Works on Portuguese History and Culture to be Available to Public at Library

UMass Lowell Image

08/24/2015

Media contacts: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu

LOWELL, Mass. – More than 300 books on Azorean literature, history and culture are being donated by the islands’ government to UMass Lowell, where the works will be a resource for researchers, students and the public.

Paulo Teves, director for communities abroad for the Regional Government of the Azores, will present the gift on Friday, Aug. 28 at 11 a.m. to UMass Lowell Library Director George Hart and Prof. Frank Sousa, director of the university’s Saab-Pedroso Center for Portuguese Culture and Research. Teves, Hart and Sousa are expected to speak at the presentation, which is open to the public, at O’Leary Library Learning Commons, located on South Campus at 61 Wilder St., Lowell.

“We’re grateful to the Azorean government for this donation, which makes an important addition to UMass Lowell’s Portuguese collection. These works help us preserve and share the rich body of scholarship on Portuguese language and culture,” Hart said.

The gift includes works by major authors and books about the history and heritage of the Azores, as well as DVDs and CDs of Azorean film and music. The new collection will strengthen UMass Lowell’s ties to the group of islands west of mainland Portugal that is the ancestral home of many immigrants who have settled in the Merrimack Valley over the past century.

Items in the collection, which will be housed at O’Leary Library, will be available for loan or reference to scholars, students and members of the public with a valid library card from any area institution. For more on accessing the collection, contact Mehmed Ali, university libraries project and program coordinator, at 978-934-5467 or Mehmed_Ali@uml.edu.

The addition of the collection is a fitting complement to the exhibit “The Lure of the Spindle: The Portuguese in Early 20th Century Lowell,” which explores these immigrants’ experiences. Presented by UMass Lowell and Lowell National Historical Park, the exhibit is open through December at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, 115 John St., Lowell. Admission to the exhibit is free.

UMass Lowell’s Saab-Pedroso Center for Portuguese Culture and Research promotes the languages, literatures and cultures of the Portuguese-speaking world, comprised of more than 230 million people, while advancing the Portuguese community and culture throughout the region.

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