Dr. Nettie Lee Benson (1905 – 1993) worked at the Latin American Collection at the University of Texas for 34 years, later renamed as the Benson Latin American Collection in her honor. She earned degrees at the University of Texas-Austin including the PhD.
As head librarian Benson developed a world-class research library using innovative acquisitions strategies such as personal visits to publishers, bookstores, authors, and government agencies in various Latin American countries.
Benson was a founding member of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM) in 1956, and from 1960 to 1962 she traveled to Latin America as an agent for the Latin American Cooperative Acquisitions Program (LACAP), a consortium of U.S. research libraries.
After 1949, she taught history and library science simultaneously with her work managing the Latin American Collection. She also co-founded a graduate program in library science for specialists in Latin America.
Benson served with distinction as chairperson of the Bolton Prize Committee, Conference on Latin American History (1970); as president of the Fourth International Conference of U.S. and Mexican Historians (1973); and on the editorial board of the Hispanic American Historical Review (1974–1979).
Mexico awarded Benson the Order of the Aztec Eagle in 1979.
Selected Publications
Benson, Nettie Lee. "Texas as Viewed from Mexico, 1820–1834." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 90, no. 3 (1987): 219–291.
Benson, Nettie Lee. The Provincial Deputation in Mexico: Harbinger of Provincial Autonomy, Independence, and Federalism. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992 [1955].
Benson, Nettie Lee, ed. Mexico and the Spanish Cortés, 1820–1834: Eight Essays [by students in Benson's history seminar]. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1966. Spanish edition, México y el Cortés Español. Mexico City: Camara de Diputados del Congreso, 1985.
Sources
Benson Latin American Collection
Nettie Lee Benson | Humanities Texas
Gutiérrez-Witt, Laura. Benson, Nettie Lee
Kahler, Mary Ellis. "Nettie Lee Benson and the Latin American Collection." Latin American Research Review 13, no.1 (1978): 173–177.
Montelongo, José, and Julianne Gilland, eds. A Library for the Americas : The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection. First edition. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018.
Ross, Stanley. "An Interview with Nettie Lee Benson." Hispanic American Historical Review 63, no. 3 (1983): 431–447.
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Kathleen de la Peña McCook
Distinguished University Professor
School of Information
University of South Florida
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