Summer 2024

The exhibition presented here introduces the history of the many women who worked at the Hispanic Society of America (HSA) from 1918 to the late 1970s. Group photos and portraits of the female staff, together with their biographies and personal testimonies, tell the story of what it was like to work at the Hispanic Society. Most of these women began their careers as librarians, and many of them went on to become curators and experts in the art or literature of a culture that was initially unfamiliar to them. Their achievements were in great part driven by the founder of the Society, Archer M. Huntington, who was in many ways responsible for changing the lives and expectations of many of these women.