This timeline and exhibition chronology is in process INTRODUCTION and will be subject to additions and corrections The early history of El Museo del Barrio is complex. as more information comes to light. All artists’ It is intertwined with popular struggles in New York names have been input directly from brochures, City over access to, and control of, educational and catalogues, or other existing archival documentation. cultural resources. Part and parcel of the national We apologize for any oversights, misspellings, or Civil Rights movement, public demonstrations, inconsistencies. A careful reader will note names strikes, boycotts, and sit-ins were held in New York that shift between the Spanish and the Anglicized City between 1966 and 1969. African American and versions. Names have been kept, for the most part, Puerto Rican parents, teachers and community as they are in the original documents. However, these activists in Central and East Harlem demanded variations, in themselves, reveal much about identity that their children— who, by 1967, composed the and cultural awareness during these decades. majority of the public school population—receive an education that acknowledged and addressed their We are grateful for any documentation that can diverse cultural heritages. In 1969, these community- be brought to our attention by the public at large. based groups attained their goal of decentralizing This timeline focuses on the defining institutional the Board of Education. They began to participate landmarks, as well as the major visual arts in structuring school curricula, and directed financial exhibitions. There are numerous events that still resources towards ethnic-specific didactic programs need to be documented and included, such as public that enriched their children’s education. East Harlem’s programming: lectures, symposia, festivals, theatre, Puerto Rican communities’ energy and dedication music, film and video, readings, dance, artist’s to social justice paved the way for the founding of performances, as well as educational outreach and El Museo del Barrio. collaborations. While there is much more research to be done, we believe that putting forth this Following is an institutional timeline and exhibition timeline contributes to the scholarship on Puerto chronology. Published here for the first time, this Rican, Latino, Caribbean, and Latin American art research was undertaken with the purpose of and culture. establishing a more complete exhibition history, and it is incorporated within the broader trajectory of institutional milestones. 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th St. New York, NY 10029 212 831 7272 www.elmuseo.org @elmuseo, #elmuseo apprentice program, and research and library 1960S El MUSEO IS BORN resources, all to be administered by El Museo del African American and Puerto Rican parents, Barrio, are in the archives of El Museo del Barrio, teachers, and community activists in Central and as well as a letter to Puerto Rican artists, where he East Harlem demand from School District that their introduces the institution: “The Museo del Barrio is children receive an education that acknowledged its title: a neighborhood museum of Puerto Rican and addressed their diverse and cultural heritages. In culture. .” El Museo del Barrio receives its primary response, artist/educator Raphael Montañez Ortiz is funding from the Board of Education from 1969 appointed to create educational materials but instead until 1974. Montañez Ortiz stated, “The cultural creates a community-based museum dedicated to disenfranchisement I experience as a Puerto Rican Puerto Rican diaspora in the United States called has prompted me to seek a practical alternative to El Museo del Barrio. the orthodox museum, which fails to meet my needs Martin W. Frey, Superintendent of School District for an authentic ethnic experience. To afford me and 4, under pressure from parents and community others the opportunity to establish living connections activists to implement cultural enrichment programs with our own culture, I founded El Museo del Barrio.” for Puerto Rican children, appoints artist/educator (Ralph Ortiz, “Culture and the People,” Art in Rafael Montañez Ortiz to create educational America, May–June 1971, 27) Director Rafael Montañez Ortiz preparing to move from 425 West materials for schools in District 4 on Puerto Rican 125th Street to PS 206 at 508 East 120th Street. Grace Glueck, “Barrio Museum: Hope Si, Home No,” The New York Times, 30 July 1970: 38. history, culture, folklore, and art. In 1969, District SUMMER 4 encompassed parts of Central Harlem and East Montañez Ortiz travels to Puerto Rico with Martin W. Harlem. Montañez Ortiz was primarily hired to serve Frey, to conduct research on Puerto Rican culture teachers, The Young Lords Political Party, and The the population of East Harlem, known as El Barrio, and make institutional contacts with museum Real Great Society (a collective of architects and where the majority of the Puerto Rican population directors and anthropologists. urban