Monthly Archives: March 2010

The Portuguese Community of San Diego – A Book Talk and Slide Presentation – March 25 from 12:30 to 1:30 P.M.

The Portuguese Community of San DiegoWhat: A Book Talk and Slide Presentation on the Portuguese Community of San Diego by Donna Alves-Calhoun

When: Thursday, March 25, 2010 from 12:30 to 1:30 P.M.

Where: Prince Henry Society Reading Room of the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives, located in the Claire T. Carney Library

FREE – Open to the public.

This presentation by Donna Alves Calhoun, based on her book The Portuguese Community of San Diego, takes us back to the roots of the Portuguese settlement in the early 1900s at La Playa, on the edge of Point Loma, in the city of San Diego, California. There, immigrants from continental Portugal, the Azores and the Madeira Islands began a new life in the New World more than one hundred years ago. Along with their sea-faring traditions, they brought their unique folklore and customs.  They distinguished themselves in the fishing industry, built churches and halls, and celebrated the Feast of Holy Spirit in the streets of their new homeland.  Today, close to 20,000 persons of Portuguese heritage still call San Diego County home and many still live in Point Loma.

Author Donna Calhoun is a second-generation Portuguese born in Point Loma. Currently, she is a director at the Portuguese Historical Center in San Diego, an organization founded in 1977 for the purpose of educating people about the role of the Portuguese in the history of San Diego and preserving Portuguese culture and history.

Organized by the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives, in collaboration with the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture and the Claire T. Carney Library.

For directions to the UMass Dartmouth campus, see https://www.umassd.edu/vtour/.

Parking Available in Parking Lot 13.

For more information:
Contact: Gloria de Sá, Faculty Director Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives
Phone: 508-910-6888
Email: mdesa@umassd.edu

Library Mobile Beta Now Available – Please Test It!

Library Mobile BETA Logo

The library’s Mobile Beta is here! –> On your mobile device https://m.lib.umassd.edu

It’s limited and not perfect, but hey, it’s a BETA!

It’s BETA because we need you to help us test it.

For now, we’re starting with some features that we hope you find usable:

  • get directions from where you are to the library
  • telephone numbers and email forms via a mini library directory & liaison list
  • know your library liaisons and how to contact them
  • Search Voyager catalog with a display downsized for mobile. Find books and materials complete with call numbers and availability info
  • Keep ’em on your screen and walk up stairs (if you in the library) or mail to yourself as you go. Heck, look ’em up while your in stacks – your mobile!

It’s BETA so tell us what you think!

Children’s Authors Literary Brunch at the Wamsutta Club in New Bedford, March 7th – UMass Dartmouth Claire T. Carney Library Associates

WHAT: Children’s Authors Literary Brunch
WHERE: Wamsutta Club in New Bedford
WHEN: 11 AM March 7, 2010
TICKETS: $25,  includes brunch catered by the Wamsutta Club
Advance purchase information
Contact information

Children’s Authors Literary Brunch at the Wamsutta Club in New Bedford, four accomplished writers of children’s literature will talk about their love and understanding of today’s youth.

Sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Claire T. Carney Library Associates and the Buzzards Bay Writing Project, the event begins at 11 AM with a sumptuous buffet followed by the inspirational words of children’s authors Joy Berry, Elizabeth Dunn, Deborah Kovacs, and Myra Lopes, as well as a visual presentation of the works of Stephanie Duckworth.

“This particular group of authors is top notch in their field,” said Chancellor – Professor Emeritus of Languages Mel Yoken, who as the Program Chair is thrilled to be hosting this exciting celebration of literature.

Each writer will offer a unique perspective on children and writing.

Joy Berry, a best-selling author, a pioneering educator, and a child development specialist, has written over 250 books, with over 80 million copies in circulation. Berry believes that children need to learn life skills which traditional education does not provide and has worked tirelessly to ensure that children “make as many choices as possible as early in their lives as possible.”

Elizabeth Dunn, an English teacher at B.M.C. Durfee High School in Fall River, is among the 150 Freedom Writers teachers who contributed to the just-released book, Teaching Hope. She will talk about the journey these teachers have embarked upon and the inspiration experienced when one takes risks in order to make a difference in the lives of students.

Deborah Kovacs, the Editorial Director of the film studio Walden Media, is responsible for the acquisition and publishing of books targeted to middle-grade readers. She has written numerous children’s books, several in conjunction with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She believes that we all share the responsibility in developing the minds of children and promoting a love of reading.

Local author, retired teacher and historian Myra Lopes was inspired to write her newest book, Around the Kitchen Table, after the September 11 terrorist attack on America. The story is based on actual conversations between her grandchildren and the adults in their lives regarding the tragedy, with other possible questions and answers that may help youngsters cope.

Also presented will be a video about the work of Stephanie Duckworth, a Native American educator who grew up on Martha’s Vineyard and wrote the children’s book Poneasequa: The Goddess of the Water.

