Join us for episode 25 of the Spotlight Houston Show, where Blanca Quezada sits down with Mikaela Selley, a native Houstonian who is also a professional archivist specializing in the preservation of records significant to Hispanic and Latinx heritage.
Mikaela is currently the Program Manager for the Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Project at Arte Público Press, where she oversees the Periodicals in the US-Mexico Border Region project. This exciting digitization project aims to digitize over 200 historic newspapers, dating from the 1800s to the 1950s, from along the US-Mexico border and make them available to researchers and the public via a new website.
Mikaela has a wealth of experience in the field, having served as the Hispanic Collections Archivist for the Houston Public Library’s Houston Metropolitan Research Center from 2013 to 2021, overseeing the processing, digitization, and promotion of the Hispanic Archival Collections. Under her leadership, the collection grew to include over 1,000 items that were made available to the public via the research portal.
In addition to her work as an archivist, Mikaela is also an independent consultant in the field, offering research, planning, archival, and exhibit design services for personal, business, and cultural heritage projects.
During the episode, Mikaela shares her passion for preserving our heritage and talks about the importance of making historical materials available to the public. She shares some of the unique and fascinating stories that have been uncovered in the newspapers that are being digitized as part of the Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Project. She also shares her experiences in creating oral histories and cultural exhibits, and how it helps to understand and appreciate the cultural heritage.
Mikaela is an expert in her field and her insights are not to be missed.
Visit https://www.mikaelaselley.com/ for more information about our guest and https://artepublicopress.com/recovery-program/ for more information about this project.
