by Jesse Sendejas
News Reporter
Since the earliest days of global exploration, Spain has contributed many treasures to the American culture as its explorers came seeking in the New World.
The University of Houston's Arte Publico Press recently returned the favor, presenting a treasure of its own to Spanish royalty.
Publisher Nicolas Kanellos presented the press' award-winning Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the United States to Spain's Prince Felipe de Borbon Feb. 25 as part of the Spanish Ministry of Culture's first Conference on Hispanic Culture in the United States.
"The handbook is a binational effort by scholars from the United States and Spain to create a reference work that would be accessible to students and the public, but especially students from high school to college ages," Kanellos said.
Funded by more than $200,000 in grants from Spain's Ministry of Culture, the four-volume reference work chronicles Hispanic contributions to the United States.
From 1987 to 1994, 80 scholars researched and wrote the chapters now included in the collection. Chapter titles include "Latino Immigration Experience" and "Hispanic Blending and Diversity." These and other chapters are grouped by volumes which cover Hispanic history, literature and art, sociology and anthropology.
Leopoldo Stampa, consul general of Spain, attended the February conference, which was held at the Casa de America Conference Center in Madrid.
"Prince Felipe is particularly interested in the United States," Stampa said.
"After his university studies in Spain, he went to Washington and studied at Georgetown University. He then spent a couple of years traveling throughout the United States and made his thesis on international relations.
"This created in him a permanent curiosity of things that have happened in the United States, and he has a tendency to follow very carefully events here and the cultural influence of Spain on the United States. That's the reason the collection was presented to him."
Kanellos said Spanish reaction to the work was positive.
"They're overjoyed, especially since the book was done so well," he said. "It's very informative, very authoritative and has been nationally recognized a number of times in the United States by authorities on reference works."
Among those authorities is the American Library Association, which named the collection one of the year's outstanding reference materials in 1995.
"I think that people really welcomed (the collection) because there had been nothing up to that point that detailed Hispanic contributions in such a way," said Shirley Maul, who heads the Vassar College library in New York and is the former chairwoman of ALA's Reference Sources Committee, which recognizes outstanding reference works.
"What we had seen up to that point with Hispanic culture was aimed toward high school, and there had been a very big gap at the college level," Maul said.
"Of course, he was appeased," said Stampa of Prince Felipe's review of the compilation.
"This kind of encyclopedic study, which sums up the influence of Spanish culture in several fields, is really an important thing."
As for its importance to the school, Kanellos said, "For UH, it further enhances our position in Hispanic studies as being the center of Latino publishing and literature, and also reinforces the kind of quality work coming out of the university."