Community gives first input on center for Latino archives
In a milestone moment for the city’s long-awaited Hispanic History Research Center, more than 200 people packed into a dilapidated warehouse in the East End for a community forum to discuss the future of the promised Latino-focused archival library.
Hosted by Council Members Mario Castillo, Joaquin Martinez and Julian Ramirez, the selfcoined “Three Amigos” and the city’s Latino council members, the forum was the first opportunity for community input on a project that has been in the works for years but has, until now, made little progress.
The planned Houston Public Library facility was first added to the city’s projects list during former Mayor Sylvester Turner’s administration after voters approved funding in a 2017 bond issue, but library representatives said natural disasters such as hurricanes and the pandemic delayed the project.
“For several years, we got no (updates) from the leadership of the library, from the mayor and City Council,” said activist and historian David Contreras, who has long been vocal on issues concerning Latino communities and the city’s Hispanic archives. “I think this is going to be absolutely beautiful.”
The Hispanic History Research Center is meant to house the library’s embattled Latino archives, a trove of local history that sat at the Julia Ideson Building downtown for decades as other archives, such as the African American, genealogical and local history collections, thrived.
A 2023 Houston Chronicle investigation found that some Latino collections have sat untouched for more than 20 years without being digitized or otherwise displayed, and critics said the Hispanic archives were languishing. A library spokesperson told the Chronicle at the time that the Hispanic collections “are not neglected,” and the archive “continues to be a proud cornerstone of Houston History Research Center.”
Saturday morning’s community forum offered many a first look at the center’s future facility, a once-abandoned warehouse at 5807 Navigation Blvd. along Buffalo Bayou’s Turkey Bend that is set to be transformed as part of the Buffalo Bayou East master plan.
Although the 50,000-squarefoot brick warehouse has obvious signs of wear and tear, such as cracked concrete floors and some broken windows, seeing the site gave Contreras, a historian with the League of United Latin American Citizens, hope that Houston’s Latino archives will get the facility they deserve.
Other Houston Public Library collections have long had their own archive centers, such as the African American History Research Center at the Gregory School in Fourth Ward and the genealogy-focused Family History Research Center in the Museum District.
“In four months, we have made incredible progress,” said Contreras, who added that the addition of three new Latino council members helped propel his efforts for more community input on the project.
The research center project is expected to cost upward of $19 million, according to city records. More than half of those funds were used to buy the property late last year.
The center is also meant to be a community hub in Houston’s historically Hispanic East End. Much of the large warehouse floor will be transformed into gallery space to display Latino art and study areas for those who want to research the archives.
Many residents expressed gratitude that the project, expected to be completed in 2026, is moving along after years without any updates from the city, but some were already thinking about the environmental and safety factors that could affect the center.
Contreras, who has pushed for a resident-led advisory committee to oversee the project and Houston Public Library’s Hispanic archives, said he hopes the city will take potential bayou flooding into account when renovating the space to ensure the safety of the invaluable archives that will be housed inside.
Former Council Member Robert Gallegos, once the lone Latino on the council, urged the Houston Public Library leadership to explore partnerships with organizations like Arte Público Press of the University of Houston to help expand the Latino archives.
For longtime East End resident and activist Jessica Castillo Hulsey, the forum signified an investment in Houston’s Latino community that she said is long deserved.
She said it’s important for other Latino residents to continue pressuring elected officials to keep the community as their top priority during the project.
The Hispanic History Research Center “will elevate us, elevate the neighborhood,” Hulsey said. “We need this, and it gives us hope that we are finally moving up.”