples poured into New York City—first from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, then from Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador and places throughout the hemisphere. This short film traces this epic migration—an historic movement that will continue for decades to come, and that is once again renewing and transforming the city’s historic promise and vitality. Theater installation: From here to there (La Guagua Aérea) Installation by Antonio Martorell and friends: Giovanni Rodríguez, Project Director Roberto Alicea Ramón Colón Humberto Figueroa Milton Ramírez Germarilis Ruíz Javier Santos Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños at Hunter College, the City University of New York The New York crew at El Museo del Barrio Next label: exit theater through the main entrance

101 Hispanic Society of America Spain and things Spanish came back into favor soon after the end of the Spanish-Cuban-American War. In 1908, Archer Milton Huntington opened the Hispanic Society of America, and a year later, the museum’s solo exhibition of work by painter Joaquín Sorolla drew 160,000 New Yorkers in its first four weeks. One art dealer wrote: "Spain sank low in our defeat of her, she has replied with the lightnings of art." Huntington housed his collection of art and literature from Spain and Latin America in palatial surroundings at Broadway and 155 th Street, creating a resource for Hispanic studies in the U.S. that still exists today. Ahead of his time, Huntington not only collected but also studied Spanish culture. A Hispanophile, he believed that exposing North Americans to Spain’s magnificent cultural patrimony would provide them with an antidote to the ills of modern, industrial society. Displaying Hispanic Culture News that Archer Milton Huntington was constructing a Spanish museum in New York created excitement. “The flood of offers of books, pictures, and what not has risen to something of a tempestuous sea,” Huntington commented bemusedly. “They come from everywhere and in every tongue....” But Huntington could afford to be choosey; his own collection already filled a museum. The Hispanic Society Opens: In this photograph, Huntington and guests stand at the Society’s front door on the eve of its opening in 1908. Construction of the museum took a year, and arrangement of the collections two years more. 102 Archer Huntington’s Library: A bibliophile, Huntington built his private library in Baychester to measure 80’ long by 40’ wide. He bought his books on excursions abroad. “This is a book trip,” he wrote in his diary. “My claws are sharpened, and I carry a large bag.” Spanish Lusterware: Muslim potters in the Spanish region of Valencia excelled in the creation of lusterware, producing this luxury ceramic for local use and international export from the 1320s onward. Rare Books: Juan Rodríguez Calderón brought the first printing press to Puerto Rico in 1806 and directed its first newspaper, Gaceta de Puerto Rico . His book of poems, Ocios de la Juventud, Poesías Varias (1806) was the first book printed on the island. Patron of the Arts: Nicaraguan Rubén Darío was the consummate modernist poet and great reinventor of Hispanic American poetry. Huntington came to the poet’s aid on Darío’s third trip to New York, in 1914, and later published a posthumous anthology of his writings. Darío’s second trip here, in 1907, produced La Gran Cosmópolis , a poem about New York City: with its conquests of steel with its struggle for money without knowing that therein lies the whole root of sorrow.” Clockwise from top left: Opening of the Hispanic Society , 1904. Reproduction. Courtesy of The Hispanic Society of America, New York.

103 Archer Miller Huntington library, Pleasance, September 1, 1923. Reproduction. Courtesy of The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Dish , ca. 1525–75. Tin-glazed earthenware with luster. On loan from The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Plate , ca. 1625–1725. Tin-glazed earthenware with luster. On loan from The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Ocios de la Juventud, Poesías Varias , 1806. On loan from The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Portrait of Rubén Darío , 1915. Reproduction. Courtesy of The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida’s Solo Exhibition at the Hispanic Society These scenes of Spain and New York were among the works by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida displayed at the Hispanic Society in a one-artist show for the Spanish painter in 1909. Sorolla’s monumental Vision of Spain series opened to the pubic in 1926 and can still be seen today. Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (Spain, 1863–1923), Grand Army Plaza, Seen from a Window at the Savoy Hotel , 1911. Gouache on cardboard. On loan from The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (Spain, 1863–1923), San Sebastián (Parasol) , before 1909. Oil on cardboard. On loan from The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (Spain, 1863–1923), The Beach, Valencia (Boys in the Surf) , before 1909. Oil on

104 cardboard. On loan from The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (Spain, 1863–1923), Altar of Saint Vincent Ferrer, Valencia , before 1909. Oil on paper mounted on cardboard. On loan from The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (Spain, 1863–1923), William E.B. Starkweather Fishing , ca. 1905. Oil on cardboard. On loan from The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (Spain, 1863–1923), A Sketch (Garden) . Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard. On loan from The Hispanic Society of America, New York Sorolla Exhibition Draws Large Crowds Sorolla’s 1909 exhibition—his first in the U.S.—contained 356 paintings and was a spectacular success. "Nothing like it ever happened in New York," Huntington wrote his mother: "Ohs and Ahs stained the tiled floors. Automobiles blocked the street." Cars parked on 155 th Street , February 4, 1909. Reproduction. Courtesy of The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Sorolla exhibition North and West Walls Upper level, 1909. Reproduction. Courtesy of The Hispanic Society of America, New York. Civil War in Spain New Yorkers closely followed the rise of fascist political movements in Europe. The Nazis ascended to power in Germany in 1933, Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935, and

105 fascist Spanish forces supported by Germany and Italy rebelled against the democratically elected government of Spain in 1936. The fascist victory in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) became the prologue to the Second World War. When the U.S. embargoed military aid to the Spanish Republic during the civil war, people organized across the city to send humanitarian aid and promote awareness of the Spanish cause. And over 1,000 New Yorkers— hispanos among them—joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to fight in Spain against the fascists. The experience forged new bonds among “Newyorkinos” from different parts of the Spanish-speaking world, fostering the creation of new institutions and supportive networks. Spaniards and Latin Americans on the left and right found their pro-Republic or pro-Franco allegiances outweighing outdated divisions along imperial/colonial lines. Club Julio Antonio Mella Left-wingers of all ethnicities congregated at this club on 5th Avenue and 115 th Street that served Latin fare and offered a dance floor and conference room upstairs. The club was named for a political activist and founder of Cuba’s Communist Party. In 1936, club members organized to fight for Republican Spain. Artist and activist Henry Glintenkamp showed this painting at the American Artists’ Congress 1937 exhibition at Rockefeller Center. (left) Henry Glintenkamp (United States, 1887–1946), Club Julio A. Mella (Cuban Workers' Club) , 1937. Oil on

106 canvas. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. (right) R. Castilla, Recuerdo de la inauguracion de la logia 4763 Julio A Mella I. W. O. 1500−5th Ave . Souvenir of the founding of Lodge 4763, Julio A. Mella, I.W.O. (International Workers Order). October 2, 1938. Reproduction. Jesús Colón Collection, Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños, Hunter College, CUNY Soldiers from Harlem Harlem’s Club Mella members formed the “Centuria Antonio Guiteras” to fight the fascist uprising in Spain. Shortly after they arrived in Barcelona on the S.S . Champlain , Spanish photographer Agustí Centelles snapped the unit holding their banner aloft. A year later, Langston Hughes interviewed former Cuban baseball player Basilio Cueria, now Captain Cueria, for a series on soldiers of color. “We can’t let the fascists put it over on us,” Cueria told Hughes. “They’d put all the old prejudices back into force … like Hitler and his Aryanism in Germany.” Cueria survived the war, but many of his Club Mella fellows did not. "Cuban Volunteers in Spain," The Volunteer for Liberty . [Cueria-left, Hughes-center] February 28, 1938. Reproduction. Courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (VALB) Photographs Collection, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, Tamiment Library, New York University. “Basilio Cueria, Head of Machine Gun Company, Called One of Best Officers,” Langston Hughes, The Afro- American , February 12, 1938. Reproduction. Courtesy of the Afro-American Newspapers Archives.

107 “Departing aboard the SS Champlain, 1937,” Courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (VALB) Photographs Collection, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, Tamiment Library, New York University. Augustí Centelles. Brigada Abraham Lincoln, Centuria Antonio Guiteras . Reproduction. España, Ministerio de Cultura, Centro Documental de la Memoria Histórica, Archivo Agustí Centelles. Luis Quintanilla A painter of canvases and frescos in pre-Franco Spain, Luis Quintanilla served the Republic as a soldier, spy, and artist, documenting the Spanish Civil War in 140 drawings that in 1938 toured the U.S. and were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art to build support for loyalist Spain. Ernest Hemingway wrote the catalogue essay. Quintanilla spent almost twenty years in New York, where his Love Peace / Hate War murals (created for the 1939- 40 World’s Fair but discarded when the Republic lost) were discovered in 1990 and returned to Spain. Luis Quintanilla (Spain, 1893–1978), Air Raid in Country District , 1937. Ink on paper. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist, 1939. Luis Quintanilla (Spain, 1893–1978) , University City, Cancer Research Institute , 1937. Ink on paper. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist, 1939. Julio de Diego Painter and theatrical designer Julio de Diego created They Rushed Heading into the Sea in New York during World War II. He took titles for his war paintings from the

108 news. Lucky to have emigrated from his native Madrid before the war started, he looked on, horrified, trying to capture in paint what he experienced as “disasters of the soul.” Julio de Diego (Spain, 1900–79), They Rushed Heading into the Sea , ca. 1941. Oil on paper. Courtesy of Kiriki de Diego Metzo, Heiress of the artist (Herederodel artista). MoMA Safeguards Pablo Picasso’s Guernica In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, Picasso’s Guernica conveyed the horrors that Nazi warplanes had recently inflicted on the citizens of Guernica, Spain. The painting toured the U.S. in 1939 to raise funds for Spanish refugees, stopping first in New York for a showing at the Valentine gallery. While Guernica was in the U.S., World War II broke out. The Museum of Modern Art agreed to take charge of the painting until the time was right for its return. That time finally came in 1981, with the death of Franco, the return of Spanish democracy, and the centenary of Picasso’s birth. Pablo Picasso (Spain, 1881–1973) © ARS, NY, Guernica , June 4, 1937. Reproduction. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid. Photo Credit: Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY. © 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Installation view of the exhibition, "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art.” The Museum of Modern Art, New York, November 15, 1939 through January 7, 1940. The Museum of Modern Art, New York (IN91.7). Digital Image

109 © The Museum of Modern Art / Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY.

Transcripts for the Nueva York film as well as the NuevaVoices audio tour and the latin music listening station may be requested at the admissions desk. They are also available through iTunes University, Keyword: Nuevavoices

110