Anita Carrasco, assistant professor of Anthropology at Luther College, visited the American Heritage Center (AHC) in the summer of 2016 as part of their travel research grant program. The AHC is a repository of manuscript collections and rare books located at the University of Wyoming. The extensive amount of information housed there includes the Anaconda Collection with which Carrasco worked during her time there.
The Anaconda Collection constitutes the largest body of economic geological data in the world, representing the Anaconda Mining Company's 90 years of exploration and development in the United States as well as 110 foreign countries. One such country includes Chile. Carrasco traveled to the AHC for the purpose of examining the impact of American mining corporations on the indigenous populations of Chile in the Atacama desert. She was able to work with material such as correspondences and reports pertaining to the Chuquicamata Mine water problem and its environmental consequences on Atacameño indigenous peoples and the desert environment.
Visit the American Heritage Center blog to see photographs of her visit.