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Christine Marie Sierra Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MSS-1042-BC

Scope and Content

Collection contains materials produced or collected by Christine Sierra related to her academic career as well as her community activism. The collection is divided into five series – Professional/Biographical, The Santa Fe Project, Community Organizations, Publications, and Newspapers.

The first series, Professional/Biographical, contains materials related to Christine Sierra’s academic work and research, and is arranged into two subseries. The first subseries, Conferences, Speeches and Awards, contains speeches written and presented by Christine Sierra at academic conferences and conventions nationwide, various awards given to Sierra for her writing and research, and her dissertation work. The second subseries, Academic Research, is composed of statistics and election polls, newsletters and reports written by groups such as the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP) that give insight into the Latino vote in nationwide and New Mexico elections, and interviews conducted by Sierra with community members and candidates in New Mexico elections. The data collected in the second subseries is research that Sierra conducted for her dissertation as well as other academic projects.

The second series, The Santa Fe Project, contains research on the 1994 mayoral election in Santa Fe, New Mexico, that Christine Sierra used to co-write and co-produce the documentary film “This Town is Not For Sale”. It is arranged into two subseries, the first being Mayoral Election, comprised of census data, polls, and news articles related to Santa Fe’s housing, election returns, and the various social issues that the 1994 mayoral election was centered around. The second subseries, Debbie Jaramillo/This Town is Not For Sale contains news articles and interviews with Debbie Jaramillo, VHS tapes with election material used by Sierra for her film, and proposals, grants, forms, scripts, and correspondence related to the production of “This Town is Not For Sale”.

The third series, Community Organizations, is divided into several subseries that all contain yearly reports, grants, proposals, meetings, data, correspondence, conferences, news articles and newsletters from various organizations that Christine Sierra researched. Each subseries represents a specific organization: Immigration and Naturalization Service Community Relations Board, Albuquerque Interfaith, Southwest Organizing Project, Southwest Council of La Raza, National Council of La Raza, “Ready to Run”, Mexican American Unity Council, Euclid Foundation, Mexican American Community Programs Foundation, Mujeres Activistas en Letras y Cambio Social, National Association for Chicano/a Studies, National Association of Chicano Social Scientists, and National Indian Youth Council.

The fourth series, Publications, is composed of a number of published works ranging from 1969 till 2002, related to Christine Sierra’s academic research in the Political Science field as well as Chicano/a studies. Featured are various directories and rosters, election and voting data, maps and other publications related to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and article publications from academic journals such as Aztlán Publications.

The fifth and final series, Newspapers, is comprised of articles and papers from The New Mexican, Puntos de Vista, the Hispanic Link Weekly Report, and two oversized boxes of newspapers published by The National Hispanic Reporter and The National Council of La Raza Agenda.

Dates

  • 1962-2015

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Copy Restrictions

Limited duplication of CSWR material is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for compliance with all copyright, privacy, and libel laws. Permission is required for publication or distribution.

Biographical Information

Christine Marie Sierra is Professor Emerita of Political Science at the University of New Mexico, beginning her journey as a faculty member in 1986 and retiring in 2014. Her expertise is in American politics with an emphasis on race, ethnicity, and gender. She has several publications on Mexican American activism on immigration policy, Chicano/a studies, Hispanic politics in New Mexico, and the politics of Latina women in the United States. Her most recent publication is Contested Transformation: Race, Gender, and Political Leadership in 21st Century America, a national study of elected officials of color, co-authored with Carol Hardy-Fanta, Pei-te Lien, and Dianne M. Pinderhughes (Cambridge University Press 2016). Sierra has been a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution, the University of Arizona, and the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. As an expert in American and Latino/a politics, she appears frequently in local, national, and international media outlets. She served as Director of the Southwest Hispanic Research Institute at the University of New Mexico from 2011 – 2014. In addition to being a scholar and professor, Sierra has also been involved in various community organizations including but not limited to the Southwest Council of La Raza (SWCLR), the Immigration and Naturalization Service Community Relations Board (INS), and Albuquerque Interfaith. Sierra also was an organizer for “Ready to Run” in New Mexico, a nationwide campaign training program that worked to encourage women's election and participation in politics.

Source: Christine Sierra Profile

Extent

10 boxes (12 cubic ft.), plus 1 oversize folder

Abstract

This collection contains material produced or collected by Christine Sierra. A UNM faculty member from 1986 till 2014, Professor Christine Sierra’s expertise is in American Politics with a focus on Latino/a politics, and women in politics. Much of her scholarship analyzed community organization's work on immigration, education, and other forms of activism. The material in this collection reflects the extensive research conducted by Christine Sierra.

Related Archival Material

Collection on Santa Fe politics, Debbie Jaramillo, and the making of the video documentary, "This town is not for sale!"Center for Southwest Research, University Libraries, University of New Mexico.

Separated Material

Publications transfered to the CSWR and general library book collections:
  1. Cristine Sierra Dissertation: The Political Transformation of a Minority Organization : The Council of La Raza, 1965-1980. Call number: E184 M5 S48 1983a
  2. History, culture, and society : Chicano studies in the 1980s / National Association for Chicano Studies ; editorial committee, Mario T. García ... [et al. ; contributions by Bert N. Corona and others].
  3. Perspectivas en Chicano studies I : papers presented at the third annual meeting of the National Association of Chicano Social Science, 1975 / general editor, Reynaldo Flored Macías.
  4. Grassroots politics in the 1980's : a case study / Institute for the Study of Labor and Economic Crisis.
  5. Estudios Chicanos and the politics of community : selected proceedings / National Association for Chicano Studies ; editorial committee, Mary Romero, chair, Cordelia Candelaria.
  6. The Spanish speaking in the United States: a guide to materials.
  7. Renato Rosaldo Lecture Series Monograph Vol. 1, Series 1983-1984 Summer 1985
  8. A Journal of Chicana/Latina Studies Vol. 1, No 2 Summer 1997
  9. The political transformation of a minority organization: The Council of La Raza, 1965-1980 by Christine Marie Sierra
Title
Finding Aid of the Christine Marie Sierra papers, 1962-2015
Status
Completed
Author
Samuel Sisneros
Date
© 2019
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid is in English
Sponsor
Funding for processing fellowship provided by Center for Regional Studies, University of New Mexico, Dr. Gabriel Meléndez, Director.

Revision Statements

  • Monday, 20210524: Attribute normal is missing or blank.

Repository Details

Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451