Nov. 29, 2018

Media Advisory: UA Students to Present Barrio Viejo Research Projects

• What: An Afternoon of Mexican American History
• When: Saturday, Dec. 1, 2-4 p.m.
• Where: Sosa Carrillo Fremont House, 151 S. Granada Ave.

Students in the University of Arizona's Department of Mexican American Studies and College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture will present research projects on Tucson's Barrio Viejo to help raise awareness of an effort to nominate the neighborhood as a National Historic Landmark.

With its colorful and distinctive adobe buildings – many dating to the 19th century – Barrio Viejo, which is Spanish for "old neighborhood," is rich in history and cultural significance. The downtown Tucson neighborhood has been home over the years to a diverse community of people from America, Europe, Africa and Asia, including some of Tucson's earliest prominent families.

"When you walk through the neighborhood, it feels very different from the rest of Tucson, and that's something we want to preserve," said Lydia Otero, UA associate professor of Mexican American studies, who is serving as project historian for the Barrio Viejo National Historic Landmark nomination.

Seven UA students will explore the significance of Barrio Viejo in poster presentations highlighting their research on various historic and cultural aspects of the neighborhood, including the area's restaurants, Spanish-language newspapers, transportation advances, San Cosme Church and Teatro Carmen, a historic Hispanic theater.

A National Historic Landmark designation would help celebrate and preserve the iconic Barrio Viejo, as well as protect it from future development, Otero said. The UA students' projects will help inform and may be incorporated into the extensive National Historic Landmark nomination process, which may take up to three years to complete, Otero said.

The U.S. Department of the Interior awards National Historic Landmark designations to sites that illustrate U.S. heritage. Barrio Viejo would join nearly 2,600 such landmarks in the country and would be the fifth in Pima County, alongside Ventana Cave, San Xavier Mission del Bac, the Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill and Air Force Facility Missile Site 8 in Green Valley.

An Afternoon of Mexican American History is sponsored by the environmental planning firm Logan Simpson, which is leading the National Historic Landmark nomination, and by the Arizona Historical Society, the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation, the UA's Mexican American Studies Public History Project and the UA College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture.