Ricardo Enrique Alegría Gallardo (April 14, 1921 – July 7, 2011) was a Puerto Rican scholar, author, cultural anthropologist, and archaeologist known as the "father of modern Puerto Rican archaeology". He received his primary and secondary education in San Juan, before attending the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). While there Alegría and Yamil Galib founded a new fraternity, Alpha Beta Chi. In 1942, Alegría earned his Bachelor of Science degree in archeology from the University of Puerto Rico. In 1992, he established the Museo de las Américas. Caribbean Business points out that, "His extensive studies have helped historians understand how the Taínos lived and suffered, before and after the Spanish conquistadors arrived on the island." He was the younger of four siblings born to the couple including José Esteban (1916), María Antonieta (1917) and Félix Luis (1918). Alegría has another brother on his paternal line named Gilberto. He was named after a distant relative on his maternal side, who had died young. Following the Spanish-American the conservative Spaniard lost his influence. In turn, his father had adopted liberal leanings since his youth and he entered politics by creating a Youth Committee for the Federal Party's youth at Barceloneta in 1902, joining and organizing Unión Puertorriqueña at Manatí two years later.
Afterwards, José Alegría would earn a degree in law from Valparaiso University, serving as municipal judge of several municipalities upon returning to Puerto Rico and developing an interest in poetry as he served the role at Manatí. Alegría's maternal family also had a military background and owned a sugar plantation named Hacienda Grande at Loíza and was also involved in politics, with her brother Luis Hernáiz Veronne serving as mayor of Canóvanas. His grandmother, Estefanía Veronne, would leave the Hacienda to his mother and uncle.
By June 1923 he was baptized as a Roman Catholic. After a schism occurred within the Union Party as a consequence of independence being rejected by the organization while led by Antonio Rafael Barceló, José S. Alegría left and created the Asociación Independentista from where he served as one of the founding members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in 1922, being given the office of president during a brief period. In 1932, the elder Alegría would join the Liberal Party and in 1936 was elected to the House of Representatives.
Interest in the arts and sciences
After hurricane San Felipe struck the island on 1928, his maternal family took refuge at their house along some of their employees. One of them, Luisa's aunt Elisita Gallardo, would remain with them afterwards and take care of the children. The house allowed the young Alegría the opportunity to oversee what happened at one of the most active segments of Old San Juan (such as the Casino de Puerto Rico) from a vantage point, and its centric location provided him the opportunity to become immersed on the daily activities such as the funeral processions or no the cultural events that took place at the Teatro Municipal (later renamed Teatro Tapia, after Alejandro Tapia y Rivera). The building also provided a private library that belonged to his father, which became his favorite spot. Despite this, he was mischievous on his daily life and would play pranks at the adjacent Plaza Colón and messing with the signals that forced the traffic to stop and allow the trolley to pass, earning him the chastising of local officers. Along his friends, Alegría was also part of a juvenile competition against the boys from Puerto de Tierra. During his youth, Alegría directly witnessed the bohemian years of Luis Muñoz Marín, who lived in the adjacent San Cristóbal Apartments. A parallel interest in the theater of the Caribbean, dance acts and the performances of artists (Myrta Silva being among his favorites) was also born from variety shows held at some of these locales, such as Cine Rialto.
Elisita would share stories about the Hacienda, Loíza's folklore and her hobby of reading novels novels with him, but Alegría earned interest in works like Eugène Sue's The Wandering Jew and the 20-tome encyclopedia El tesoro de la juventud. It was the latter that first awoke an interest in archeology and motivated him to research the then-lost cities of Saguntum and Numantia, dreaming that one day he would discover their ruins. He also began recording the stories that Elisita told him, creating his first compendium of local folklore. Alegría also developed other interests, such as collecting coins and stamps.
In 1931, Alegría met Pedro Albizu Campos at his father's law office at González Padín Plaza.
In 1935, his father became the president of the luxurious Casino de Puerto Rico and introduced arts to the social center, this office also granted him the obligation of organizing carnivals. As consequence, their house would welcome a number of preliminary elements that would be used. His father exhibited an interest in architectural preservation, legislating a fund to restore Teatro Tapia and defending an old chapel named Capilla del Cristo and the Teatro Municipal when their demolition were proposed, leaving a lasting impression on Alegría.
A place known as La Barrandilla would become his social spot as he aged.
Schooling
Alegría began his primary education at the adjacent José Julián Acosta School in 1928, studying there under Mrs. Consuelo Martínez, Mrs. Cintrón, Mrs. Balaguer and Mrs. Gloria Soldevila. However, the young Alegría resented this and boycotted the pledge of allegiance by not raising his hand, which resulted in him being sent home on a number of times. On another such occasion when children were told to dress as American Founding Fathers and he was warned that no-participation would mean expulsion, Alegría adopted a costume of Patrick Henry as a double entenderé and used the latter's infamous declaration as a way to antagonize the school and promoting Puerto Rican independence at the same time.
