Monochrome photo of Elmer Adler in La Casa del Libro, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Elmer Adler (1884-1962), printer, publisher, editor, book designer, author, and avid collector of books and fine prints, founded La Casa del Libro museum. In 1954, Adler visited Puerto Rico after retiring from Princeton University, where he established a department of graphic arts and served as a lecturer and library curator. He stayed to lead and organize LCDL and its formidable collection, which he built up book by book through donations.
Jack Delano (1914-1997), Ukrainian photographer, filmmaker, graphic designer, illustrator and composer, became one of the most influential figures in the cultural scene of Puerto Rico. After immigrating with his family to the United States, Delano studied music, then illustration and design, and was granted a scholarship to travel to Europe. The art of photography captivated him, and on his return he was given another grant by the Federal Art Project, a division of the Works Progress Administration. He first visited Puerto Rico while working on a documentary project for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). In 1946, together with wife Irene Delano (1919-1982), he took permanent residence in Puerto Rico. Having mastered the art of documentary photography, a valuable historic record of Puerto Rican everyday life is evident in the Smithsonian Institute publication of Puerto Rico Mio: Four Decades of Change, an extraordinary collection of two series of photographs, the first taken when Delano first went to Puerto Rico with the FSA in 1941-42 and the second when he rephotographed those same places in the 1980s.