Guestworker History Project Recognized

An inter-institutional collaborative that documents the experiences of Mexican guest-workers known as braceros has received national recognition.

The National Council on Public History has announced that it will give this year’s Public History Project Award to the Bracero History Archive, which maintains a website at bracero archive.org. The archive is the result of joint work by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), George Mason University, Brown University and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Chronicling the experiences of Mexican guestworkers brought to work the farms and railroads of the United States from 1942 to 1964, the archive includes audio oral histories of program participants, family members and others who came into contact with the braceros. The website also features lesson plans and background information for public school teachers.