Monthly Archives: September 2011

Albie Sachs’ Books Available at the Law Library

The Honorable Albie Sachs, a former Justice of South Africa’s Constitutional Court and a member of the African National Congress, will visit the Law School and participate in a panel discussion at UMass Dartmouth on Monday, September 26 at 6 p.m. at the Main Auditorium.

For those interested in learning more about Judge Sachs, we have a number of his books on display and available for checkout at the Law Library. Other books on the African National Congress, Nelson Mandela, and related topics are available at Carney library and in the law library. Books in the law library can be checked out there or requested at the Carney library circulation desk and sent over to be picked up.

Albie Sachs’ books at the Law Library:

The strange alchemy of life and law. Oxford . New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.
KTL 110 .S23 A3 2009

The free diary of Albie Sachs. Johannesburg, South Africa : Random House, 2004
DT1949 .S23 A3 2004

The soft vengeance of a freedom fighter; foreword by Desmond Tutu, introduction by Nancy Scheper-Hughes. Berkeley, Calif. : University of California Press, 2000.
KTL 110 .S23 A33 2000

Running to Maputo. 1st ed New York : HarperCollins, c1990.
DT 1949 .S23 A3 1990

Justice in South Africa. Berkeley, University of California Press [1973].
KTL 1572 .S23 1973

The jail diary of Albie Sachs. London : Harvill Press, [1966].
DT 763 .S17

Old Dartmouth Roots – UMassD Archivist, Judy Farrar, will take part in a series of talks on local history and genealogy organized by the New Bedford Whaling Museum, September 22 – 24

Chesed Shel Emes Hebrew class 1929-30

What: Old Dartmouth Roots: A Genealogy & Local History Symposium
Where: New Bedford Whaling Museum
When: September 22, 2011 at 11:15 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.

The Claire T. Carney Library Archives and Special Collections will be participating in “Old Dartmouth Roots,” a series of talks on local history and genealogy organized by the New Bedford Whaling Museum.  On September 22 at  11:15 AM, UMass Dartmouth Archivist, Judy Farrar will be on a panel of local repositories to present an overview of the archives’ holdings.  At 1:30 PM on that same day she will be presenting a talk about the “History of Jewish New Bedford” and the role of oral history projects in documenting local and family history.

The Old Dartmouth Historical Society / New Bedford Whaling Museum are presenting the region’s first genealogy symposium, “Old Dartmouth Roots: A Genealogy & Local History Symposium” from September 22-24, 2011. The three day event will include presentations on local genealogical resources and collections, a primer on how to do a genealogy search, a guide to regional cemeteries, walking tours and more.

Schooner Ernestina/Effie M. Morrissey Archives transferred to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Archives and Special Collections

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Dean of Library Services Terrance Burton,

Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Edward M. Lambert, Jr. and the Schooner Ernestina Commission Vice Chairperson Dr. Laura Pires-Hester are pleased to announce the official transfer of the Ernestina/Effie M. Morrissey Archives to the University’s Claire T. Carney Library Archives and Special Collections.  The transfer was marked by a celebration on September 15th, 2011 in the archives along with the opening of an exhibition of selections from the Schooner Ernestina/Effie M. Morrissey Archives in the William Q. and Mary Jane MacLean Gallery in the University Archives and Special Collections.  The exhibition will be on display through December and the archives may be consulted by appointment with the Archivist, Judy Farrar (508-999-8686 or jfarrar@umassd.edu).

The vessel Effie M. Morrissey, now known as the Schooner Ernestina, was originally built for Captain William E. Morrissey and the John F. Wonson Company of Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1894.  She spent the first 30 years of her life fishing for salt cod off Gloucester, and later, under a series of owners, fishing for herring in the Grand Banks.  The vessel was purchased in 1924 by Captain Robert Bartlett, who had been Admiral Peary’s right hand man for his polar expeditions.  Bartlett had the ship retrofitted for Arctic travel and in 1926 and began a series of Arctic expeditions to collect specimens and scientific data.  One of the most famous of these expeditions was financed by publisher George Palmer Putnam in 1926 during which two polar bears were captured for the New York Zoo.  In the 1930s Bartlett took groups of young college men who paid $1,000 apiece to the Arctic for the life experience, and in the 1940s the ship and Bartlett were hired by the United States military to supply Greenland airbases, and conduct survey work in the Arctic.  After Robert Bartlett died in 1946 the schooner was sold and retrofitted as a luxury yacht, but before it could make another journey, caught fire at the dock.  She was sold to Louisa Mendes for $500 and then to her father-in-law, Henrique Mendes, who used the ship to transport goods and Cape Verdeans back and forth between the United States and Cape Verde.  In 1948 he registered the ship in Cape Verde and changed her name to “Ernestina,” and for the next 25 years sailed her successfully from the ports in Cape Verde to the United States.   Alberto Lopes, a local shipper in the islands purchased it in 1967 as did Alberto Lizardo at a later date, who sailed it until 1974.

