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Artifacts of Migration: Arizona Desert, Operation Pedro Pan and Crafting Latino Museum Representation with L. Stephen Velasquez
April 9 @ 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM PDT
James West Alumni Center,
Los Angeles,
CA
90095
United States
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Glenn Wharton
Lore and Gerald Cunard Chair,
UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage
Professor, Department of Art History
Professor, Conservation of Material Culture
AND
Jason De León
Director, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology
Lloyd E. Cotsen Endowed Chair in Archaeology
Professor, Department of Anthropology
Professor, César E. Chávez Department of
Chicana/o and Central American Studiesinvite you to attend
UCLA/Getty Program’s Distinguished Speaker Series featuring
L. Stephen Velasquez
(Curator for the Division of Home and Community Life,
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution)
“Artifacts of Migrations: Arizona Desert,
Operation Pedro Pan and Crafting
Latino Museum Representation”
Thursday, April 9, 2026
6:00 p.m. PT
Reception to followJames West Alumni Center, Collins Room
UCLA CampusPlease RSVP Here
6:00 p.m. PT
Reception to followJames West Alumni Center, Collins Room
UCLA CampusPlease RSVP Here
About the presentation:
20th-century immigration policies in the U.S. tightened restrictions for some, opened doors for others and continue to be a topic that polarizes groups across the United States. How can the National Museum of American History offer a personal and humanizing version of migration and the Latino experience? Objects collected for Operation Pedro Pan, a letter written by a 14-year-old girl, material collected in the Arizona desert and a pair of inscribed athletic shoes, are examples of extraordinary migration journeys seldom told within a national context and reveal how individuals made sense of the everyday lived experiences of an often violent and traumatic migration process.
About the speaker:
L. Stephen Velasquez is a curator for the Division of Home and Community Life, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. He is currently involved in a research project on Mexican vineyard workers in Napa and an upcoming exhibit, “Corazón y Vida: Lowriding Culture.” Past projects include the “Bracero Oral History Project” and associated traveling exhibit, “Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942-1964,” the exhibit “Mexican Treasures at the Smithsonian,” “AZUCAR! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz,” “A Collector’s Vision of Puerto Rico” and “Julia Child’s Kitchen at the Smithsonian.”
L. Stephen Velasquez is a curator for the Division of Home and Community Life, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. He is currently involved in a research project on Mexican vineyard workers in Napa and an upcoming exhibit, “Corazón y Vida: Lowriding Culture.” Past projects include the “Bracero Oral History Project” and associated traveling exhibit, “Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942-1964,” the exhibit “Mexican Treasures at the Smithsonian,” “AZUCAR! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz,” “A Collector’s Vision of Puerto Rico” and “Julia Child’s Kitchen at the Smithsonian.”
This event is sponsored by the UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and was made possible by the generous sponsorship of Jeffrey P. Cunard.