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Inventory of the Gloria Anzaldúa Altares Collection
MS 308  
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Collection Overview
 
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Description
This collection of figurines, small clay pots, masks, rattles, candles, altar cloths, and other ephemera was used by Gloria Anzaldúa as altar (altares) objects at her home in Santa Cruz, California. These altares were an integral part of her spiritual life and creative process as a writer.
Background
"I sit here before my computer, Amiguita, my altar on top of the monitor with the Virgen de Coatlalopeuh candle and copal incense burning. My companion, a wooden serpent staff with feathers, is to my right while I ponder the ways metaphor and symbol concretize the spirit and etherealize the body. The Writing is my whole life, it is my obsession." Gloria E. Anzaldúa from Borderlands/La Frontera (Aunt Lute Books, 1999)
Extent
25 boxes, 1 roll box
Restrictions
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce the material, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Availability
This collection is open for viewing.