Each image displayed at The Art Gallery at Eastern Connecticut State University shows a moment in Puerto Rican diaspora history.

“Puerto Ricans came here for jobs, around the 1960s and 70s,” Eastern Art Gallery Director Julia Wintner said.

The university is currently hosting a traveling exhibition titled “Diasporican: from Dispersion to Integration.”

“We wanted to emphasize the timeline in which the largest exodus of Puerto Ricans from the island to the United States was during the 1960s,” co-curator Lisa Soltren said.

Co-curator and Founder of the National Puerto Rican Diaspora Museum (NPRDM) Noemi Santa noticed in her work, the Puerto Rican population was growing across the country, but the people were not being acknowledged for their contributions in society.

"It was pretty obvious there was a need to do something active to gather the contributions of Puerto Ricans within the United States to the United States,” co-curator Noemi Santana said.

NPRDM does not have a brick-and-mortar yet. Santana said the former president at Eastern took interest in hosting the traveling exhibition on campus that would help the creation of the museum in the long term.

“For the National Puerto Rican Diaspora Museum, what this gave us was an actual platform so we can show off the concept, create an opportunity for people to see what this looks like physically if we develop it into a museum,” Santana said.

The first body of pictures showcase the 1970s, when a large number of Puerto Ricans arrived in the South Bronx, and what happened next.

“They were not welcomed by the more older immigration diaspora, who were already living in New York, who already had their jobs and securities,” Wintner said.

Wintner said the photos document when neighborhoods in the Bronx were set on fire to resolve issues between the different groups living in the community.

“The whole neighborhood was demolished and burned down, this is a photograph of a young girl, a Puerto Rican girl, finding her belongings, [finding] some joy within this rubble of burned houses,” Wintner said.

The images in the next corner of the exhibition highlight the integration of the diaspora.

“We see people here cleaning grounds after the fires, starting new lives, welcoming new immigrants and making friends,” Wintner said.

Captured in the photos are Puerto Ricans who made an impact in their communities as activists, writers and much more.

“How during this time, they made such efforts not only for the people around them, but also for their future,” Soltren said.

The art exhibition will travel to Capital Community College next.

“So, it will be there between the end of February through May, then we are looking to have a third location in New York City, our fourth and final location will be returning back to Connecticut,” Soltren said.

The co-curators said there is a digital museum to reach the diaspora across the United States.

“This is important because we have communities, solid communities of Puerto Ricans in Alaska, in Hawaii, California, different states, all over the country right. Also, our outreach is to the island because that’s the root,” Santana said.

The art exhibition at Eastern will be available for viewing until Feb. 13.