Introduction. The Latinos in West Michigan Project is a collaborative effort by several west Michigan institutions and individuals to document and divulge the history and culture of Latinos and Latin Americans in the region. It is an ambitious project, meant to be long-lived and responsive to community needs and scholarly standards. It brings together Hispanic community members, city officials, professional scholars, and college students in a broad and on-going project to know and make known West Michigan's Hispanic heritage.

Focus and selection are the key to any successful research project. While one may wish to do everything all at once, progress comes only through careful consideration of specific questions and the selection of manageable topics. Nationality poses one of the first challenges for the project. The Hispanic community is a variegated one, composed of many groups who often see themselves as Americans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, or Guatemalans rather than as Hispanics or Latinos. Since the first large Latin American immigration to the region was Mexican and since this is the largest distinguishable group within the community, it was logical to begin research on this national group. But attention quickly shifted toward other nationalities, especially Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Dominicans, each of which has a significant presence in the area. With a foundation in these communities, the project will expand to investigate the history, culture, and contributions of other nationalities.

With a grand vision of the overall puzzle--Latino-Latin American life in west Michigan--all the pieces can be fit together overtime. It is hoped that a focus on the Mexican immigrant-migrant-resident experience, followed by an emphasis on Puerto Ricans and Cubans, will prove manageable and provide a useful model for other groups. Nevertheless, research on nationalities other than these will be encouraged.

Inter-Institutional Collaboration. Initial partners in the project include the Hispanic Center of West Michigan, the Grand Rapids Public Library, the Grand Rapids Public Museum, the Latin American Studies Program at Grand Valley State University, and Latin Americans United for Progress of Holland. Cooperation between these institutions allows for productive collaboration among community members, academics, and public service agencies. The Hispanic Center and Latin Americans United for Progress enable contact to the Hispanic communities of Grand Rapids and Holland and provide invaluable guidance for researchers. The library has the archival resources and means to collect and house the new data gathered to ensure the perpetuation of the project and easy public access to the source materials produced. The Public Museum also serves as a depository of Hispanic heritage artifacts and as a showcase for the results of the project. GVSU provides key resources in terms of the research and publication expertise of its faculty and the research practice of students engaged the a broad range of disciplines, from history and anthropology to computer science and film making.

Becoming A Partner. Interested individuals and institutions are urged to join the Latinos in West Michigan Project. Cooperative relationships with other schools and community groups is encouraged and essential to the success of the project. Please contact us to make arrangements for becoming a partner.

First Steps. Research was begun in fall 1997 by Darlene Bos, an anthropology student at Grand Valley State University. Her desire to understand the culture of senior Mexican (and Mexican-American) women in Grand Rapids gave shape to this initial step.

Bos's research project provided a concrete case around which to tie the various strands of the initiative. Her work involved interviews with four prominent Latinas, taking their pictures and recording their stories on tape. Her experience in contacting informants provided an opportunity to discover some of the sensitive issues involved in student work, cross-cultural communication, language barriers, and time constraints that are natural parts of any complex research process conducted on a voluntary basis. Most of all, Bos's research generated the first substantive product: the documentation of the priceless memories of some of Grand Rapids's earliest living Hispanic residents.

Personnel. The Initiative depends on the skills and talents of a diverse array of people. Some job categories and descriptions are listed below in alphabetical order. Some job overlap. Please contact us if you are interested in filling any of these positions.

Archivist. People skilled in the cataloging of oral histories, artifacts, video and audio recordings, and other materials.

Computer Specialist. People capable of designing web sites and programs that could be of use to the Initiative.

Editor. People capable of organizing the material gathered by field workers and researchers into presentable forms whether for publication, display, or broadcast.

Field Worker. Principal gatherers of oral testimony, interviewers. Also responsible for developing additional contacts and for nurturing those which have been made.

Grant Writer. People capable at finding funding sources and writing the grants necessary to obtain funding.

Interpreter. People fluent in Spanish and English who can help participants who are not bi-lingual with interviews and translations.

Project Coordinator. An individual who maintains contact with all facets of the project including independent or autonomous activities related to the Initiative with the goal of maintaining progress, avoiding duplicity, and encouraging broader participation.

Publicist. People to help make the project known in order to attract support and make the findings known to the public in an effective way.

Researcher. A broad category for people willing to do the bibliographical and archival research needed to substantiate and elaborate on information revealed in oral histories.

Statistician. People skilled at manipulating numbers to analyze survey data.

Transcriptionist. People to transcribe the recorded interviews and put them in hard copy form. Transcriptionists who are fluent in Spanish and good typists are an especially significant need.

Visual Artist. Photographer; video camera operator; video editors.