Luis Leal papers, 1940-2009

Summary

Creators:

Leal, Luis, 1907-2010 and Leal, Antonio

Abstract:

Papers of Luis Leal, a former writer, researcher, and Professor Emeritus of Chicana and Chicano studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Extent:

34 Linear Feet (19 cartons, 7 flat boxes)

Language:

English Spanish; Castilian

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Luis Leal papers. CEMA 125. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains materials produced and collected by Luis Leal's throughout his teaching and writing careers.

Materials may include course syllabi and assignments, student course evaluations, audiovisual recordings of lectures, university departmental documents, correspondence, drafts and notes, publications by both Leal and others, newspapers, and other collected reference materials.

Biographical / historical:

Luis Leal (September 17, 1907 – January 25, 2010) was a Mexican-American writer, researcher, and Professor Emeritus of Chicana and Chicano studies at the UC Santa Barbara. Leal was born and raised in Linares, Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. After he graduated high school, he immigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago, Illinois to attend Northwestern University in 1927. Over the next decade, Leal studied English, attended classes, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Spanish from Northwestern University in 1940 and a Master's in Spanish from the University of Chicago in 1941. In 1943, he was drafted and served in the U.S. Army until World War II ended in 1945. After he returned from the Phillipines, Leal continued his studies and earned a Ph.D. in Spanish and Italian from the University of Chicago in 1950.

He took his first teaching job at the University of Mississippi in 1952, and transferred a few years later to Emory University in Atlanta, GA where he taught for another three years. Leal struggled with the segregation in the South and anti-integration sentiments on campus, and by 1959 returned to Illinois to teach Latin American and Mexican literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Up to his retirement in 1975, Leal taught two graduate seminars a semester, directed almost four dozen dissertation students, and published numerous articles and books on Mexican, Latin American, and Chicano literature.

In 1976, he and his family moved to Santa Barbara, where he accepted a visiting professor position at UCSB, where he would continue to teach for next three decades until his second retirement. While at UCSB, Leal held a research fellowship, taught graduate literature courses, edited a literary periodical, directed the Center for Chicano Studies from 1994 to 1996, and served as the Luis Leal Endowed Chair from 1995 to 1997.

Throughout his academic career, Leal authored more than 45 books and 400 scholarly articles and received numerous honors, including the National Humanities Medal, which was presented at the White House in 1997 by then-President Bill Clinton; the Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Association for Chicano Studies in recognition of his lifetime achievements in 1988; and he was awarded the Mexico Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor granted to foreign citizens by the Mexican government, in 1991.

Acquisition information:

Donated by Antonio Leal, Luis Leal's son, in November 2011.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged by topic into two series:

• Series 1: Course and University materials
• Series 2: Manuscript and Research materials

Physical location:

Some materials in this collection were transferred to off-site storage at the Systemwide Library Facility on August 2025 (Boxes 1-19).

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Names:

Leal, Antonio

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research. This collection, or materials contained within, is located at off-site storage and requires at least one week advanced notice for requested materials.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and are retained by the creator and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.

All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or their assigns for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Luis Leal papers. CEMA 125. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:

UC Santa Barbara, Special Research Collections

UC Santa Barbara Library

Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US

Contact:

(805) 893-3062

special@library.ucsb.edu

Website