Yvette Walker
With KVCR News. I'm Yvette Walker. This is IE Latino Voices, where we invite representatives from Latino led and Latino serving organizations to share their stories and their impact in our region. Joining me today is Dr Nathan Gonzalez, Archivist and Head of Special Collections at AK Smiley Public Library in Redlands. Thank you so much for being with us today, Dr. Gonzales.
Nathan Gonzales
Thank you so much for inviting me.
Yvette Walker
Dr Gonzales, please talk about what drew you to becoming an archivist and head of Special Collections.
Nathan Gonzales
That sounds like a really fancy title, but it really just means that I'm an historian, and it's something that I've always been interested in history since I was very young. And I was a weird kid who always talked to the adults instead of talking to my peers. So by the time I got to high school and then college, history was what my passion had become, or what I understood my passion to be. And then trying to figure out what to do with a passion like that led me to go to graduate school at UCR in history, and then I understood this whole new world called public history that includes things like museums and archives and historic preservation. But wow, I can actually make a job out of this, and that's how I've now ended up as an archivist and helping out with the history of Redlands.
Yvette Walker
Please share a bit about the history of the AK Smiley Library and its role in the community.
Nathan Gonzales
Smiley Library goes back, actually, to late to 1894. The city wasn't even incorporated until 1888 so it's six years after that. And when the Redlands Public Library was formed by a group of citizens, they wanted to make it very clear that the public library was to serve the entirety of the community, without regard to social standing, or how people dressed or how they spoke. It was to be really a learning opportunity for anyone who wanted it. And in 1898, the building that we have now was gifted to the city by Albert Smiley, and ever since that time, it has been a real touchstone of community for the entire community of Redlands.
Yvette Walker
Please share an overview of archivist work and the heading of Special Collections.
Nathan Gonzales
It's funny because it sort of depends on the size of the institution. So at an institution like Smiley Library, where we have a very strong history program, but very few staff, it actually is maybe more fun for me, because I get to do a whole lot of different things. So in some institutions, when you're working in public history field like that, you're very specialized. But in a small institution like we have, we get to do a little bit of everything. So my colleague Maria and I are tour guides. We organize collections, we catalog things, we design exhibits, we give public programs. It's a plethora of experience and bringing the community to the library, and bringing the library then out to the community.
Yvette Walker
Dr Gonzalez, what are you looking forward to in the next five years at the AK Smiley Library?
Nathan Gonzales
Since about the year 2000 we've been working on a project to create a home for regional history and arts, and originally we called that Redlands Historical Museum, and in recent years, we've reformulated that into Museum of Redlands with a partnership with a nonprofit called the Redlands Historical Museum Association. So this is a project we've been working on for almost 25 years, and it's finally coming to fruition. Within the next 12 months, construction will be finished, and when the construction is finished, the library will then - our Special Collections division - will take over the job of installing exhibits that highlight the history of our community and arts in our community over time. And that's, I think, what I'm most excited about in the next, at least in the next couple of years, and then so many things I know will blossom from there.
Yvette Walker
And what's the best way to connect with you and the library?
Nathan Gonzales
Electronic media are always probably the easiest. We have a web page, of course, which is www.akspl.org. We can be found on Facebook and on Instagram as well. If you look for AKSPL, there are different pages for part of the different divisions of the library, in addition to the library's main page.
Yvette Walker
Thank you so much for being with us today. Dr Gonzales.
Nathan Gonzales
Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.
Yvette Walker
Join us again next week for IE Latino Voices. You can find this story and others on our website at KVCRnews.org/ieLatinovoices. IE Latino Voices is produced by KVCR Public Media and is funded by generous support from the CIELO fund at IECF, uplifting and investing in the IE’s Latino community. For KVCR News, I'm Yvette Walker.