After each author speaks, all will be available for a question and answer session, followed by a book signing. In addition, published authors from the Buzzards Bay Writing Project will be signing copies of their books: Reade Whinnem, author of Pricker Boy and Utten and Plummley, Jane Bregoli, author of The Goat Lady, and Jeanne Prevost, author of It’s Raining Cats and Cats and Quequechan: Forgotten River.

Tickets may be purchased for $25, which includes a copious brunch catered by the Wamsutta Club, and an unparalleled line-up of outstanding contemporary children’s authors.

For advance ticket purchase, checks payable to the Claire T. Carney Library Associates can be sent to Mrs. Rita Raymond, 1032 Sterling Street, New Bedford, MA 02745.

For additional information please contact Damaris Berner at 508 999-8671 dberner@umassd.edu Professor Yoken at myoken@umassd.edu or  g_dgrady@umassd.edu .

All proceeds benefit the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Claire T. Carney Library.

Exhibition of Traditional Pottery from Lagoa, São Miguel, Azores – Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives, through March 31, 2010

Exhibition of Traditional Pottery from Lagoa, São Miguel, Azores

Currently on display in the William Q. and Mary Jane MacLean Gallery of the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives, through March 31, 2010.

This exhibition includes 29 pieces of pottery produced in Lagoa, on the island of São Miguel in the Azores.  Displaying a range of forms, from bowls to teapots to large urns, the pieces are characterized by a variety of surface decor styles that go from the familiar blue and white with painted designs, to a more utilitarian earthenware glazed in greens and browns.

The objects on display were provided by local Azorean-Americans in collaboration with the Associacão Mosaico Cultural e Solidária de Lagoa, Açores, EUA e Canadá.

The following provides some background on the pottery and on one of the most famous factories in Lagoa.

Louça da Lagoa by Sonia Pacheco, Archives Librarian, Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives

While, over the years, there have been several factories in S. Miguel that produce Louça da Lagoa, it is the Vieira Factory that has withstood the test of time. Its predecessor was founded around 1860 by businessman Bernadino da Silva, who brought on board several experts in crockery.  Among these were Manuel Leite Pereira, Thomás d’Ávila Boim, and Manuel Joaquim d’Amaral.  Pereira eventually broke away from the group in 1872 and founded what is now known as the Cerâmica Vieira.

The methods and materials used today in the creation of Louça da Lagoa are the same ones that were used when Bernadino da Silva founded his factory. The process is a laborious one that involves shaping the crockery on pottery wheels, drying it, and then hand painting it. Part of what makes Louça da Lagoa so endearing and sought out by collectors is that each piece will be lovingly handled by several artisans prior to being considered ‘ready’ for the public, and no two pieces are alike: a true symbol of hand-made crockery.

The ceramics that have been produced over the years can be classified into the following categories:

  • Tin glazed crockery—considered the most important of the types of pottery produced, it is also the most common.  It includes household items as well as tiles;
  • Red clay pottery—household pieces that may be finely finished or left ‘rough,’ glazed or unglazed;
  • Red clay sculptures—pieces that may or may not be hand-painted (when the clay is cold) and may or may not be glazed;
  • Industrial ceramics —roofing tiles, decorative tiles (exterior and interior) and bricks.

The aesthetic sensibility embodied in Louça da Lagoa draws deeply from natural elements; the earthen objects molded by the artisans of Lagoa are routinely decorated with vegetable and animal motifs and scenes borrowed from or inspired by the surrounding landscape.

The Protestant Portuguese Community in Antebellum Illinois – Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives

Book Cover for The Protestant Portuguese Community in Antebellum IlinoisWHAT: The Protestant Portuguese Community in Antebellum Illinois By Prof. David J. Langum
WHEN: 5:00 PM, Thursday, March 4, 2010
WHERE: Prince Henry Society Reading Room, Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives – Claire T. Carney Library
ADMISSION: FREE!

This presentation by Prof. David J. Langum highlights a unique and little-known chapter of Portuguese-American history and, to a large degree, is the result of a search for his Portuguese roots.

Based on his book “António de Mattos and the Protestant Portuguese Community in Antebellum Illinois,” the lecture tells the story of the origins, movement, settlement and the community formed by this unusual group of Protestant exiles from Madeira who first arrived in central Illinois in 1849 by way of Trinidad.

David J. Langum, an attorney, legal historian, and professor of law, is a descendant of António de Mattos, who was the first permanent pastor of the Madeiran community in Illinois. He is the author of several books and numerous articles, and the recipient of the J.S. Holliday Award, the James Willard Hurst Prize, and the Caroline Bancroft Prize. Currently, he is a research professor at the Cumberland School of Law, Samford University.

For directions to the UMass Dartmouth campus, see https://www.umassd.edu/vtour/.

Parking Available in Parking Lot 13.

For more information:
Contact: Gloria de Sá, Faculty Director Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives
Phone: 508-910-6888
Email: mdesa@umassd.edu