IRENE GOMEZ-BETHKE: Finding Aids : MNHS.ORG


	Creator:	Gomez-Bethke, Irene, 1935-, creator.
	Title:	Irene Gomez-Bethke papers.
	Dates:	1970-2001.
	Abstract:	Papers of a Minneapolis-born, Mexican-American woman who was a leader in the Minneapolis and St. Paul Hispanic communities. The papers document her work with and involvement in several Hispanic cultural, legal, and human service organizations in the Twin Cities, the Hispanic ministries of the local Roman Catholic archdiocese, and her service in state and local government.
	Quantity:	7.1 cubic feet (8 boxes).
	Location:	See Detailed Description section for shelf locations.

Irene Marie Gomez-Bethke was born in Minneapolis on January 22, 1935. Her parents were natives of northern Mexico, and came to Minnesota in 1923 as migrant farm workers. A few years later they settled in Minneapolis. Irene grew up in north Minneapolis, and later lived in the Minneapolis suburb of New Hope. In 1988 she graduated from Metropolitan State University, where she studied business administration. She has long been active in community work, in politics, and the arts, particularly the advancement of Hispanic and Chicano causes, and an active participant in various Hispanic cultural, political, religious, and legal organizations.

Gomez-Bethke was a founder of Centro Cultural Chicano, a Minneapolis bilingual social service agency, and was a founder and executive director of Instituto de Arte y Cultura, a Minneapolis cultural arts organization for Hispanics. She served on the Hispanic Advisory Committee to the Mayor and to the City Council of Minneapolis under mayors Hofstede and Fraser, and on the Spanish Speaking Affairs Council under governors Perpich and Quie. She served on the Minnesota Department of Human Rights Police/Community Relations Task Force in the early 1980s and, later was commissioner of the department (1983-1984).

Gomez-Bethke served as a director of many of the organizations represented in this collection, including Centro Cultural Chicano, Centro Legal, Inc., Migrants in Action, Inc./Hispanos en Minnesota, Inc., and Legal Rights Center, Incorporated. She was a member of the executive committee of the Urban Coalition of Minneapolis; on the board of advisors of Urban Concerns Workshops Inc.; a member of the advisory council of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program; Hispanic affairs consultant for Los Ninos News; food services director for Homeward Bound, Inc.; and a member of the Hispanic Ministry Advisory Board of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. She was coordinator of the Hispanic Women's Caucus of Minnesota Women of Color; served on the state steering committee of the Minnesota Women's Political Caucus; state chair of the Hispanic American Democrats; a member of the New Hope (Minn.) Human Rights Commission (1996-); and was active in Democratic politics at the national, state, and local levels.

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The collection includes biographical information and personal materials (including a few photographs); materials relating to Minnesota-based Hispanic organizations; some newsletters published by Hispanic organizations in other states; a few political files; and a set of general subject files. Much of the material consists of photocopies, mimeographs, and other printed papers. Some of it is in Spanish.

Minnesota-based Hispanic and government-related organizations, advisory boards, and agencies represented in the collection include the Archdiocesan Office of Hispanic Ministry, Centro Cultural Chicano, Centro Legal Inc., Migrants in Action/Hispanos en Minnesota, and the Spanish Speaking Affairs Council. Files relating to these organizations and agencies typically include minutes of directors and other meetings, articles of incorporation and bylaws, financial information, newsletters, historical and background information, some correspondence (mainly letters received) and memoranda, and various subject files.

There are two folders of miscellaneous newsletters published by Hispanic organizations located outside of Minnesota.

Political materials include files pertaining to the Hispanic American Democrats organization, and to certain Democratic candidates and campaigns.

Subject files include information about some other, more broadly-based social action organizations for minorities, the urban poor, the handicapped and disabled, and the elderly, including the Legal Rights Center and the Urban Coalition of Minneapolis. There is a small amount of material documenting Gomez-Bethke's work as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, and there are some files relating to her service as an aide to the mayor of Minneapolis and as a member of the New Hope, Minnesota Human Rights Commission.

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The collection is divided into the following sections:


		Biographical and Personal Papers
		Hispanic Organizations in Minnesota
		Non-Minnesota Hispanic Publications
		Politics
		Subject Files

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Access Restrictions:

Originals are closed. Access and use requires the curator’s permission.

These files are located off site in Remote Storage. Advance arrangements are required in order to view the files.

Please consult reference staff for more information.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Irene Gomez-Bethke Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 14,604; 14,798; 15,866

Processing Information:

Digitized by: Minnesota Historical Society, June 2019

Processed by: David B. Peterson, September 1991; additions August 1994 and August 2002

Catalog ID number: 990017148710104294

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Location

Box

308.C.15.1B

1

American Indian literature course taken by Irene Gomez-Bethke at Metropolitan State University, 1986.

IRENE GOMEZ-BETHKE:

DETAILED DESCRIPTION