As part of the new format, Alegría would mingle with students of all classes and races, including his friends Laurence Snyder De la Vega, Gino Negretti and Ramón Olivera with whom he would socialize by riding velocipede, roller skating or attending plays. One teacher in particular, Inés María Mendoza, instructed him in local literature such as El Gíbaro, and promoted a pro-Puerto Rican stance that deviated from the institutional stance.
Higher education
After three years, Alegría graduated from Central High, but lacked four mandatory English classes and with a lackluster average, the university did not accept him. Instead, he was sent to the Instituto Politécnico in the municipality of San Germán, Puerto Rico. The sudden shift from a well-to-do environment to the rustic institution shocked Alegría, heavy Protestant preaching clashed with his own beliefs, while his lack of ability to do the manual labor required complicated his stay by inducing injuries. The pay was also subject to fines based on the evaluation of the living quarters, which led to little income. While Alegría was studying at the Politécnico, his family moved twice (living in a loaned house at Avenida De Diego until 1940) and eventually settled at Calle del Parque in Santurce, Puerto Rico. However, this led to several antique objects that he considered important as well as his pets, a monkey and a dog, being given away or disposed of. Alegría, who was never interested in the dances and parties that his siblings enjoyed, was given a room with a door that led outside and allowed him an easy exit.
Frustrated with the Politécnico, Alegría began rigging firecrackers for a delayed detonation and placed them in random places, which damaged the lighting system among other inconveniences. Despite making sure to be near a professor when they went off, eventually an investigation discovered him and director Jarvis S. Morris wrote to his father suggesting that he should return, citing that his conduct "[showed] a lack of respect." After only one semester, Alegría returned to San Juan. He and his friends Ignacio Cortés, José A. Benítez, Ramón Olivera, the Todd brothers, Fernando Martínez, Momón Pacheco and Ramón Negretti purchased a car for $16. He would join them in frequent rides to places like El Chévere, but not drive, participating in the middle-class culture of the zone. Alegría joined his father at Puerto Rico Ilustrado, where he worked along the likes of Julia de Burgos, Miguel Meléndez Muñoz, Benigno Fernández García, Rene Marqués and Manuel García Cabrera. After exchanging a depiction of the Coat of Arms of Puerto Rico made by film director Rafael Colorado for a file on the political life of Pedro Gerónimo Goyco, he published a piece (his first) about the physician.
During this time, Alegría took night classes, passing all classes with an "A" and met the standards that allowed him to enroll at the Universidad de Puerto Rico Río Piedras campus, joining the Arts and Sciences College to study history. Professors Lidio Cruz Monclova, Sebastián González García and Rafael W. Ramírez de Arellano influenced him, the latter two defined his interest in archeology and all of them contributed to his involvement with Puerto Rican historical and sociocultural topics. Ramírez de Arellano was responsible for teaching Puerto Rican history and had created a small museum of native artifacts, the Museo Juan Ponce de León and had authored a number of pieces and two magazines, Fuentes Históricas sobre Puerto Rico and El mes histórico, fueling in Alegría not only the interest for archeology and history, but also Puerto Rican folklore. His attitudes towards the English classes continued as previously, and he ended passing with a low grade due to professor William Power becoming tired of trying to teach him. Alegría's interest led to him requesting additional material from Cornelius Osgood of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, who requested Irving Rouse to fulfill the request. He also joined the Nu Sigma Beta fraternity, reaching the rank of Vice President, but being expelled after protesting "blood purity" and classist requirements. Only the Eta Gamma Delta sorority socialized with them, while other groups stuck to the class and race standards and boycotted any activity involving them. Under his presidency, Alpha Beta Chi held conferences and had their own publication. His protest against Nu Sigma Beta led to an investigation, which concluded which changed the dynamics between these groups and the university.
UPR Student Council
In 1940, Alegría materialized his view of the institution as a promoter of culture by joining Amaury Veray in the creation of the Círculo Musical Universitario, which was responsible for purchasing the first piano property of the university and creating a carnival, attracting the likes of Edna Coll and Héctor Campos-Parsi. Prior to this, Alegría had collaborated with Muñoz-Lee III during the early stages of the then-independentist friendly Partido Popular Democrático. Both also worked together publishing the Caribe magazine in 1941–42, which gathered a number of prominent collaborators within academia, the arts and politics. The publication subsisted on advertisers and allowed Alegría a tribune to not only promote his interests in culture, the arts and history, but to weigh in on the purpose of the UPR as a preserver of the work of local authors/historical documents and an institution that researched and promoted culture.
During the Tugwell affair, he supported keeping Rexford Tugwell as the head of the UPR despite also serving as colonial governor (due to considering him a "radical academic") and as secretary of the Student Council tried to convince Muñoz Marín not to visit the UPR to avoid becoming political bait, but failed, resulting in the public jeering of the then-President of the Senate of Puerto Rico and the removal of the functionary. Afterwards, Alegría campaigned for Jaime Benítez to become the new president, having previously studied under him and receiving his help while publishing the magazine. In the last of these, Alegría urged for the creation of a "Center for Puerto Rican studies", citing that the colonial administration had led to a disregard of "anything that belongs to us" and that only by teaching it at an equal rate to the foreign works being taught would it be truly appropriated. He did, however, warn that this did not mean adopting isolationism.
In 1943, Alegría served as an alternate student representative during the first Pro-Independence Congress. He and Muñoz-Lee III also considered building a hotel at Isla Verde with a loan from Fomento (the public entity responsible for the economic growth), but desisted after Teodoro Moscoso argued that the area's environment was not ideal for tourism. News from these events were published in a university paper.
Studies in archeology
Despite not earning a bachelor's degree due not completing the required foreign language classes, Alegría decided that he would start studies in archeology, which would make him the first local to take the discipline professionally. He considered traveling abroad and in 1942 left for The University of Chicago. Following an hydroplane flight to Miami, Alegría took a train the rest of the way.
Upon arriving, the dean of Social Sciences Robert Redfield told Alegría that he had been rejected and questioned how exactly he expected to study a master's degree without any previous education on the subject, but ultimately relented and approved a "test admission". He would take anthology classes under Fay-Cooper Cole, Sol Tax, Wilton M. Krogman, John Victor Murra and the dean himself. His first term paper was not adequate per the standards of Redfield, which taught him the importance of selecting adequate bibliography. Due to his insistence, Cole referred him to Richard S. MacNeish so that he could complete field research at a Faulkner archeological site. The archeologist accepted, expecting the young Alegría to give up quickly and the more experienced members to continue. However, on the fourth day he unearthed his first artifacts and requested MacNeish the recording of notes.
After this, Alegría learned how to employ the other tools and mastered the other aspects quickly, impressing both the head archeologist and his wife, June Helm. While working at an archeological site at Kentucky, he recorded the discrimination against African Americans in that state. Alegría settled in at the International House, along several Puerto Ricans including Muna Muñoz Lee, sister of his friend. When Alegría finally found one, it was a basement. From there, he lived an admittedly "bohemian" phase and depended on his family to meet ends when the work that he found was insufficient. Besides Latinos, Alegría would record discrimination against Jews and blacks.
While completing a thesis of Caribbean caciques (tribal chiefs) titled Cacicazgo among the Aborigines of the West Indies, he was mentored by Redfield and with collaboration by Tax. Parallel to this, Paul Martin of the Field Museum of Natural History created a curriculum for Alegría that included courses with him, George Irving Joint Au Quimby and John Collier for which he received a degree in museology. He forwarded these contacts to his former professors at Puerto Rico. He requested to fill an assistant professor vacancy at the University of Chicago, but the recommendation letter of Jaime Benítez was critical of his early college years. The Chicago Museum of Natural History, Oriental Institute of Chicago, the Walker Museum of Paleontology, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Historical Society of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Logan Museum of Anthropology, the Academy of Sciences, the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art were among his stops. Making a stop at Yale University, he met Irving Rouse personally. Alegría mediated donations and loans for the UPR museum from the Smithsonian Institution and the Oriental Institute. During a trip to New York, he encountered Pons Caatañer while visiting historian Antonio Gautier.
On May 15, 1946, Alegría noted that his family was growing impatient with his absence. He also participated in the Extramuros initiative. Alegría sold his first documentary, Las Fiestas De Santiago Apóstol en Loíza Aldea to the Puerto Rico Department of Tourism. The collections of Gildo Massó, Benigno Fernández García, José Limón de Arce, Adolfo de Hostos and J.L. Montalvo Guenard were donated to the museum, as were civilian findings. Foreign museums also provided materials and on occasion loaned exhibits, allowing for an expansion that included among others the Oriental, Egyptian, Neolithic and African art exhibits.
Archeology excavations
Between 1947 and 1948, Alegría created the Proyecto de Excavaciones Arqueológicas (later Centro de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Etnográficas) in collaboration with the UPR. His interests were also growing and he planned an extended stay with the natives at Guyana, which had similarities with the local groups. Alegría organized archeological incursions at Luquillo, Loíza and Utuado.
His early work attracted mixed reactions, it was well received in times where exploration was unveiling lost settlement, but also skepticism from the uneducated, parodies (one, "Lalo en Brodwey" labeled them "luquillólogos" and another by Diplo) and distrust from the neighboring communities. Superstition about the ghost of a cacique haunting their excavation was also published. Amateur archeologists used the opportunity to boast about their collections. Ultimately, Alegría decided to recruit the neighbors and offered rewards for performance. His wife, family and friends also participated under his supervision. Afterwards, Alegría led excavations at Cueva de María la Cruz at Loíza, where he uncovered the first evidence of arcaico group in the form of bodies and artifacts. In the nearby Hacienda Grande, they uncovered an igneri or salanoide deposit, the oldest Arawak finding yet. His findings also discredited Irving Rouse's theory that cross-hatch lines in ceramics were an intrusion in Puerto Rico. By this time, he had collaborated in a legislation draft that would allow the construction of a museum. By 1949, an archeological map had been elaborated and 2,782 pieces catalogued.
He also promoted reintroducing or popularizing local cultural customs by giving them space in the exhibits at the museum. Talla de Santos was one of these and Alegría worked on a biopic about Zoilo Cajigas Sotomayor titled Santero, which was completed with the help of DIVEDCO and exhibited at the artist's native municipality of Aguada. Painters such as Francisco Oller and prominent local politicians would also be featured. Alegría's own work would serve to expand the Puerto Rican Archeology section. External exhibitions were held throughout Puerto Rico, most notably in schools. Alegría also researched African influence on local culture.
On January 7, 1949, Ricardo Jr. was born to the couple. He led Gordon Willey and Henry Nicholson to the María la Cruz deposits, with the findings being published in American Antiquity. The material was exhibited at the museum.
Alegría led an incursion that discovered monolith-hedged plazas and artifacts at the Caguana site, documented by Osiris Delgado. He concluded that one of the plazas (batey) was likely religious and others were used recreationally. In these, rock belts were unearthed that allowed establishing a correlation between the bateyes and these. Alegría tried, unsuccessfully, to adquiere the terrains. Consequently, he reburied the plazas to protect them from treasure hunters. His excursions were not limited to Puerto Rico, and he also worked at the Virgin Islands. The film, however, clashed with the elite that felt that it didn't represent Puerto Rico, something that Alegría had noticed even among some blacks at Loíza who would distance themselves from Africa and claim that they "came from Spain". This marked another example of his interest in the influence of African culture in Puerto Rico, which also included a collection of tales and the study of local witchcraft and cultural celebrations. During this visit, he mediated funds for a new building for the UPR collection from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Viking Fund, which was combined with local legislation that legally formalized the institution of the Museum of History, Anthropology and Arts (until then operating without government interference) also assigning a sum two years later. In 1950, Alegría traveled to a Junta Nacional de Arqueología de Cuba, where the unification of archeological terms used in the Caribbean was discussed. He also won a Mundo Hispánico contest with an article about the influence of African culture in the Caribbean. In 1952, Alegría joined other es in founding the Mesa Arqueológica subscribed to the AIAC. Initially interested in studying Mesoamerican culture he requested to be sent to Central America, but instead was offered to divide the year between his request and the United States. Instead, he choose Harvard University. There he took classes under Earnest Hooton, Gordon Willey, Alfred M. Tozzer, Hallam Movius, Samuel Lothrop and Clyde Kluckhohn. During his stay he lived at a loaned house at Cambridge. His wife also studied, but left before Alegría graduated due to the children not enjoying the place. Alegría's thesis, Ball Courts and Ceremonial Plazas in the West Indies, was written with help from Willey and used his own discoveries at Puerto Rico as source. Yale would publish it afterwards.
While studying at Harvard, Alegría negotiated the donation of several Egyptian artifacts from the Peabody Museum (which also donated Haitian ceramics) to the UPR, including a mummy.
He returned to Puerto Rico and resumed his functions as professor of the UPR. In 1955, Alegría published his findings at María la Cruz in a book. Towards this goal, he compiled similar laws already in use abroad and presented them to José Trías Monge for use as reference to draft laws based on the eminent domain of the state over historical pieces.
At the behest of Benítez, Alegría participated in the public hearings about a government initiative that pushed for the creation of an "institute of culture" held in May 1955, where he argued in name of the UPR and insisted on the necessity of finishing the building of the museum.
Director of the ICP
On June 21, 1955, the law that created the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture (ICP) was passed as part of a larger cultural drive. Luis Manuel Díaz Soler, the UPR's Dean of Humanities, authored a report that was handed to governor Muñoz Marín which highlighted Alegría's archeological, folkloric and cultural work. The Secretary of Instruction held a reunion with him. There Alegría noted that he disliked the name, finding it too similar to the Instituto de Cultura Hispánica, and proposed "Comisión para la Cultura". His suggestions were not heeded, but he nonetheless was satisfied that Luis A. Ferré's "Instituto Puertorriqueño de Cultura" did not advance either. On October 10, 1955, José A. Buitrago proposed Alegría for the office of executive director of the ICP, winning a vote over Nilita Vientós Gastón, 5–1. Muñoz Marín hesitated due to his political stances, but ultimately allowed the appointment with the influence of Inés and Tomás Blanco.
On October 23, Alegría was assigned the task of creating a plan for the following year, which he presented a week later. His role was attacked by Eliseo Combas Guerra of El Mundo and was viewed with suspicion by the UPR, which not only lost his services, but also a dominance on cultural affairs. He formally took over on November 1, 1955, and he immediately adopted a pro-Puerto Rican agenda, setting his sight on the restoration of Old San Juan and acquiring the Caguanas site. Alegría distanced from the highly intellectual form of administration that was employed by the Ateneo. They defined "national culture" as the mixing of Taíno, African and Spanish elements and emphasized that folklore was a relevant field of study. Alegría was not satisfied with his salary, which he considered too onerous, so he redirected it by paying for activities. The ICP began working on the creation of a General Archive and the Institute of Literature, as well as the restoration of San Juan. The institution occupied the former Casino of Puerto Rico along the Escuela Libre de Música, afterwards acquiring the entire building.
Alegría defied the Gag Law (a local reinterpretation of the Smith Law) by bringing in nationalists Isabel Gutiérrez del Arroyo and Roberto Baescoechea, something that placed him at odds with the Subsecretary of Justice, Francisco Espinosa. Trías Monge, who was both the Secretary of Justice and a member of the ICP's board and the author of the Gag Law knew from the beginning that enacting it was a bad idea and the case created friction between him and the governor. Alegría acquired local paintings and engravings for the ICP and beginning in 1956 also held challenges as a way to promote the arts. Expositions were held locally (the ICP itself hosted a permanent hall) and abroad (from were materials were brought back in return, including the first exhibit of African art), in places such as the Riverside Museum or the Pan American Union.
The "La pintura puertorriqueña desde el siglo XVIII hasta nuestros días" exhibit, which featured Campeche (a recurrent motif) and Oller among others, toured Puerto Rico and popularized several local artists. Alegría emphasized the local art, which he perceives had been under appreciated, and in the process rediscovered several pieces. By 1963, the ICP could assemble an exhibit of 400 pieces from 40 different artists.
In 1961, Alegría attended the Congress for Cultural Freedom/Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics Paths to Economic Growth seminary held at India. The budget for the institute was limited and the approval of anything new was subjected to the governor's approval. During its first years and up to 1957, new programs were being created on a monthly basis, including the creation of Commissions to oversee music, historic monuments, plastic arts, theater and publications. The General Archive, Folkloric Ballet and Choral Poetry programs were created. Antiquities were purchased, restored and exhibited.
Courses, in disciplines such as sculpture, engraving, knitting, mosaics, stained glass or metalwork, the first government-sponsored initiative in plastic arts to be long-lived, were held after the ICP expanded. Likewise, Alegría's long standing interest in Talla de Santos and local traditions led to the creation of the first widespread popular arts and handicrafts programs (popular arts led Initially by Lillianne Pérez Marchand -1957 to 1963- and later Walter Murray Chisea), rescuing several practices from approaching disappearance and reviving faltering traditions (such as folkloric music and the use of the cuatro, triple and the bordonúa). Expositions, exhibitions and fairs were held to popularize these. Regional folklore was also promoted. Alegría gathered pieces from all of these endeavors, which he later sold at an ICP/Fomento store at Sol street.
Restoration of Old San Juan
The restoration of San Juan would be complicated, facing apathy from the local merchants. However, both mayor Felisa Rincón and First Lady Inés Mendoza supported it. Alegría led the ICP in an alliance with Fomento, first restoring a sample of four buildings. Architects Eladio López Tirado and Franz Loesche were recruited and the process followed the recommendations made to the Junta de Planificación by restoration experts. Old blueprints and documents were extracted from the General Archive and the municipal archives, which the Historic Building Commission used to create the Proyecto para la conservación del San Juan Antiguo (which only covered Old San Juan) authored by Osiris Delgado who worked along the Junta de Planes. Casa del Callejón at Fortaleza street No. 319 was the first building restored by the ICP, after Alegría bought it from the previous owner, who initially wanted to demolish it. During the early stages, Alegría entered several others that had been damaged and made assessments and document features. On occasion, experts were brought in from abroad to attend particular issues.
Alegría pushed for the use of pastel colors, which he cited were the ones present in the blueprints and other contemporary drawings, but this created a controversy with the residents who favored bright colors. Tax and other exemptions, as well as loans from Fomento, were provided to facilitate this process.
The same tactic was used when Bacardí tried to demolish a site at Puerta de Tierra, which had the distinction of being the oldest large scale colonial building built by the Spanish in the Americas. Ultimately, Alegría was able to acquire the building from Pepín Bosch for 500,000 (below its actual price), in a process that included the intervention of Muñoz Marín. With the support of the UNESCO's expert Manuel Fernández Huidobro, the building was restored to host the General Archive. The process, however, required Alegría to frequently ask for more funds from the governor. Incensed at the prohibition of neon signs, local merchants opposed the restoration of the colonial structures, arguing that what was needed was the creation of a modern city, of a "Little New York". Alegría requested a license without pay to take over the ICP, but continued teaching two courses. His film Santero was exhibited at the 1956 Venetian Film Festival, the 1956 Edinburgh Film Festival and the 1956 Flaherty Foundation Seminar. The local legislators assigned $20,000 for it and Puerto Rican Theater Festivals were held yearly.
Alegría was part of the Hispanic Society of America's 1958 class of recruits. In 1960, the ICP collaborated with the municipal Departamento de Obras Públicas in the restoration of Plaza San José.
In 1962, Alegría collaborated with Rouse to create a new timeline for the indigenous cultures of Puerto Rico.
In 1965, Alegría had been involved in an attempt by Muñoz Marín to materialize a center of advanced studies with the collaboration of nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer, which was aborted when the latter died. In 1976, Alegría revived the initiative by recalling it from the CES and focusing on a spinoff based on Puerto Rican and Caribbean studies, also advising a committee (Ramón Cruz, Rafael Arrillaga Torrén and Aurelio Tió) that was placed in charge of naming a board. The mission also advocated for the autonomy of the institution and the capacity to grant university degrees (initially a master's degree in Arts specialized in Puerto Rican/Caribbean studies). The board of the new entity, presided by Morales Carrión (also composed by Concha Meléndez, Rafael Ríos Rey, Fernando Chardón, Luis M. Rodríguez Morales, Enrique Laguerre, Francisco López Cruz, Luis Torres Oliver, Milton Rúa and Aurelio Tió), named Alegría the executive director. The ICP gave $11,500 to the CEAPRC for the students of the Estudios Puertorriqueños program, while the CES $50,000. The UPR provided professors. At Casa Blanca, Alegría founded the physical locale of the Centro de Estudios Avanzados, taking the Estudios Puertorriqueños in a new direction. An initiative then began to expand the roll, reaching 118 students by 1979. In 1967, he drafted legislation for a large theater to be created at Santurce and placed in charge of the ICP, the Centro de Bellas Artes, at the behest of Francisco Arriví. Roberto Sánchez Vilella vetoed the project. Another similar project emerged the following year, but the long-standing rivalry with Moscoso reemerged over the location and administration and languished. When Alegría was invited to participate in an activity that would set the stage for the activities surrounding the 450th anniversary of San Juan, he pressured Ferré on the matter. The measure was signed on June 19, 1970, granting the ICP funds to prepare studies and draft blueprints. The construction of the Centro de Bella's Artes extended throughout two administrations, facing cuts due to the petroleum crisis.
On May 12, 1980, Carlos Romero Barceló passed the "culture laws" which removed the CBA and other initiatives under the control of the ICP, creating autonomous public corporations that were under the newly created Administración para el Fomento de las Artes y la Cultura (formally created on May 30). In 1967, his Talla de Santos collection depicting the life of Jesus was exhibited at the ICP, to which they were later donated as a "permanent loan". The event would continue being held on a regular basis afterwards. The initiative later expanded to include a master's degree, after Alegría lobbied for the legislature to grant the institute the ability to offer degrees (and from which the Plastic Arts School also benefited). Ethel Ríos de Betancourt of the Middle States Association opposed the recognition, but Alegría received support from the president of the Higher Education Council Ramón Mellado Parsons. Differences between the university and the ICP led to the latter taking over it. On July 1, 1971, he was formally recognized as a cathedratic.
In 1973, the "Imagen de Pedro Albuquerque Campos" exhibit was organized by the ICP, which he considered historic. The ICP performed an island-wide cultural inventory that included both the material and the folkloric.
In October 1972 and following the restoration of Casa de Ponce de León in the Dominican Republic, the provinces of Higüey and San Rafael de Yuma declared him an "Servidor Eminente del Patrimonio Cultural". Alegría worked on the restoration of the Iglesia San José and the Seminario Concilar de San Idelfonso. These were based on attending what he perceived were the shortcomings of "colonial minded education" and included coordinating all government-sponsored cultural activities, creating the office of Coordinator of Cultural Affairs (given the same authority as a cabinet member) to oversee an interagency umbrella that covered the ICP, Fomento Instruction, Parks and Recreation and the UPR among other.
The Office of Cultural Affairs was officially created on November 19, 1973, and the Escuela Libre de Música program as well as Festival Casals were added. Alegría was formally named less than a month later. He avoided duplicity with most of the functions of the ICP, but remained focused on the Puerto Rican Studies program and even proposed creating a Casa de Puerto Rico program at New York and Chicago and libraries of Puerto Rican literature abroad. He made a push for the UPR to become involved with the initiative. Instruction was tasked with educating its teachers in cultural and historic affairs. Parks and Recreations were tasked with the Parque de las Américas, a project that dated back to the Muñoz Marín administration and which Alegría had defended over a Spanish-funded amusement park.
In April 1974, Alegría participated in an excursion to the Orinoco River along José Cruxent and Manuel García Arévalo. Interested in learning more of the origin of the Arawaks, he spent some time with the piaroas and the guahibos. The project failed in the legislature, where it faced opposition from hesitant social workers and welfare recipients. Further controversy emerged around the Parque de las Américas in 1975, when Luis Vigoreaux/Fomento Recreativo proposed a different project in the premises, known as Parque Popular which featured the return involvement of the Spaniards. Alegría opposed it and Muñoz Marín did as well, with the project falling short after public hearings, but several members of the PPD took his opposition negatively. He attempted to have the park of El Morro ready by February 1976, but his communication with the governor had dwindled.
After another of his projects -a boardwalk in the San Juan port area- fell short due to lack of funding that he considered arbitrary, Alegría and filed his resignation. However, when Barceló entered the conflict over the Parque de las Américas he decided to remain in the office. On November 8, 1976, shortly after the PNP won the election, Alegría retired feeling that the office had been a failure and calling it "[his] Waterloo". Alegría also wanted to write about several pieces that he had gathered.
He continued collaborating with restoration efforts at Antigua, Guatemala; La Guaira and Caracas. At Peru he was invited to participate in the restoration of Lima, although his stay was cut short due to Sendero Luminoso.
He also offered conferences at Peru (on the restoration of Kuzco) and Columbia University at New York (about colonial architecture and its restoration). Alegría also intervened to prevent the demolition of a synagogue at Santurce.
His work in the plastic arts featured collaboration from a commission and particular artists such as Francisco Vázquez and Carlos Marichal, leading to the creation of the Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico. However, what he felt were the "unfair critics" to a board that was named under his administration and the arbitrary critic of the work done during the past decade (including his 1970-73 tenure) made him decline further involvement.
In 1983, Alegría was invited to the Museo Arqueológico de Madrid where the pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas were discussed.
Alegría was also designated to the Comisión Puertorriqueña para la Celebración de los Quinientos Años del Descubrimiento de América y de Puerto Rico. This commemoration led to the proposal of the Museo de las Américas, which intended to document the entire history of the hemisphere.
Alegría considered statehood "the destruction of [Puerto Rican] nationality from a cultural standpoint" or "cultural suicide" and traveled to Latin America seeking support, arguing that if statehood was granted nothing would prevent the United States from invading and assimilating any country in the region.
On Octubre 4, 1990, Alegría proposed the restoration of Río Piedras, which he expected to mimic that of Old San Juan and actively involve the UPR.
On January 5, 1996, Jeffrey Farrow responded to his 1993 letter suggesting that the status of Puerto Rico was of interest to the president. On May 6, 1996, Clinton himself wrote expressing the same.
In April 1996, the Smithsonian commemorated his birthday in an event.
After Pedro Rosselló expressed that he did not believe in the existence of a Puerto Rican nation in 1996, Alegría collaborated with Noel Colón Martínez and Antonio Fas Alazamora in a march known as La Nación en Marcha.
That year, he also attended the inauguration of a monument honoring Ramón Emeterio Betances at Havana. When Sila Calderón won the 2000 general elections, he drafted a cultural plan. Itvwas spearheaded by the restitution of Spanish as the sole official language, publishing a book detailing Puerto Rico prior to the Spanish-American War and another about the changes that took place during the 1940s, tax exemptions to authors, editors, painters and artists, a center that helped distribute Puerto Rican literature and additional funds for the CEAPRC and the ICP and a commission to identify and protect socio-cultural/artistic heritage. At the turn of the millennium, Alegría collaborated with Eusebio Leal in the restoration of Havana. Alegría received the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal in 1996. The city of Havana recognized his influence in the project to remodel the city's historical district (similar to Alegría's work in Old San Juan) by honoring him with a plaque, placed in front of the basilica de San Francisco de Asis in Old Havana, Cuba. In 2021, the museum and filmmaker Amalia García Padilla released the documentary 500 and 100: Ricardo Alegría on the Isleta de San Juan, commemorating the 500th anniversary of San Juan with narration by Alegría.
