The Ricardo Favela papers reflect his life as an artist, professor, activist, and community organizer. Favela's personal papers include correspondence, news clippings (including articles concerning the Royal Chicano Air Force), photographs, as well as reports and exhibition announcements. Also included are his teaching files from California State University, Sacramento, his papers related to various organizations and projects, and a collection of slides. The slides document his own work as an artist, and the work of his colleagues in the Centro de Artistas Chicanos, as well as the work of his students and community members in the Barrio Arte program. The current papers cover from 1970 to present day. The papers consist of nine series: Personal and Biographical Information, Correspondence, Teaching Files, Exhibits and Events, Organizations and Projects, Subjects, Publications, Slides, Photographs, and Audio/Visual.

"For the most part, my works and those of the other Chicano/Indio artistas are not what the so-called experts call classic, or even technically brilliant. They are, however, works rooted in our concern for our people and culture, thus giving them a vibrant emotional life. The fact that, as a people, we are tied to the earth by our indigenous heritage and, ironically, by the great U.S. society's penchant for offering us nino farm worker occupation in our own occupied ancestral lands leads me to strive with my teaching and art to influence and ultimately give consequence to our present educational system, whether inside or outside the mainstream." –Ricardo Favela

20 Linear Feet (32 document boxes, 4 oversized flat boxes)

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Research Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Research Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Research Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

The collection is open for research. A portion of the collection is stored offsite. Advance notice is required for retrieval.