Biographical Note
Erlinda Gonzales-Berry joined the Oregon State University faculty in
1997 as chair of the Ethnic Studies Department, a position she held until her
retirment in December 2007. Gonzales-Berry specialized in teaching Latino
literature and culture; published extensively on Chicano and Nuevomexicano
literature and culture; and conducted research on immigration from Mexico to
the United States. She organized several conferences and symposia on Chicano
studies in Oregon.
Prior to her appointment at OSU, she was a professor of Spanish and
Chicano/Latino Culture and Literatures at the University of New Mexico, where
she also served as chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. She
earned her BA, MA, and PhD degrees from the University of New Mexico.
She served on the Oregon Commission for Hispanic Affairs, several MLA
boards, the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities board, and the National
Advisory Board of the U.S. Latino Literary Heritage Project.
Content Description
The Erlinda Gonzales-Berry Papers consist of paper records, photographs,
sound recordings and a videotape documenting Gonzales-Berry's teaching and
research on Latino literature and culture and immigration from Mexico to the
United States. The paper records include correspondence, newspaper clippings,
certificates, posters, publications, and speeches. These records document
awards she received, conference presentations, her appointment to the Oregon
Commission for Hispanic Affairs, and her accomplishments as chair of the Ethnic
Studies Department. The records also include materials pertaining to the
Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride in 2003.
The photographs, made between 1997 and 2006, include images of
Gonzales-Berry, other College of Liberal Arts department chairs and faculty,
and special events taken between 1997 and 2003. The sound recordings consist of
34 audiocassette tapes of interviews with Mexican immigrants and the children
of early Mexicano migrant settlers in Oregon assembled as part of a research
project.
The videotape includes two interviews recorded from the Spanish
television program
Cita Con Nelly. In an interview with program
host Nelly, Gonzales-Berry describes the OSU Ethnic Studies Department; the
book
Herencia, which she edited; and resources at
the OSU Archives on the Bracero Program. The second interview on the videotape
is with Javier Cervantes, coordinator of Casa Educacional, the OSU Minority
Education Office for Latina/o and Chicana/o students.