The Michael Baptista CERLAC Special Collections

Church and Convent, San Francisco, Quito | Photo courtesy of Ingrid Carlson

CERLAC Special Collections contains extensive resources on a variety of themes. Holdings consist mostly of Spanish and English language publications and communications, with some material also in Portuguese and French, dating from the 1970s and extending up to the 1990s on some themes and up to the present on others.

Self-contained Libraries

The collection includes two unique self-contained libraries:

The library of the Latin American Working Group/LAWG, (Room 624G) a vast collection of materials on human rights, popular organizations, Canadian solidarity activities, and other issues from the 1970s to the 1990s, with particularly extensive documentation on Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. LAWG also has a project called "The LAWG History Project/The LAWG Hay Camino History Project". For information on that project click here.
The library of the International Commission for Coordination of Solidarity Among Sugar Workers (ICCSASW), a large collection of documents and publications on the world sugar industry, including labor organizations in the industry and much material on the Caribbean and Latin America, up to the turn of the 21st century.

Parts of the Special Collections

Thematic sections of the Special Collections on Latin America and the Caribbean are dedicated to:

Human Rights, including social and economic issues and numerous in-depth reports on truth and reconciliation, most published by human rights organizations.
Domestic and international questions related to Migrant and Refugees.
Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Minorities, with much information on the Caribbean, the neo-Zapatistas in Mexico, and the Shuar in Ecuador.
Labour conflicts and strikes, with many documents prepared by labour unions.
Churches on Theology of Liberation, defence of human rights, and documents of institutions under threat (e.g., Vicaría de Solidaridad in Chile during military rule).
Trade Agreements, withdebates about the original North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of 1990.
Women/Gender, including publications of feminist organizations from Ecuador, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and the Caribbean Region.
A great deal of documentation about Canadian Solidarity activism and by Canadian Solidarity organizations.

In addition, all the Latin American and Caribbean nations are included in Country Sections with the publications of many prominent research centres (e.g. Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) and Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) of the University of the West Indies). The national Sections include works on many different topics (e.g. political parties, rural conflicts, international relations, social groups such as the Rastafarians in Jamaica, and so on).

A particularly rich collection of national and institutional histories (e.g., corporations, churches, exile organizations) was compiled by the Latin American Working Group (LAWG) during 1965 to 1995, and it is in the CERLAC Special Collections today. As well, the documents of the International Commission for Coordination of Solidarity Among Sugar Workers (ICCSASW) are housed there.

Two Sections of Journals are focused on principal publications but include some rare items, such as the weekly Alternativa, founded by Gabriel García Marquez in Bogotá, Colombia.

CERLAC Special Collections content and location:

LAWG Corporation Files (Room 624G)
Collections of Major Journals (Academic and Political)
Thematic collections, with particularly extensive sets of documents and reports on:
- Human Rights (by institution and country) - Section D1-D5
- Church and Liberation Theology (by institution and country) - Section I1-I4
- Solidarity with Latin America - Book Case 1
- Solidarity of Civic Organizations - Book Case 2
- Latin Americans in Exile - LAWG Room 624G
- Gender and Development - Section J1-J3
- Refugees and Migration (mostly in Spanish) - Section D5-D6
- Indigenous and Ethnic Minorities - Section E1-E2 (by institution and country)
- Labour (by Institution and Country) - Section H1-H3
- Free Trade and Trade Alternatives - Section H4
- Mining and Environment - Section F1-F2 (by institution and country)
- LATAM Region - Section K1
- LATAM International Relations and Rural Issues - Section K2
- LATAM Popular Education - Section K3
- Work Area - J4

The country sections of the Caribbean region, Central America, and South America include publications from the regions' major research centers and universities.

Central American Journals - Section B1-B2
Caribbean Journals - Section B3
Journals from Latin America - Section B3-B6
Latin American Newsletters - G1-G4

Moving Shelves

Argentina - Section K4
Brazil - Section K5
Chile, Paraguay, & Uruguay - Section L1-L3
Andean Region, Bolivia - Section L4
Colombia - Section L5
Peru - Section M3-M4
Central America - Section M5
Costa Rica & El Salvador - Section N1
Guatemala - Section N2
Honduras & Nicaragua - Section N3
Nicaragua - Section N4
Panama - Section N5
Mexico - Section O1-O4
Caribbean Region - Section O5
Caribbean Countries (various, Jamaica & Trinidad) - Section P1-P3
Cuba and Dominican Republic - Section P3-P4
Puerto Rico - Section P5
Sugar Collection - Section Q1-Q5

Many of the publications of CERLAC Fellows and associated graduate students and post-graduate scholars are also available.

The collections are non-circulating but they are available to students, faculty, and other researchers.

About the Michael Baptista CERLAC Special Collections naming:

Michael immigrated to Canada from South America. His drive and love of learning at York University led to his outstanding achievement as an Executive Senior VP of a Canadian Bank. We hope others find their goals and wings here. Dedicated by his family in 2024.