History

 In 1977 Professor Juan Adolfo Vázquez of the University of Pittsburgh founded Latin American Indian Literatures, a new journal devoted to the preservation and support of indigenous literature from Latin America through the publication of studies about indigenous texts as well as texts themselves. Prof. Vázquez edited the journal until his retirement in 1983 when one of his first editorial assistants, Mary H. Preuss, became the editor. She changed the name to Latin American Indian Literatures Journal and it moved to Geneva College where she was a faculty member. In 1989 the editor took a position at Penn State McKeesport and, of course, LAIL Journal went along. 

In the beginning years of the journal, Monica Barnes, another editorial assistant,  worked along with Mary H. Preuss. Today she continues her work with the journal as Book Review Editor, securing and writing reviews of newly published books about these literatures.  

Eduardo Lozano, Latin American Bibliographer at Hillman Library of the University of Pittsburgh, has served as bibliographer of the Journal from in inception in 1977. He has provided extensive bibliographies on Latin American Indian literatures, languages, and religion.

 In 1986 Eloise Quiñones Keber (Baruch College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York) began her work as the first editor of the section entitled Central Mexican Pictorial Manuscripts. In 1998 Merideth Paxton (University of New Mexico) took over this editorship and changed the section  name to Mesoamerican Pictorial Manuscripts in 2001 to reflect the inclusion of a broader scope of studies.

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