Identity elements
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
José Agustín Balseiro papers
Date(s)
- 1917-1976 (Creation)
Extent
9.00 linear feet (9 record storage cartons)
Name of creator
Biographical history
José Agustín Balseiro was born in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, on August 23, 1900. His father was Puerto Rican composer Rafael Balseiro. José Balseiro studied law and taught at the University of Puerto Rico. He left to Madrid to study and write poetry and literature. The Spanish Royal Academy honored him for his novel El Vigia (The Watchtower) in 1925.
In 1930 Balseiro was hired at the University of Illinois as a Professor of Hispanic Literature, where he eventually became the dean of the Romance Languages department. In 1938, Balseiro was the official delegate from the United States to the First International Congress on the Teaching of Ibero-American Literature held in Mexico.
Balseiro settled at the University of Miami as a Professor of Hispanic Literature in 1946. From 1955 to 1957, Balseiro served as President of the International Institute of Ibero-American Literature. He resigned his position at the University of Miami to teach as professor of Hispanic Studies the University of Arizona in 1967, but returned to the University of Miami in 1974 as a consultant to the University of Miami Libraries in Hispanic literature. The University of Miami created in his honor the José Balseiro Prize for Hispanic American Studies, a prize awarded annually to the best essay on Spanish-American studies written by a graduate student. Also upon his arrival to Miami, he was awarded the Encomienda de la Orden de Isabel la Catolica (Commander of the Order of Queen Isabella the Catholic of Castille), conferred by Spain to scholars, writers, and statesmen who distinguish themselves in the field of Hispanic Culture.
Throughout his life, Balseiro wrote a dozen critically acclaimed novels and multiple collections of critical essays, poetry and short stories. Balseiro was honored on a number of occasions, which include being assigned a Commander of the Order of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, being awarded a Diploma of Honor from the Mexican Academy of Letters, and the abovementioned Encomienda de la Orden de Isabel la Catolica. He was a member of a number of organizations including the Spanish Royal Academy, the Colombian Academy of Letters, the Sarmiento Institute of Sociology and History of Argentina, the Academy of the Spanish Language in the U.S.A., the Consultative Committee of the U.S.A. National Commission for UNESCO, and the Academia Jerezana de San Fernando. He also co-founded the Puerto Rican Academy of Letters, based in San Juan.
He retired in 1978 to Santurce, Puerto Rico. In 1984 he was named as a candidate for the Spanish Ministry of Culture's Miguel de Cervantes Prize. Balseiro passed away in Puerto Rico on January 13, 1991.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Dr. José Agustín Balseiro (1900-1991) was an award-winning author, poet, and scholar of Latin American Studies and Hispanic literature. He was also a professor of Hispanic Literature at the University of Miami from 1946 to 1967.
Throughout his career, Dr. Balseiro exhibited a strong interest in Latin American and Hispanic-American studies, Latin American and Spanish literature, and Puerto Rican history and literature. His papers, donated to the University of Miami, reflect all of these interests and range in date from his earliest activities as a writer in Spain to his final days working as a consultant to the University of Miami Libraries starting in 1974. Much of the content consists of correspondence, clippings, typescripts, and periodicals in which Balseiro’s writings were featured. Also included is sheet music belonging to his father, Rafael Balseiro, who was a Puerto Rican composer.
Of special note are three bronze medallions: (1) from the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, commemorating el primer Centenario del Natalicio de Luiz Muñoz Rivera (the centennial of the birth of Luiz Muñoz Rivera); (2) from the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, commemorating el Centenario de la Abolición de la Esclavidud in Puerto Rico (the centennial of the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico); and (3) from the University of Panama commemorating the first 25 years of the University’s existence.
System of arrangement
Materials are separated by genre.
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
This collection is open for research, except for box 9 which contains restricted materials.
Physical access
This collection is kept in an off-campus storage facility. Please contact Special Collections at asc.library@miami.edu with the boxes you are interested in prior to your visit, and allow up to 1 week for delivery of materials.
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
José Agustín Balseiro Papers Finding Aid © 2009 University of Miami. All rights reserved. Requests to reproduce or publish materials from this collection should be directed to asc.library@miami.edu.
Languages of the material
- English
- Spanish
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
The University of Miami Libraries holds the following books written by José Agustín Balseiro.:
El Ala Y El Beso: Poemas De Amor. San Juan, P.R.: Biblioteca de Autores Puertorriqueños, 1983.
UM Archives PQ7439.B3 A78 1983
The Americas Look At Each Other. Coral Gables, Fla.: University of Miami Press, 1969.
UM Archives F1401 .M53 no. 21 c.2
La Barca Sin Pescador. New York: Oxford University Press, 1955.
Spec Coll Florida PQ6633.O37 B3 1955
Blasco Ibáñez, Unamuno, Valle Inclán [Y] Baroja, Cuatro Individualistas De España. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1949.
UM Archives PQ6072 .B3
El Caballero De Las Espuelas De Oro. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.
UM Archives PQ6633.O37 C27
Cities And Souls: Poems Of Spain. Chartres: Impr. Durand, 1929.
Spec Coll PS3505.H474 C5
Confrontación De Las Americas. Washington, D.C.: Unión Panamericana, Departamento de Estado, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, 1956.
