Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
UCLA/Getty Speaker Series: "Artifacts of Migrations: Arizona Desert, Operation Pedro Pan and Crafting Latino Museum Representation" featuring L. Stephen Velasquez
featuring
L. Stephen Velasquez
Curator for the Division of Home and Community Life,
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
About the presentation:
20th-century immigration policies in the U.S. tightened restrictions for some, opened doors for others and continue to be a topic that polarizes groups across the United States. How can the National Museum of American History offer a personal and humanizing version of migration and the Latino experience? Objects collected for Operation Pedro Pan, a letter written by a 14-year-old girl, material collected in the Arizona desert and a pair of inscribed athletic shoes, are examples of extraordinary migration journeys seldom told within a national context and reveal how individuals made sense of the everyday lived experiences of an often violent and traumatic migration process.
About the speaker:
L. Stephen Velasquez is a curator for the Division of Home and Community Life, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. He is currently involved in a research project on Mexican vineyard workers in Napa and an upcoming exhibit, "Corazón y Vida: Lowriding Culture." Past projects include the "Bracero Oral History Project" and associated traveling exhibit, "Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942-1964," the exhibit "Mexican Treasures at the Smithsonian," "AZUCAR! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz," "A Collector’s Vision of Puerto Rico" and "Julia Child’s Kitchen at the Smithsonian."
UCLA/Getty Speaker Series: "Artifacts of Migrations: Arizona Desert, Operation Pedro Pan and Crafting Latino Museum Representation" featuring L. Stephen Velasquez
featuring
L. Stephen Velasquez
Curator for the Division of Home and Community Life,
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
About the presentation:
20th-century immigration policies in the U.S. tightened restrictions for some, opened doors for others and continue to be a topic that polarizes groups across the United States. How can the National Museum of American History offer a personal and humanizing version of migration and the Latino experience? Objects collected for Operation Pedro Pan, a letter written by a 14-year-old girl, material collected in the Arizona desert and a pair of inscribed athletic shoes, are examples of extraordinary migration journeys seldom told within a national context and reveal how individuals made sense of the everyday lived experiences of an often violent and traumatic migration process.
About the speaker:
L. Stephen Velasquez is a curator for the Division of Home and Community Life, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. He is currently involved in a research project on Mexican vineyard workers in Napa and an upcoming exhibit, "Corazón y Vida: Lowriding Culture." Past projects include the "Bracero Oral History Project" and associated traveling exhibit, "Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942-1964," the exhibit "Mexican Treasures at the Smithsonian," "AZUCAR! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz," "A Collector’s Vision of Puerto Rico" and "Julia Child’s Kitchen at the Smithsonian."
