Title: La reforma agraria es la ley fundamental de la revolucion

Author: Ruz, Raúl Castro, 1930-
Published: [Havana] : Seccion de impresion, Capitolio Nacional, 1959
Format: Book
Call Number: S477 .C8 C37[1]

This transcription of the speech given by Commandant Raúl Castro Ruz, Chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, in Spanish before Cuba’s First National Forum on the Law of Agrarian Reform on 29 June 1959 displays the country’s new nationalism. This governmental pride includes definitions; the government pursues agrarian reform against poverty, but is ostensibly not communist, anti-communist, Catholic, or against America.[2] Since the speech took place three days after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista, this self-identification justifies the government’s existence and shows support for their population, primarily non-landowning farmers.

The physical document reinforces this pride. While the sun-bleached, foxed and mimeographed front sheet—formerly blue and with rust stains from the staples holding the sheets together—presents a mundane face, the colophon proclaims the printer’s nationalism through use of the first copies of the stenciled paper “Jaguar,” which was manufactured in Cuba by Cuban workers.[3] The technical staff of the National Capital chose this paper, measuring 33×21 cm, over foreign alternatives, despite inconsistent weight. The staff produced the document quickly for circulation, as well, since they fed several off-centered sheets through the typewriter, typed corrections overtop of mistakes, and inserted missing words above slashed indicators.[4]

Louis A. Pérez, former owner, maintained the document, but for tears to the head of the last four leaves, the last tear extending to the first line of text. Though quickly produced and partially damaged, special collections would value this document, as it represents a pivotal moment in Cuban history and printed propaganda, often lost to history. UNC specifically benefits from its inclusion, since it complements RBC’s active Latin American collecting area and Spanish language collections.[5]

[1] The format for the heading I found in UNC’s library catalogue and reconfirmed through observation; “La Reforma Agraria es la Ley Fundamental de la Revolucion,” UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries Catalog.

[2] Raúl Castro Ruz, La Reforma Agraria es la Ley Fundamental de la Revolucion (Capitolio Nacional [Havana]: Seccion De Impresion, 1959), 26-7; translations my own.

[3] Ibid. 30.

[4] The correction typed overtop of words only occasionally appear to have employed whiteout before typing overtop; for examples of the types of corrections, see pages 6, 17 and 23.

[5] Rare Book Collection, “Collection Development Policy of the UNC-Chapel Hill Rare Book Collection.”

The Rare Book Collection held the opening reception of Lyric Impressions: Wordsworth in the Long Nineteenth Century on 22 February, followed by a lecture from Professor Duncan Wu of Georgetown University entitled “Wordsworthian Carnage.” As the title suggests, the exhibition situates Wordsworth in a larger historical context. Less overt exhibition objectives included publicly establishing RBC’s scholarly authority in this area and thanking current donors while eliciting future ones.

The contextualizing objective allowed curator Elizabeth Ott to draw on their repository of eighteenth through twentieth century British Romantic materials. The items evoked resonance and wonder for visitors. Those versed in Wordsworth ogled marvels, like the first edition of Lyric Ballads (1798). Others found resonance in Wordsworth’s broader cultural influences. I became arrested by The Prelude: An Autobiographical Poem, 1799-1805 printed by the Doves Press in 1915, displaying Wordsworth’s relevance in posthumous aesthetics, here the Arts & Crafts movement.[1]

The exhibition materials, their interpretive text, and the opening lecture by a foremost scholar on Wordsworth allowed the RBC to highlight its strength on the period generally and its collection specifically. This underlines RBC’s dedication to engaging with its collection publicly and in scholarly discourse, fulfilling the exhibition’s scholarly objective.

Donors ensure the RBC’s growth and potential for scholarship. In this instance, Mark L. Reed, III, emeritus professor of humanities at UNC, donated the core of the Wordsworth collection that inspired the exhibition. Lyric Impressions fulfilled the objective of thanking current donors. The attention given both to the materials and to Professor Reed for his 1,700-volume gift encouraged the interest of future donors, who may be assured that their materials and involvement will remain publicly relevant.

In terms of size, the exhibition was approachable, and its scope targeted Wordsworth and the long nineteenth century, from the French Revolution to the First World War. Ott selected an array of 140 materials from the Wordsworth collection, from first editions to picturesque mini calendars. While the physical layout encouraged meandering, a glance at the exhibition reader’s table of contents clarified the cases’ intended order. The interpretive text for each object and case connected the relevance to Wordsworth and contemporaneous changes.   The primary weakness of the exhibition, however, lay in the exhibition plaques’ legibility; font size, visual density of the text, and lighting compromised the reading experience.[2] While the descriptive text suited a scholarly audience, legibility issues challenged older audiences, demanding the use of readers.

Lyric Impressions epitomizes a specialized and documentary approach to collection development and its presentation to the public. These practices common to academic rare book collections make the RBC appealing to donors and visitors alike.

[1] For more on resonance and wonder in exhibition presentation, see Stephen Greenblatt, “Resonance and Wonder,” in Ivan Karp, Exhibiting Cultures: the Poetics and Politics of Museum Display (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), 41–56.

[2] In approaching evaluation of the exhibition viewing, I drew upon the standards laid out in “Leab Exhibition Awards Evaluation Criteria,” RBMS Rare Books Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries.

N.B. The image of the exhibition poster included at the beginning of this post was drawn from UNC’s previous exhibits website under the purview of Fair Use.