The Eberly Family Special Collections Library houses many materials related to Latin American and Spanish history. These collections were chiefly created by Latin American communities and collected by Penn State University or American scholars in the 1970s-1990s. Highlights include archival material and publications relating to Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (American Popular Revolutionary Alliance or APRA) in Peru as well as field notes and photographs documenting archaeology in Mexico. These collections are grouped into two thematic categories, "Art, archaeology, and literature" and "politics and political movements." 

These collections primarily documents Argentina, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, and Spain. Individuals or communities in Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela are also represented.

Searching for Materials in Special Collections

Materials within Special Collections can be located two ways: through the Catalog for individual items or books, and the Finding Aids for archival collections. Researchers will need an Aeon account to request materials that they wish to view, either in the Reading Room or through remote services.

For remote services, please request your materials through Aeon and reach out to us at spcollections@psu.edu or call 814-865-1793 to discuss your request with the Research Services team. We are happy to provide limited remote service for researchers if an in-person visit is not possible!

Requesting cataloged materials:

• Click on "Advanced Search" on the top ribbon and fill out your search terms
• Choose "Special Collections Library" from the Library drop-down
• To further refine your results, consider using "Format" to narrow results to musical scores, books, audio, or archives/manuscripts
• Once you find the item you want, click on the title and locate the "request material" link next to the item's location. Follow through with your request until you see the item in your Aeon account's awaiting processing queue.

Requesting archival materials:

• Use the keyword search bar on the Special Collections home page to locate finding aids containing your subject or keywords
• The Vertical File portal will direct you to subject (topical) finding aids related to Penn State, which include Photograph, Biographical, and General (documents)
• To request archival materials, click on the file title you would like to see, then click the "request this" box. Once you have selected all the files you'd like to see from that finding aid, click on "My Requests" and follow through with your request until you see the item in your Aeon account's awaiting processing queue.