The community is invited to join the Boulder County Latino History Project for “Celebrando la Historia: Over 100 Years of Latino Contributions” on Thursday, Oct. 9 from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway Street, Boulder.
Celebrando la Historia is free and open to the public. At the event, speakers, exhibits, and displays will showcase the Boulder County Latino History Project’s historical research and highlight photos, oral histories, documents, interactive maps, lesson plans for teachers, and films.
Launched in 2013, the Boulder County History Project is a grassroots effort that chronicles the contributions, struggles, and progress of Latinos in Boulder County over the past 100 years. Community members from across Boulder County have collaborated to assemble and digitalized countless historical sources to form one of the country’s most comprehensive multi-media collections of local Latino history to date. Much of the project’s collection is accessible online at http://bocolatinohistory.colorado.edu.
“It is important as a community to know where one has been; in order to know where we are going,” said Phil Hernandez, Boulder County Latino History Project advisory member and local community activist. “This knowledge gives us perspective of the issues and struggles our parents and grandparents endured and overcame.”
Project leaders have also been working with teachers in the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain School Districts to help them learn about the local history, explore the project’s collection of primary sources (some held at local museums and libraries), and develop classroom materials that utilize those sources in their classrooms. Organizers aim to expand the project to a larger set of teachers next year and a historical book is in progress. They hope their project could serve as a model for other communities.