Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography/Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Additional collection guides
Descriptive Summary
Title: Ruben Salazar collection
Dates: 1955-2008
Collection Number: Consult repository
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 2 boxes
Repository:
Sonoma State University Library
Rohnert Park, California 94928
Abstract: In 1979 the new library at Sonoma State University was named after Mexican-American journalist Rubén Salazar. Clippings of
articles written by him during the 1950s and ‘60s for the local newspaper, The Press Democrat, were compiled and became the
root of this collection. Salazar’s wife, Sally, who attended the Library dedication with her children, donated copies of photographs
of Rubén. Materials about the SSU Library dedication are also included in the collection, as well as materials relating to
the addition of the 500,000th book to the library collection—Border Correspondent: selected writings, 1955-1970, edited by
Mario T. García. Since then, the collection has expanded to include articles about his death during a demonstration in Los
Angeles and media.
Language of Material: English
Access
Collection is open for research by appointment.
Publication Rights
The library can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claimants of literary
property.
Preferred Citation
Ruben Salazar collection. Sonoma State University Library
Biography/Administrative History
Ruben Salazar, born in 1928, was eight months old when his parents moved from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to El Paso, Texas. He
became a naturalized citizen, attending public schools and the University of Texas at El Paso, then known as Texas Western
College. He received a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Salazar began his journalism career at the El Paso Herald-Post,
launching a career of many “firsts” for the mainstream press. As the first Latino reporter at the Post, he crossed into English-language
journalism. He became the first Latino foreign correspondent, and the first Latino columnist, to name a few.
In 1956-1957, Salazar worked in Petaluma for The Santa Rosa Press Democrat. He moved on to the San Francisco News and in
1959 accepted the opportunity to work for The Los Angeles Times. During his tenure with the Times, Salazar was a foreign
correspondent in Viet Nam and the Dominican Republic and Times bureau chief in Mexico City. Salazar’s coverage of the 1965
U.S. Marine intervention in the Dominican Republic received high acclaim. As a domestic reporter and columnist, Salazar’s
topics were also “firsts”: the inferior quality of education, unemployment, poor and restricted housing conditions - essentially
the full range of problems facing Chicanos in Los Angeles. His reporting earned him a state Medal Award for best local news
coverage in California.
“Stranger in One’s Land”, Ruben Salazar’s account of the 1968 U.S. Commission on Civil Right’s hearing in San Antonio, Texas,
appeared as a commission publication in May 1970. This unique report was published for the purpose of stimulating public
concern for the problems confronting Mexican Americans.
By 1970, Salazar was elected Chairman of the Chicano Media Council, was news director of KMEX, a Spanish language TV station
in Los Angeles, and wrote a weekly columnist on Chicano affairs for the Los Angeles Times.
On August 29, 1970, Ruben Salazar was killed by a tear gas projectile fired by a Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputy as
he was seated outside a restaurant. He had been taking a break from his assignment covering the Chicano Moratorium, an anti-Viet
Nam war demonstration in East Los Angeles. Salazar was 42.
Salazar was posthumously awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 1971. In 1999, the California Chicano News Media
Association established the annual Ruben Salazar Journalism Awards. The awards recognize work published or broadcast in California
that exemplify journalistic excellence while contributing to a better understanding of Latinos.
In March 1979, Sonoma State University named its library in honor of Ruben Salazar. In 2002, soon after a new library building
was constructed, the Ruben Salazar Library building became Salazar Hall. Salazar Hall is now home to administrative and educational
functions, including the Journalism Laboratory.
Scope and Content of Collection
The materials in this collection are organized in a total of two boxes.
The collection is comprised of clippings of Salazar's news stories and includes articles about him, bibliographies, photocopies
of photographs, documents, and ephemera.
The collection is organized into the following series:
1. Bibliography
2. Biography
3. Articles about Salazar's death, 1970
4. Photographs and artifacts
5. Conference papers
6. Petaluma Parade: Press Democrat column (1956-1957)
7. Writing as staff correspondent, Press Democrat articles (1957-1957)
8. Ruben Salazar, Press Democrat (1957)
9. Press Democrat (after 1970)
10. Ruben Salazar, Los Angeles Times articles (1970)
11. Los Angeles Times articles (1970s-1980s)
12. Los Angeles Times articles (1990s)
13. Additional articles about Ruben Salazar
14. Reviews, etc. of Border Correspondent, Salazar biography by Mario T. Garcia
15. John Lehmann Paper on Ruben Salazar
16. Articles in La Raza (1970)
17. Documents and other materials about Salazar. Series are arranged in chronological order except articles about Salazar
which are arranged alphabetically.
Indexing Terms
Mexican Americans.
Mexican-American Border Region.
Mexico -- Relations -- United States.
Mexican American journalists – California.
Salazar, Ruben, 1928-1970.
Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.)
Los Angeles (Calif.).
Santa Rosa (Calif.).
Journalists -- California -- Santa Rosa.
Foreign correspondents.
Additional collection guides