The Ernestina/Morrissey movement was a citizen-based effort to repair, restore and return the Ernestina to the United States.  The United Friends of the Ernestina/Morrissey originated in 1976.  The Bartlett Exploration Association was organized in the early 1970s to try to repatriate and resume the expeditions of the schooner.  After the ship was nearly destroyed in the Atlantic  the Friends of the Ernestina/Morrissey was officially launched in New York, whose purpose was to raise funds for the Ernestina’s restoration and return and plan for her future use.   There were many local chapters, and through this groundswell of interest and support, the Schooner Ernestina/Effie M. Morrissey was eventually repaired and made a gift to Commonwealth of Massachusetts from the nation of Cape Verde.  She made her transatlantic voyage in 1982.

The records gifted to the Archives and Special Collections document this voyage, as well as the grassroots effort of many organizations and individuals to restore and repatriate the Schooner Ernestina from the 1970s through the 1990s.  It also documents, through personal diaries, scrapbooks, photographs and other files, the ship’s years under Captain Robert Bartlett and her many Arctic expeditions, and the ship’s days in the Cape Verde packet trade under the guidance of several Cape Verdean owners and captains.

For additional information contact Judy Farrar at UMass Dartmouth <jfarrar@umassd.edu> .  For additional information about the Ernestina itself, visit the website of the current friends group, the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey Association, Inc. at <https://www.ernestina.org>.  The archives, and the exhibit, are open Monday  through Friday 9:30-5:00.

 

Library Orientation for Students in Fully-Online Programs – Two days – October 5th & 6th

Library Systems & Digital Services

Librarians at Claire T. Carney Library are offering an orientation to online library services. Sign up for one of two sessions designed especially for students in online programs. Find out how the Carney Library’s staff and resources can help you succeed. The orientation will cover key library services and ensure that you know how to seek additional help from your liaison as well as library’s online support coordinator.

The orientation sessions are scheduled for Wednesday, October 5th from 6 to 6:45 pm and Thursday, October 6th from 10 to 10:45 am. The sessions will be conducted using Wimba, an online teaching and learning tool. We will email attendees the link to the Wimba classroom and directions for accessing it.

If you’re interested in attending one of the sessions, please complete the online registration form by Wednesday, September 28th.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have questions!

Presenters

Matt Sylvain, Library Online Support Coordinator
Charlie McNeil, Library Systems and Digital Services Librarian

Technical Requirements

  • Windows 7, Vista, or XP; Mac OSX 10.4+
  • 256 MB RAM
  • IE 7.0+, Safari 3.0+, Firefox 3.0+ (Browser must be Java and JavaScript enabled)

You need speakers or a headset to listen to the presentation. We also recommend that you have a microphone to ask questions and make comments. If you don’t have a microphone, you may use Wimba’s text-based chat to communicate with the presenters and fellow participants.

We recommend that you use a broadband connection or higher. Dial-up and wireless may not provide an uninterupted connection.

FADO AT A U.S. CROSSROADS – a lecture on the Portuguese fado in the Portuguese communities in the United States by Prof. Kimberly DaCosta Holton

What: Fado At a U.S. Crossroads -a lecture by Prof. Kimberly DaCosta  Holton
When:  Monday, September 19, at 5:00 p.m
Where:  Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives, Claire T. Carney Library
Note: Park in parking lot 13

~  Free and Open to the Public  ~ Followed by a reception at 6:30 p.m.

The Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture and the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives announce a lecture on the Portuguese fado in the Portuguese communities in the United States, sponsored by Mr. Dennis Rezendes, a generous supporter of Portuguese studies and the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives. The lecture, entitled, “Fado at a U.S. Crossroads,” by Prof. Kimberly DaCosta  Holton, will take place on Monday, September 19, at 5:00 p.m. in the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives, parking lot 13.

The event-free and open to the public-will be followed by a short musical performance by well-known local fadista, Ana Vinagre, accompanied by Guitarras do Atlântico. The activities will conclude with horsd’oeuvre reception at 6:30 p.m.

