This session will be primarily in Spanish,
with an English translation zoom channel.
Experiencias en el desarrollo de archivos relacionados con activismo, minorías y organizaciones sin fines de lucro: los casos del Archivo LGTQ+ de Puerto Rico y los proyectos de UPR Caribe Digital
el miércoles 11 de junio de 2025 | 2:30pm – 4:00pm EST
Panel en el que se discutirá la importancia de la documentación histórica para el activismo, las minorías y las organizaciones sin fines de lucro desde la perspectiva del historiador Dr. Javier Laureano, autor de San Juan Gay: conquista de un espacio urbano 1948-1991 y gestor del Archivo LGBTQ+ de Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico Caribe Digital forma parte de una red de investigadores expertos en humanidades digitales localizados en varias instituciones de educación superior. Entre ellas están: Barnard College, University of Miami, Yale University, Create Caribbean y la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras (Puerto Rico Caribe Digital, 2025). Ambos proyectos auspician el desarrollo de archivos en varias organizaciones sin fines de lucro como Waves Ahead, que provee servicios de salud, sociales y de bienestar emocional a poblaciones vulnerables, con énfasis en la población de adultos mayores LGBTQ+ en Puerto Rico, así como también personas sin hogar y mujeres jefa de familia (Waves Ahead, 2025) y Casa Pueblo, que es un proyecto de autogestión comunitaria que tiene el compromiso de apreciar y proteger los recursos naturales, culturales y humanos (Casa Pueblo, 2025).
Experiences in the development of archives related to activism, minorities, and nonprofit organizations: the cases of the Puerto Rico LGBTQ+ Archive and the UPR Caribe Digital projects
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 | 2:30pm – 4:00pm EST
Panel to discuss the importance of historical documentation for activism, minorities, and nonprofit organizations from the perspective of historian Dr. Javier Laureano, author of San Juan Gay: Conquest of an Urban Space 1948-1991, creator and manager of the Puerto Rico LGBTQ+ Archive. Puerto Rico Caribe Digital is part of a network of expert researchers in digital humanities located at various higher education institutions. These include Barnard College, the University of Miami, Yale University, Create Caribbean, and the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (Puerto Rico Caribe Digital, 2025). They sponsor the development of archives in several non-profit organizations such as Waves Ahead, which provides health, social and emotional well-being services to vulnerable populations, with an emphasis on the LGBTQ+ older adult population in Puerto Rico, as well as homeless individuals and women heads of household (Waves Ahead, 2025) and Casa Pueblo, which is a community self-management project that is committed to protecting and safeguarding natural, cultural and human resources (Casa Pueblo, 2025).
Panelists: Javier Laureano and Víctor Torres Rodríguez
Javier Laureano obtained his Ph.D. from the Department of History at the University of Puerto Rico. His doctoral thesis became the first book on Puerto Rican queer historiography, titled San Juan Gay: conquest of an urban space from 1948-1991, published by the Editorial House of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture in 2016 and with a second edition in 2024 as San Juan Gay: Towards an LGBTQ+ History of Puerto Rico. Dr. Laureano has researched on topics such as the transgender issue –specifically transformism– the gay political movement, the history of AIDS, violence against the queer community and the preaching of sexual abstinence in schools, among others. He has participated in multiple conferences and has published articles on queer issues in magazines such as Centro Journal, Sargasso, and Historia y Sociedad.
Laureano currently manages a group of eighty environmental professionals working in the field of water programs in New York City, including the City’s drinking water supply. He is also the founder of the 501 (c) 3 organization the LGBTQ+ Community Archive of Puerto Rico, the first NGO of its class on the island since 2020.
Víctor Torres Rodríguez is an artist and digital media researcher. His work focuses on the study of information through the lens of aesthetics, cybernetics, and material culture. He has served as an Instructional Designer for UPR Caribe Digital and as a Research Assistant for the Puerto Rico Emergency Response Archive. He has also worked as a technician, editor, and designer for audiovisual media projects, as well as an organizer of educational and cultural initiatives. He holds a Master’s degree in Media Studies from The New School and a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Comparative Literature from the University of Puerto Rico. He is currently a research professor under the DH Fellowship at UPR Caribe Digital for the 2024–2025 academic year.
Moderator: León D. Santos Orozco, Bibliotecario, Desarrollo de Colecciones; Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo ; Collection Development Librarian; University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo
León D. Santos Orozco has work experience in academic, special, and public libraries. He currently coordinates the work of the Collection Development area of the Library of the University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo, and was previously in charge of public service, reference and instruction on the night and Saturday shifts. León’s dissertation is titled: Representaciones de personajes transgénero entre las novelas Rosa Mystica (1987) de Carlos Varo y Sirena Selena vestida de pena (2000) de Mayra Santos Febres (translation: Representations of transgender characters in the novels, Rosa Mystica (1987) by Carlos Varo and Sirena Selena (2000) by Mayra Santos Febres). He enjoys movies, cycling, traveling and of course, reading.