Austin Hispanic Directory

Austin Hispanic Directory

The 1990-91 Austin Hispanic Directory is a bilingual Yellow Pages established for consumers and tourists that includes over 2,000 businesses. An advertisement on the first page reads: “If you are seeking goods and services where Hispanics are welcomed… call us.” There may have been a subtext to this invitation–perhaps Hispanics were not always welcomed at all Austin businesses. The artwork on the bright blue cover portrays various national crests surrounding a star. Some of the flags displayed such as Mexico, Spain, and the U.S. are arranged prominently around the Texas Lone Star suggesting the presence and history of these nationalities within Texas. The Directory provides a sense of multi-national cohesion and integration, including features of prominent members within the community involved in education, politics, banking, hospitality, and other professional milieus. The directory portrays the Austin Hispanic community of 1990-91 not as a marginalized population, but as a fully integrated, professionally accomplished, very central part of the Austin community at large.