Kimberly DaCosta Holton received her PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. She has taught performance studies, cultural anthropology and Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at Northwestern, Wesleyan University, and Rutgers University. Holton is currently Associate Professor and Director of Portuguese and Lusophone World Studies at Rutgers University in Newark. She is also on the graduate faculty of the American Studies PhD program and the Graduate Program in Spanish and Portuguese at Rutgers New Brunswick.

Holton is the author of Performing Folklore: Ranchos Folclóricos from Lisbon to Newark (Indiana 2005) and the co-editor with Andrea Klimt of Community, Culture and the Makings of Identity: Portuguese-Americans Along the Eastern Seaboard (Portuguese in the Americas Series, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth 2009). Her research into the intersections between performance, politics and migration has been supported by the Ford Foundation, the Social Science Research Council and the Foundation for Luso-American Development. She is the granddaughter of Portuguese immigrants whose migratory way stations included Rio de Janeiro, Ponta Delgada, Beira Alta and Providence, Rhode Island.

This event is made possible by the Rezendes, Marcelino and Barreira Lecture Series Fund, generously established by Mr. Dennis Rezendes to promote education among Portuguese-Americans. The Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives houses The Dennis Rezendes Azorean Ancestral and Personal Life Collection.

For further information, contact 508-999-8255 or e-mail melissa.costa@umassd.edu.

In Memory of Our Friend and Colleague – Patricia Sikora

Our library and university community lost a valued friend and staff member when Patricia Sikora passed away suddenly on August 14th of this year. Many of our community members may have worked with her on research projects or during her time assisting people in the library’s Audio-Visual Services and Archives departments.  Saddened as we are, we take this opportunity to reflect on Pat’s work here at the university.

A long-time employee of the UMass Dartmouth Library, she had worked as an assistant in the Archives and Special Collections since 1997, and prior to that had held several positions in the Audio-Visual Department of the library from 1975-1997.  Pat completed graduate work in instructional media at Bridgewater State College and took courses in library science before working at UMD, then known as SMU.  Through her work scheduling equipment in the Audio-Visual Department, Pat became acquainted with many of the faculty on campus through the years.  In the archives, she was particularly interested in the Robert F. Kennedy Assassination Archives, providing hours of assistance to patrons conducting research into the questions surrounding this tragic event.  In particular, she assisted Sirhan Sirhan’s legal counsel, Larry Teeter, who filed legal documents on Sirhan’s behalf.  Through numerous long-distance correspondences, Pat and Larry Teeter became friends, and through him she was acquainted with other individuals researching the case.  She also assisted students in Professor Philip Melanson’s senior seminar on the Robert F. Kennedy Assassination, which met in the archives reading room for many years.    Her cataloging work in the archives included the Papers of California Attorney Marilyn Barrett, who filed the request to reopen the case in 1992, and the Floyd B. Nelson Assassination Research collection.  A founding member of the Assassination Truth Committee, Nelson was instrumental in bringing its inconsistencies to public light, beginning in 1969, which eventually led to the release of the records of the LAPD’s investigation to the state archives in California.    The unsolved nature of the case intrigued Pat.

We will all miss her.

– The Library Staff

 

Welcome to a new academic year. It is wonderful to have everyone on campus again.

Welcome Back!Welcome to a new academic year. It is wonderful to have everyone on campus again.

The library building has begun its transformation. Floors 4 and 5 and part of the ground floor are under construction and not open to the public. Some construction walls have appeared on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Traffic patterns have changed. Only one elevator is available for use by the public. The other is designated for construction workers only. It is all necessary in order for us to complete the total renovation of the existing building.

Noise levels in the building have increased during the day. The 3rd floor is the loudest and some sound does drift to the lower floors. Limited areas on floors 1-3 may be unavailable for short periods of time during the semester. We know that there are varying levels of inconvenience because of these circumstances and your patience and understanding are truly appreciated.

Looking forward, we expect the renovation of the 4th and 5th floors to be largely complete by the beginning of the spring semester. At that point, all staff, services and collections that can be fit in the building will be moved to the upper floors and floors 1-3 will be under construction. Study space will be at a premium and we are investigating alternative sites on campus to accommodate the needs that cannot be met in the building. More updated information will be forthcoming as plans are finalized.

While there is disruption and inconvenience, it is an exciting time for the library. The completion of the project will give the campus a state of the art building that will be a center for intellectual and social interaction. We will have an interesting journey this year to get us to our goal. We hope you will join us for the ride.