Spanish travelers early on documented their journeys of exploration through the Norh American continent. Since then, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans and others of Hispanic origin have also recounted their personal stories, passed on their love and traditions, given creative expression to their novels, poetry, plays and other genres inherent to Hispanic traditions. As a result of this project, hundreds of thousands of literary pieces, including essays, autobiographies, diaries, and letters will become accessible to scholars, students and the world at large.

Recovering the U.S. Literary Heritage Project will have and immediate and longterm impact on the teaching of language arts, literature and history at every level of the curriculum. The emergence of this recovered literature will broaden and enrich the cirriculum across the Humanities, from the study of the Spanish language to the way we view history. Accessibility to and study of this literature will not only convey more accurately the creative life of U.S. Hispanics, but will also shed new light on the intellectual vigor and traditional values that have characterized Hispanics from the earliest moments of this country's making through contemporary times.

Recovering the U.S. Literary Heritage Project is a national program to locate, identify, preserve and make accessible the literary contributions of U.S. Hispanics from colonial times through 1960 in what today comprises the fifty states of the Union. The project is under the direction of Dr. Nicolás Kanellos, founder and director of Arte Público Press, the oldest and largest publisher of U.S. Hispanic literature in the nation.