Richter Mezzanine - IGO PA 2:M578/2
La Copa De Anacreonte: Poesías. Madrid: Mundo Latino, 1924.
UM Archives PQ7439.B3 C6 1924
Corona De Amor Y Muerte. New York: Oxford University Press, 1960.
UM Archives PQ6633.O37 C6 c.2
En Vela Mientras El Mundo Duerme. San Juan de P.R.: Biblioteca de Autores Puertorriqueños, 1953.
UM Archives PQ7439.B3 E5 1953
El Estado Libre Asociado De Puerto Rico.: Conferencia. n.p.: Servicio Cultural e Informativo de los Estados Unidos de América, 1954.
UM Archives F1971 .B3
Eugenio Maria De Hostos, Hispanic America's Public Servant. Coral Gables, Fla.: University of Miami Press, 1949.
UM Archives F1401. M53 no.6 c.2
Expresión De Hispanoamérica. Madrid: Editorial Gredos, 1970.
UM Archives F1408.3 .B3 l970 v.1
Expresión De Hispanoamérica.San Juan de P.R.: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1960.
UM Archives F1408.3 .B3 v.1
La Gratitud Humana. Miami, Fla.: Mnemosyne, 1969.
UM Archives PQ7439.B3 G7
The Hispanic Presence In Florida. Miami, Fla.: E. A. Seemann Pub., 1976.
Spec Coll Florida F320.S75 H57
Mi Pequeño Cine Parisino. Paris: "Le Livre Libre", 1927.
Spec Coll DC718.L37 H67 1927
Mitología De Martí. Miami, Fla.: Mnemosyne, 1970.
UM Archives PQ7389.M2 Z64 1970
Nacionalismo Y Universalidad Reflejados En La Literatura. San German, P.R.: Universidad Interamericana de P.R., 1950.
UM Archives LE15.P52 B35 1950
Notas A Un Cervantista. Salamanca: Graficas Lumina, 1954.
Spec Coll PQ6351 .S24 1954
Novelistas Españoles Modernos. New York: The Macmillan company, 1933.
Richter 5th Flr Stacks PQ6144 .B3
Novelistas Españoles Modernos. New York: Macmillan, 1933.
Richter 5th Flr Stacks PQ6144 .B3 1933
Novelistas Españoles Modernos: Fernán Caballero, Juan Valera, José María De Pereda ...Río Piedras: Editorial Universitaria, Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1977.
UM Archives PQ6144 .B3 1977
Novelistas Españoles Modernos (Primera Serie). New York: Las Americas Pub. Co., 1963.
UM Archives PQ6144 .B3 1963
Obra selecta de José Agustín Balseiro / prólogo de María Teresa Babín; epílogo de Angel Encarnación. Río Piedras, P.R.: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1990.
UM Archives PQ7439.B3 A6 1990
Presencia Hispánica En La Florida: Ayer Y Hoy, 1513-1976. Miami, Fla.: Ediciones Universal, c1976.
UM Archives F311 .P73
La Pureza Cautiva, Poemas. Habana: Editorial Lex, 1946.
UM Archives PQ7439.B3 P9 1946 c.2
El Quijote De La España Contemporánea: Miguel De Unamuno. Madrid: E. Giménez, 1935.
Off-Campus Gifts G-77
Recuerdos Literarios Y Reminiscencias Personales. Madrid: Gredos, 1981.
UM Archives PQ7439.B3 Z47 1981
Rubén Darío Y "La Poesía Castellana". Madrid: [s.n.], 1967.
Spec Coll PQ7519.D3 Z99
La Ruta Eterna. Madrid: Mundo Latino, 1926.
UM Archives PQ7439.B3 R8 1926
Saudades De Puerto Rico. Madrid: Aguilar, 1957.
UM Archives PQ7439.B3 S3 1957 c.2
Seis Estudios Sobre Rubén Darío. Madrid: Editorial Gredos, 1967.
Richter 5th Flr Stacks PQ6003 .B556 ser.2 no.103
El Vigía; Prólogo De Gregorio Marañón. San Juan de Puerto Rico: Biblioteca de Autores Puertorriqueños, 1956.
UM Archives PQ6039 .B25 1956 v.2
El Vigía, Ensayos. Madrid: Editorial "Mundo latino", 1925.
Spec Coll PQ6039 .B25
Vísperas De Sombra, Y Otros Poemas. México: Ediciones De Andre, 1959.
UM Archives PQ7439.B3 V5
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Archivist's note
Finding aid updated by Yvette Yurubi, Processing Archivist, 04-10-23.
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (Subject)
- University of Miami. Libraries (Subject)
- Balseiro, Dávila, Rafael, 1867-1929 (Subject)
- Dario, Rubén, 1867-1916 (Subject)
Genre access points
- Address books
- Appointment books
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Contracts
- Envelopes
- Fliers (printed matter)
- Government records
- Grade books
- Invitations
- Journals (accounts)
- Correspondence » Letters (correspondence)
- Manuscripts (documents)
- Maps (documents)
- Medallions (medals)
- Memorandums
- News bulletins
- Periodicals » Newspapers
- Notebooks
- Scores (documents for music)
- Pamphlets
- Periodicals
- Photocopies
- Photographs
- Postcards
- Programs (documents)
- Reports
- Reprints
- Sheet music
- Syllabi
- Typescripts
- Telegrams