planners based in East Harlem). Montañez lived. As an artist, activist, and teacher at the High FALL Ortiz also contacted Puerto Rican artists such as School of Music and Art, Montañez Ortiz was aware Funded by the Community Education Center (a state- Marcos Dimas and Adrián García, who were members of the urgent need to create cultural resources for financed program providing supplementary services of the Art Workers Coalition, a political action group. Puerto Ricans of all ages. Montañez Ortiz reconceives for children and adults), El Museo del Barrio begins Dimas and García participate in the first Advisory the project as a community museum, dedicated to operations in a schoolroom at PS 125, located at 425 Board of El Museo del Barrio and later form Taller the Puerto Rican Diaspora in the United States, that West 123rd Street. PS 125 also housed the office of Boricua, an artist’s collective that is still in operation. he names “El Museo del Barrio.” Montañez Ortiz District 4. During his first year as Director, Montañez In addition, Montañez Ortiz visited museums in New serves as founding director from June 1969 to Spring Ortiz reached out to the East Harlem community by York City to research their collections of Puerto Rican 1971. His original typed proposal and budgets for discussing plans for El Museo del Barrio with parents, art and artifacts. exhibitions, workshops, performing arts projects, 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th St. New York, NY 10029 212 831 7272 www.elmuseo.org @elmuseo, #elmuseo 1970S The BegiNNING El Museo serves as a non-profit organization out of a Osiris Delgado, Victor Linares, Bart Mayol, Waldemar series of storefronts and brownstones before finding Morales, Miguel Pou, Jorge Rechany, and Rafael its permanent home in the Heckscher Building Tufiño, loaned from Museo de Arte de Ponce; and on 5th Avenue and 104th Street. It is a decade of graphics by Luis Germán Cajigas, Manuel Hernández firsts including the first donation to the permanent Acevedo, Lorenzo Homar, Carlos Raquel Rivera, and collection, as well as the first large-scale exhibition Rafael Tufiño, loaned from Riverside Museum. collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum called SUMMER “The Art Heritage of Puerto Rico.” Montañez Ortiz conducts research in Puerto Rico. 1970 JULY WINTER 1969–SPRING 1970 The New York Times notes that El Museo is moving from headquarters at PS 125. Journalist Grace Montañez Ortiz appoints Puerto Rican art historian Glueck notes that “El Museo was born in June Marimar B. [Benítez] Quintana as Assistant Director. 1969, the brainchild of Martin W. Frey.” While she Montañez Ortiz and Benítez organize two exhibitions credits Montañez Ortiz as Director, she initiates the which are presented at PS 206, 508 East 120th misconception that Frey intended to found a museum Street and Pleasant Avenue. Other early participants in East Harlem. (Grace Glueck, “Barrio Museum: Hope in El Museo del Barrio’s activities included Hilda Si, Home No,” The New York Times, 30 July 1970: 38) Arroyo, Carmen Bocachica, Félix Cortés, Elena Gil, Alberto Martínez, and Justo Santana (Antonio SEPTEMBER 22–NOVEMBER 29 Gil de Lamadrid, “El Museo del Barrio Apuntala Bruce Davidson, after two years of photographing Cultura Boricua,” El Diario La Prensa, 28 July 1970, in El Barrio, presents the exhibition East 100th Supplement, 15). Street at the Museum of Modern Art. Felipe Dante, a MAY photographer, early participant in El Museo, and a founder of En Foco, authors the article, “But Where is The Art of Needlework, curated by Marimar Benítez Our Soul,” a critical response to the exhibition, which and Rafael Montañez Ortiz, including knitting, generated some controversy (The New York Times, crochet and embroidery, is presented at PS 206. Sunday, October 11, 1970). (Your Thing, August 7, 1970, 8) LATE SPRING–THROUGH JULY FALL El Museo del Barrio relocates entirely to PS 206 as a Rafael Montañez Ortiz (left) and Marimar B. Quintana (right), with a An exhibition of Puerto Rican paintings and graphics, painting by Miguel Pou, on loan from Museo de Arte de Ponce, in an result of a citywide reorganization of school districts. exhibition presented at PS 206, New York, accompanied by Elena Gil, curated by Marimar Benítez and Rafael Montañez Carmen Bocachica, Felix Cortes, Hilda Arroyo, and Alberto Martinez. Ortiz, is presented at PS 206. It includes paintings by Antonio Gil de Lamadrid, “El Museo del Barrio Apuntala Cultura Boricua,” El Diario La Prensa, 28 July 1970, Supplement, 15. 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th St. New York, NY 10029 212 831 7272 www.elmuseo.org @elmuseo, #elmuseo 1971 after an ad was placed in The New York Times. Both Rafael Montañez Ortiz and Moreno Vega make JANUARY 21 presentations—Moreno Vega is voted in as second “El Museo del Barrio” is filed as a not-for-profit Director of El Museo del Barrio. Moreno Vega corporation. Ralph Ortiz, José García, and Jerald continues the dialogue begun by Montañez Ortiz Ordover are listed as the initial directors.