When Dr. Ricardo Romo scouted photos that might pair well with his writings on urban Los Angeles, his search took him to an art gallery.
There he came across prints shot before 1940. A documentary historian, Romo was mesmerized. “Thank goodness somebody bothered to capture these images.”
An image of a trolley from that era became the cover photo of his 1983 book, East Los Angeles: History of a Barrio, now in its ninth printing, one of them in Spanish. Romo credits that long-ago picture-hunting expedition with inspiring him to shoot photos in the course of his research to help educate future generations. And as president of the University of Texas at San Antonio since 1999, he not only continues shooting, but now raises UTSA scholarship funds through print sales.
Over the years, Romo has traveled to places as diverse as China, Mexico and South Africa for work and vacation. In 2004, he went to Cuba for a conference on Hispanic literacy; his visit gave him a rare opportunity to visit elementary schools and to walk the streets of Havana, chatting with people he likely wouldn’t have met otherwise.
A San Antonio native who holds a doctorate in history from the University of California, Los Angeles, Romo initially balked at someone’s suggestion of selling his photos. He didn’t take them to make money.
“When I first came to UTSA, I learned how grassroots the city’s art scene is,” he says. “I got involved with ‘Foto Septiembre,’ a local festival every fall. Exhibiting my work was one thing, but I never considered selling it. I became comfortable, though, with the idea of using proceeds to help our students.”
