Latino community updates history book
When a book called “They Came to Stay” was released in 1971, it told the story of early settlers in Longmont, but the book wasn’t a complete portrait of the area’s rich history.
“They didn’t give a lot of attention to the Latino community, who were already here,” said Donna Lovato, executive director of El Comité de Longmont.
A group of about 20 people who formed the Longmont Hispanic Study in the 1980s wanted to change that.
Now, a revised and expanded edition of their work and the stories of those whose voices hadn’t been heard is available in a new version of the book “We, Too, Came To Stay: A History of the Longmont Hispanic Community.”
“I think it should encourage people, I don’t care what race they’re from, to share their stories with their family. I hope that’s what people get out of it,” Lovato said.
Lovato helped edit the new version.
Marjorie Mcintosh, an editorial assistant in the project, said a preliminary version of the book was released in 1988 featuring nine stories of local residents, as well as an overview of Spanish-mexican history. Helping to secure grants, organize the research, as well as write and edit the book was Olivas Duncan. Duncan, a high school English teacher, and those in the Longmont Hispanic Study worked tirelessly to capture the stories of residents.
Before Duncan died in 2013, she passed along all of her research to El Comité, including 600 photographs and stories from more interviews.
The new edition is 137 pages and includes a reproduced version of the original content.
The book highlights the contributions, triumphs, sacrifices and struggles of the Latino community in Longmont, including their work in fields and mines, as well as what their daily lives were like.
Mcintosh said the new edition of the book supplements the stories of the original edition by diving deeper into the generations of families who called Longmont home, as well as telling more recent stories from 2009.
“I hope people will take away from the book a stronger appreciation for the fact that Latinos have been an essential part of Longmont’s history, starting in the 1910s,” Mcintosh said. “A history that does not include their experiences, their contributions, their struggles, that’s not a complete history.”