"...The Library of Congress officer most responsible for the project that brought your father to Washington to paint the splendid murals in the entrance to the Hispanic Room was the late Dr. Robert C. Smith. He was then the Assistant Director of the Hispanic Foundation, which was the division of the Library devoted to the culture of Brazil, Portugal, Spain, and Spanish America. ..."

"...Dr. Smith felt that the center on Hispanic culture in the national library of the United States should have some example of work from a living artist of Latin America, and proposed that your father be invited to Washington to paint in the Hispanic Room. The Librarian of Congress at the time, Archibald MacLeish, the eminent poet, strongly approved the idea and approved the necessary administrative arrangements. Thus was initiated the project, which made possible the Candido Portinari paintings, which have given joy and stimulation to so many visitors to the Hispanic Room over the years. ..."