The MSI Archives & Library Project is conceptualized to be a Digital Archive and Resource Unit, with three main components: the Oral History Project, the Center for Oral Memories of Mexicans in New York, and the New York City Mexican Studies Literary Archive. Each of these projects, even if separate, has a common objective: to situate the MSI, as well as enhancing the advancement of Mexicans in New York City, community-building, and preservation of memory.

The Oral History Project is a project done in collaboration with BronxNet, in which we recollect success stories of people that have been vital to the advancement of Mexicans and the Mexican community in New York City. The program is recorded at the Bronxnet Headquarters in Lehman College, and has the format of an interview. These interviews recorded with community leaders are streamed on Cable television, and are uploaded to the BronxNet Youtube channel, as well as their own website. The interviews last, on average, a little less than 30 minutes.

The Center for Oral Memories of Mexicans in New York, is a community archive that is based on the compilation of oral histories of Mexican migrants in the New York City area. Different from the Oral History Project, the Center for Oral Memories is open to anyone wishing to participate, and it’s exclusively done through sound recording. The Center for Oral Memories’ main objective is community building, allowing the Mexicans in NYC to tell their own stories in order to gain recognition and increase historical, social, and political awareness.

Finally, we also have the Mexican Studies Literary Archive. This literary archive mostly compiles the material presented at the International Book Fair of NYC (FILNYC). The Feria Internacional del Libro de la Ciudad de Nueva York (FILNYC, by its Spanish initials) is an initiative of the CUNY Mexican Studies Institute. First launched in 2019, the FILNYC is a cultural project that dignifies the Spanish language in the United States through literature and culture. We’ve built a project that highlights the literary aesthetics and racial diversity of New York thanks to four pillars: the Literary, the Academic, the Humanist, and the Bibliodiverse.