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Drawing upon the genre of the testimonio, this article bears witness to the historical evolution of the New York Puerto Rican community. It highlights the connections between my personal journey into graduate studies, where I discovered Andreu Iglesias' manuscript of Memorias de Bernardo Vega, and subsequently, the influence of Vega's testimony in my own research. An eyewitness to more than forty years of Puerto Rican life in the New York metropolis, the cigar maker arrived in New York in 1916, became an activist, and wrote a major source on a century of Puerto Rican life in New York. My initial encounter with Vega's unpublished manuscript was in 1975. The Spanish version, Memorias de Bernardo Vega, appeared in print in 1977, followed by the English translation, Memoirs of Bernardo Vega in 1984. Nonetheless, the recovery of Vega's original manuscript in 2011 raised issues about the author's original intent, voice, and genre. This generationally focused article explores the course of events leading to the publication of these key sources, and the possible effect the original manuscript might have on Vega's published work and on my monograph, From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]