The Library’s services make the world’s largest collection more accessible to Congress and learners everywhere. In the Hispanic Reading Room, the Handbook of Latin American Studies and the PALABRA Archive connect researchers and/or writers with students and artists everywhere. Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking specialists in the Hispanic Reading Room also work with researchers to identify and connect visitors with topics like día de los muertos. The materials come from many different places in the Library of Congress. Use the Library's search and type “dia de los muertos” or “day of the dead” for variety of items celebrating this tradition.
The PALABRA Archive (formerly Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape) at the Library of Congress dates back to 1943. It contains nearly eight-hundred recordings of poets and prose writers participating in sessions at the Library’s Recording Laboratory and at other locations. To date, writers from thirty-two countries are represented in this collection which includes readings in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, French, Náhuatl, Zapotec, Aymara, English and Dutch.
The Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS) contains scholarly assessments of publications related to Latin America, from the 1930s to the present, including books, articles, maps, e-resources, and more.
R. Andrew Chesnut discusses his book "Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint."
