Dr. Naseer H. Aruri Papers Dedicated
On Saturday September 26, friends, family and colleagues gathered in the new Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives of the UMD Archives and Special Collections to honor Chancellor Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Naseer H. Aruri. The occasion marked the donation of his personal research papers to the archives, and his extensive library on Middle Eastern history and politics to the Claire T. Carney Library. Dr. Aruri taught political science at the University of Massachusetts Darmouth from 1965 through 1998. He has authored or edited fourteen books and over 100 articles on Middle Eastern history, international politics, human rights, Palestine, and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, and has presented lectures at universities in the U.S. and abroad. He is currently the president of the board of the Trans-Arab Research Institute and writes and speaks frequently on global political science. Dr. Aruri’s papers will be permanently preserved and made available to scholars and students at the Claire T. Carney Library Archives and Special Collections.
Folk Music Society of N.Y., Inc. presents Eisteddfod 2009
Folk Music Society of NY Inc. and NY Pinewoods Folk Music Club presents
Festival of Traditional Music
The 31st Eisteddfod
October 16-18, 2009 at the Friar Tuck Inn, 4858 Route 32, Catskill, NY 12414
40 miles south of Albany, 20 miles north of Kingston, and 120 miles north of New York City.
For more information see http://www.eisteddfod-ny.org or call 718-672-6399
Mayor Berta Cabral Visits Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives
The Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives has received many distinguished visitors since its opening on September 18, 2009. Ponta Delgada mayor Berta Cabral was one such visitor, receiving a special preview of the facility before its official opening. Chancellor Jean MacCormack hosted the mayor and her delegation, for a tour of the new archives on August 28, 2009. Her visit was part of a week-long visit to the South Coast. Ponta Delgada is the largest city in the Azores, and the main city on the Island of Sao Miguel.
For more information, see the Standard Times article at http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090829/NEWS/908290347
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Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives Dedicated on September 18, 2009
Press coverage for the opening in the local newspapers:
Fall River Herald News
http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x1073701504/UMass-Dartmouth-opens-Portuguese-American-Archive
New Bedford Standard Times
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090919/NEWS/909190324
Portuguese Times
http://www.portuguesetimes.com/Ed_1995/Comuni/co01.htm
Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives Grand Opening Set for September 18
The Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives is set to inaugurate its new facility with a special celebration, and ribbon- cutting ceremony, at 4:00 PM on Friday September 18, 2009. The newly-renovated facility, once home to the Claire T. Carney Library’s television studio, now features the Prince Henry Society of Massachusetts, Inc. Reading Room, the Costa and Silva Families Vestibule, the William Q. and Mary Jane MacLean Gallery, and the Dorothy Santos Lobby, along with an office suite, processing room, and a climate-controlled storage vault. The storage vault is named for several individuals who have generously donated their personal collections as well as supported the renovation project: The Dennis Rezendes Azorean Ancestral and Personal Life Collection, the Edmund Dinis Portuguese-American Political, Legal and Public Service Collection, the Frank B. Sousa Business and Entrepreneurship Collection and the Carlton Viveiros Collection.
The Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives is a joint collaboration between the Claire T. Carney Library Archives and Special Collections and the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture.
Brazilian-American Cultural Institute Archives Find Home at UMD
Brazilian-American Cultural Institute, Washington D.C. (1964-2008)
Clovis Junior exhibit held at BACI in 2003
The Brazilian-American Cultural Institute (BACI) was a non-profit organization established to promote awareness in the United States about the music, art, and culture of Brazil. It had a large art gallery, recital and lecture space, and an 8,000 volume bilingual library. BACI offered courses at all levels in Portuguese throughout its entire existence, and it also offered lessons in the samba and guitar. Beyond these daily and weekly activities, BACI hosted hundreds of visiting artists, scholars and musicians, as well as organized educational trips to Brazil. BACI also produced various publications over the years, including Portuguese textbooks.
The majority of the institute’s history unfolded under the leadership of Dr. José Neistein, who was appointed by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1970 to promote Brazilian Culture in the U.S. He served as the director of the institute until it closed in early 2008. Although the institute generated income from its classes and art sales, it was forced to close when the government of Brazil discontinued funding.
In 2008 BACI generously donated their administrative records and hundreds of files on Brazilian artists and musicians to the Claire T. Carney Library Archives and Special Collections for use in conjunction with the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives. The Claire T. Carney Library purchased the library of the institute, which is currently being added to the general library collections. The archival records will be fully organized and processed within the next year or two, but are currently available for inspection with the assistance of the Archives and Special Collections Librarian.
Howard Glasser and Tom Stern Visit Archives
On June 17, Howard Glasser and Tom Stern toured the new Archives and Special Collections facility and met with archivist Judy Farrar regarding next steps in planning for the future growth of the Howard T. Glasser Archives of Folk Music and Letter Arts. Established in 2003, the mission of the Howard T. Glasser Archives of Folk Music and Letter Arts is to preserve the artistic and musical collecting legacy of retired design professor Howard T. Glasser. The initial donation, digital copies of his Scottish recordings, many original Eisteddfod recordings, and programs and flyers from the Carnegie and URI ceildhs, forms the core of the collection. The Howard T. Glasser Archives Fund was established the following year to help maintain these fragile materials, many of which reside on ageing magnetic reel to reel recording tapes. To date, the fund has enabled staff to pay for digital conversion of a related collection, the recordings of Paul Clayton, and a selection of the Eisteddfod recordings. The fund will also be used to begin conversion of the Tryworks concert recordings.
The archivist welcomes suggestions for donations of potentially important historic material to the collection from folk song groups, coffeehouses and other folk music venues, collectors, artists and musicians to document the folk music “scene” in New England. Contact Judy Farrar via email at jfarrar@umassd.edu.
Web 2.0 Course Completed!
You are reading this blog as a result of my taking a 7-week online course offered by SEMLS, the Southeastern Massachusetts Library System. The most useful thing learned in this course is knowing what is possible, and how to at least get started exploring the various social networking tools that our users are already very famliar with. It has always been clear that we need to reach out to our audience, to advertise our holdings and make them available online, however, the venues have changed, and we need to keep up with the trends. Those who care will find us and subscribe, hopefully, but in a world of media overload, will they find me? Tools learned were wikis, tagging, DelIcioUs, Flickr, blogs, Twitter, podcasts, RSS. I’d like to continue to explore them all, but for now I am using the blog and Flickr and RSS. Least useful was tagging. Thanks, Kathy for presenting a great workshop!
Tryworks Coffeehouse Memorabilia Donated to Howard T. Glasser Archives of Folk Music and Letter Arts
On June 5th the Archives and Special Collections received the records of Tryworks Coffeehouse through former managers Maggi Peirce and Jody Heck. Many boxes were neatly packed and ready to go at the First Unitarian Church in New Bedford, the home of Tryworks since it moved from the Pilgrim United Church. Tryworks was in operation from 1967 to 2002 and was a popular venue for young people and budding musicians and poets. Coffeehouses were popular during the 1960s revival of folk music and remained relevant for many years. Tryworks was the second-oldest continuously-running coffeehouse in the country before it closed in 2002. The collection includes recordings, photographs, scrapbooks, programs, and flyers. The Tryworks archives will be part of the Howard T. Glasser Archives of Folk Music and Letter Arts. Read the article in the Standard Times at http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090606/NEWS/906060329
YouTube – An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube
This is an interesting lecture by a Kansas State University assistant professor of anthropology and digital ethnography, Dr. Michael Wesch, on the social significance of YouTube.
