by Emily Torres, February 2026 / FOCAS Intern, 25-26 / UCLA
My journey with La Historia began before I earned the Mellon position–back in 2025 during the Winter quarter of my first year–when I partnered with their previous Mellon intern to make a short film about the archive for our Media Archiving class. Immediately I fell in love with the archive’s mission to protect and promote the history of El Monte’s Mexican-American community. As a proud Chicana, I felt at home with the portraits on the museum’s walls who resembled the family I grew up with despite being a total stranger to the city. When I was offered the chance to serve as the Mellon Intern for Fall 2025-Spring 2026, I knew I’d be surrounded with professionals who share the same passion for storytelling and connection to family histories.
With more than half of my internship completed now, I can safely say there’s more to community archives than ever meets the public eye. From program planning to collections management, I have gained a deeper insight of archival processes and the necessary steps we must take to safeguard community material. The storage, presentation, and organization of materials requires a level of creative thinking and problem solving when working with limited resources and small staff. However, the support of staff and community is what makes this practice thrive and continue to adapt to their needs. During my time here, I have participated in community outreach events, such as the Menudo Breakfast, where community members of all ages gather to share a meal and tell their stories. At this event we also spoke with community elders to continue to expand the work of fellow interns on their interactive map of El Monte’s Barrios. Getting to speak with community members and make connections with leaders gave me a special view into the vibrant and welcoming environment that makes the archive a place for connection and not just information.
As the current intern, I have spent a majority of my time processing, reorganizing, conducting inventory, and creating museum exhibits on their School Collection material. This ranges from class photographs to old school attendance registers, and includes hundreds of items as old as 1920. After learning about the vast history of El Monte’s school system and students, I was able to construct a portion of our larger exhibit that focuses on student experiences throughout the decades. My goal and focus is to engage students in the museum’s efforts and strengthen our bond with educational institutions. To do so, we are working towards fostering student involvement through program planning for the My First Car exhibit that will be hosted in the fall. Reaching out to local schools, getting students to participate in our exhibit, and planning programs that inspire creativity will continue to be my focus this last quarter. It has been incredible to watch this staff’s inherent rapport with the community and to see them collaborate in a way that meets everyone’s needs. Listening in on the daily conversations as community members stop by, seeing the companionship offered instead of just transactional exchanges, and watching the archive come to life has been so motivating.
I am extremely grateful for the staff at La Historia and to UCLA and the Mellon Foundation for the opportunity to work in a field I am passionate about, with incredible people at my side. Everyone here cares about what they do, and it shows through the thoughtful and considerate planning that goes into community events, exhibits, and collections management. I am happy to have played my small part in keeping the mission of La Historia alive, and I look forward to everything else I will learn from this partnership.
