The Latino Lorain History Project is a collaborative public history endeavor that involves community members, local leaders, cultural workers, teachers, public officials, and countless partner organizations and institutions committed to documenting the rich, important, and distinctive history of Latinas/os in Lorain, Ohio. Since September 2019, representatives from the Lorain Historical Society, El Centro de Servicios Sociales and Oberlin College have met monthly to imagine, plan, and create projects that involve community members in the documentation and research process. As a result, the Latino Lorain History Project has become an invaluable, unique and critical collaboration of various stakeholders that brings together distinct initiatives under a shared vision and mission to use existing talents to build community history.

This website is one of the outcomes of these efforts and features oral history interviews of community members, historical documents including newspaper articles, photographs, and planning documents, as well as research about the history and present of Latinas/os in Lorain. The Lorain Historical Society also has online resources available to the public at latinolorain.org.

In Fall 2021 the Latino Lorain History Project celebrated the opening of the exhibit, "100 Years of Latinos in Lorain," that focused on the history of Vine Avenue in South Lorain. On October 1, 2022, the exhibit was awarded a History Outreach Award from the Ohio Local History Alliance, recognizing its "outstanding contribution to the field of local history in Ohio."

In Fall 2022 and Fall 2023 the project focused on collecting oral histories of Latino Veterans and their family members as part of its ongoing efforts to document the history of Latino veterans in Lorain. These oral histories deepen our understanding of the rich history of Latina/os in Lorain and provided valuable information for the Latino Lorain Veterans Story Walk, which was developed by the Lorain Historical Society and inaugurated in Oakwood Park on Saturday September 16, 2023.  The oral histories of Latino veterans also support the Ohio Hispanic Veterans Memorial Project that will be installed in Oakwood Park.

Our sincere hope is that this website and other materials from the Latino Lorain History Project will serve as a valued resource to community members in Lorain and others interested in documenting and disseminating information about Latinas/os in the city of Lorain, the state of Ohio and the Midwest more broadly.

We offer our deepest gratitude to all who have shared their stories with us and all who have collaborated and supported these efforts. And a special thanks to Megan Mitchell, Academic Engagement and Digital Initiatives Coordinator, Michael McFarlin, Head of Library Technology & Systems, Collections and Resource Services, and the Oberlin College Libraries staff for their years of support, training, and guidance.

We also offer our profound thanks for all the community members and students from Oberlin College and Lorain County Community  College's Avanzando Through College students for taking the time to be trained and conduct these oral histories that preserve our local Latina/o histories.