Mel Casas papers, 1963-1998

Biographical materials are comprised of Casas's certificate of appointment to the San Antonio Fine Arts Commission, and curriculum vitae and resumes, including a copy of a completed 1990 application for a listing in Who's Who Among Hispanic Americans. Also of significance are two files for the art collective Con Safo, which include minutes for the group's 1975 meetings on July 7 and August 4, lists of members and officers, and copies of La Movida Con Safo 1 and La Movida Con Safo 2, which document Con Safo's founding philosophies, principles, policies, and strategies.

Four folders of correspondence primarily document exhibitions and other events Casas participated in. Correspondence related to his participation in symposia and other programs includes Arte-Arts regarding a 1984 symposium "Images for the '90s," San Antonio radio station KURU 89.1 FM, the San Antonio Art League, the San Antonio Women's Caucus for the Arts, and INTAR Gallery, where Casas served as a guest panelist for a 1986 symposium on Chicano/Mexican-American Art.

There are two letters from Shifra M. Goldman, one of which expresses her interest in writing about Casas, and correspondence from San Antonio College, including material related to Casas's receipt of an award at the Seventh Annual Tribute to the Chicano Arts recognizing "outstanding achievements of contemporary Hispanic artists."

Correspondence with galleries and museums relates to exhibitions with Aspen Art Museum, ¡Mira! Canadian Club Hispanic Art Tour, and Frito-Lay, Inc. Also found are correspondence, check lists, loan agreements, and material relating to the exhibition catalog essay, for Casas's retrospective at the Laguna Gloria Art Museum. Additional printed material for exhibitions can be found in Series 4: Printed Material.

Writings by Casas include five diagrammatic presentations on Chicano art, at least one of which was presented at a 1976 "Humanities on the Border" conference at the University of Texas at El Paso. Also found are descriptions of individual paintings, 63-69, 71, and 73, from Casas's Humanscape series, and a few brief notes by Casas on a "Contemporary Art Month" calendar.

Writings by others include a student paper on Casas and the manuscript "Mexican and Chicano Workers in Visual Arts" by Shifra M. Goldman.

Printed material includes brochures, newspaper and magazine clippings, event programs, exhibition announcements and catalogs, invitations, and posters relating to Casas, his artwork, and exhibitions.

Clippings provide coverage of some of the main highlights of Casas's career from the 1960s to the 1990s. The history of Con Safo is also documented in clippings, announcements, and catalogs including a 1972 brochure for a group exhibition at the Mexican American Cultural Center in San Antonio, Texas, which includes the first appearance of Con Safo (C/S) Artists: A Contingency Factor.

There are posters for exhibitions including Humanscapes (1979) at San Antonio College Department of Art; Mel Casas: 22 Paintings at Texas Lutheran College, circa 1967; and a solo exhibition at Boehm Gallery, Palomar College (1973).

Also found is a press kit for the influential exhibition The Latin American Spirit: Art and Artists in the United States, 1920-1970; Casas was invited to lecture as part of a special program developed to accompany this exhibition at the El Paso Museum of Art.

Records are arranged by material type and chronologially thereafter.

Color and black and white photographic materials consist of eight photos and two slides which are portraits and snapshots of Casas, and Casas with others, as well as four snapshots from an exhibition of Humanscape 55 in Houston, Texas.