Puerto Rican artist Lorenzo Homar honored Alegría in an artistic graphic poster. On his vacations, he usually collected pieces and became acquainted with the folklore and artisans of whatever place he found himself in.
He owned six pigs named Guasábara, Huracán, Agüeybaná, Yayael, Atabey and Caona. Alegría suggested the name for the University of Turabo, where he later helped establish an Etnographic Museum and a Center of Humanistic Studies, as well as digs at Cagüitas and Punta Candelero. On October 15, 1951, the couple had their second son, José Francisco. In 1977, his mother died. His eponymous son and his family inhabited the first floor. In 1993, his son José Francisco died. He also made appearances before the Decolonization Committee as the leader of the Consejo Nacional de Instituciones Culturales and was involved to include the topic in the XXXVII general assembly. Despite not being affiliated to the party, he urged against affiliating the local branch of the Democratic Party to the PPD and later against adopting a pro-American strategy as the PNP emerged in 1968.
On occasion, he publicly clashed with Muñoz on issues such as attending the funeral of Albizu Campos or while defiantly proposing renouncing the United States citizenship prior to the 1967 status referendum, for which he preferred making it a yes/no vote on the topic of statehood. He anticipated the raise of Ferré among statehooders and noted that the Commonwealth campaign had been weak and succumbed to the "fear campaign" promoted against a "sovereign association", something that he felt should instead be emphasized to counteract a growing statehood movement. His postures earned him enemies within the PPD, such as Raúl Gándara, who used them to label him a "nationalist" in an age where the label was most associated with the 1950 uprising. When Muñoz Marín considered pursuing the presidential vote for the residents of the Commonwealth, Alegría gathered several opposers and wrote to him. Afterwards, the governor abandoned the idea and credited him with changing his perception of the issue.
When Fort Allen was turned into a refugee shelter for Hatians in 1981, Alegría joined Inés Mendoza, Isolina Ferré and Jaime Benítez in protest. His friendship with Mendoza lasted throughout her life, an in 1990 she gave Alegría participation in the disposition of the Muñoz Marín-Mendoza estate along her children. After "strategically" voting for the Commonwealth in the 1993 referendum, Alegría argued that in times were the Free Trade Agreement and European Union existed, there was a possibility that the United States could recognize the sovereignty of Puerto Rico and renounce things like defense.
He elaborated in a brochure, where he assessed that the aspirations of independence supporters were based on political sovereignty, national identity, language and culture, while statehood supporters were mostly concerned with the United States citizenship and its rights. Coining the term "Estado Libre Asociado Soberano" Alegría argued that both ends could be met within it, dismissing that it was either "impossible" or "utopic" as a goal since it was closer to what the United States argued before the UN in 1953 than the territorial status. He elaborated that by recognizing the sovereignty of Puerto Rico in association, the colonial character of the Commonwealth could be overcome. It was the apparent support for sovereignty in the PPD's 2000 platform that convinced Alegría to vote for Sila Calderón and Aníbal Acevedo Vilá in those elections, forcing him to defend his posture from independence supporters. Among his critics was the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) who used the media to comment of what they perceived as a strategic error.
Alegría also participated in an interim committee of the Virginia Associated State Councils of Arts. Alegría pushed for Puerto Rico to receive membership as an associate member of the UNESCO, also holding an exhibit of Puerto Rican art at the UN to further this cause. However, when the US left UNESCO, the effort stalled. Further attempts when Federico Mayor Zaragoza ascended were inconclusive. In 1993, the UNESCO recognized him by awarding the Picasso medal. By the turn of the millennium, Alegría had tried to push the matter among three directors, also pressuring Amadau W. Bow and Kirchiro Matansura. Alegría preferred diplomacy, and it wasn't until Romero Barceló pushed the "cultural laws" that he first participated in a protest at the Capitolio.
Death
Alegría lived in Old San Juan in his later years, until his death on July 7, 2011. He had been hospitalized in San Juan's Centro Medico (Medical Center Hospital) a few weeks before his death. After a brief recovery, he relapsed and was returned to the medical center, where he died of heart failure. Flags of Puerto Rico government offices were flown at half staff for five days of mourning.