The Puerto Rican Literature Project

Antonio S. Pedreira was born in 1899 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and died in 1939 in his hometown. He was an essayist, critic, and educator. He completed his BA at the University of Puerto Rico in 1923 and went on to earn an MA degree in Hispanics studies at Columbia University in New York, New York in 1926. He then completed a PhD at the Universidad Central de Madrid in Spain in 1932, where he served as the director of its first Hispanic studies department from 1927 to 1939. Together with Alfredo Collado Martell, Vicente Géigal Polanco, and Samuel R. Quiñones, he co-founded the journal Índice in 1929. He served as president of the Centro de Investigaciones Sociales from 1930 to 1931 and was an active member of the Ateneo Puertorriqueño. Pedreira’s most recognized works are Bibliografía puertorriqueña (Imprenta de la Librería, 1932); his doctoral thesis, Hostos, ciudadano de América (Talleres tipográficos de Espasa-Calpe, s.a., 1932); Insularismo (Biblioteca de autores puertorriqueños, 1942); and his posthumous work, El periodismo en Puerto Rico (Imp. Úcar, García y cía, 1941). Pedreira’s personal collection of rare books was donated to the Colección Puertorriqueña at the University of Puerto Rico’s Lázaro Library.

Works Cited

Franco Oppenheimer, Félix. “Biografía mínima de Pedreira.” Periódico La Torre de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 21 de febrero de 1945, issuu.com/coleccionpuertorriquena/docs/latorre-21feb1945.

Grupo Editorial EPRL. “Antonio Pedreira.” EnciclopediaPR, reviewed by Lizette Cabrera Salcedo, Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades, 23 May 2021, enciclopediapr.org/content/antonio-pedreira/.

“Homenaje a Antonio S. Pedreira.” Isla, vol. 2, no. 1, 1940, p. 1. La Colección Puertorriqueña, Universidad de Puerto Rico, https://issuu.com/coleccionpuertorriquena/docs/isla__revista__homenaje_a_pedreira_. 

Rivera de Álvarez, Josefina. Literatura puertorriqueña: su proceso en el tiempo. Ediciones Partenón, Madrid, 1983.

Rosa Nieves, Césareo and Esther Melón. “Antonio S. Pedreira.” Biografías puertorriqueñas: perfil histórico de un pueblo. Editorial Cumbre, México, 1979. Revised edition.