CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Library

CUNY DSI Archives and Library Facility at The City College of New York

 

To fulfill its research, archival, and library missions, the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute has a state-of-the-art facility housing the Dominican Archives and the Dominican Library. The facility is used primarily to preserve and provide access to the archives and library collections and to support the Institute’s research program and activities. The facility is climate-controlled (temperature and humidity) and features a reference/gallery area with seating, videoconferencing, and computer equipment for meetings related to the work of the Institute and to showcase exhibits.

Rehousing of ¡AHORA! Magazine Collection

The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Library has just completed the reorganization and rehousing of the ¡AHORA! magazine collection. ¡AHORA! magazine was founded by Dominican journalist and lawyer Rafael Molina Morillo on January 15, 1962, and was considered a  progressive media outlet for its support of freedom of expression and human rights in the country. The magazine ran until 2004, and the library has been able to preserve a few original issues from 1969 until 1978. While the collection is incomplete, the rehousing has made it possible to protect these issues for many years to come, and it was a collaborative effort that we attempted within the library. 

 

With the assistance of library assistant Matthew Santana and intern Jorge Vasquez, a Queens College graduate student, enrolled in the Library Science, and History, dual degree program, we were able to complete the project.

 

It was a team effort, and I am so proud of the library staff for getting it done so quickly. They look great, and we look forward to sharing this resource with future researchers.

 

Jhensen Ortiz

Librarian

 

BuzzFeed’s Pero Like producers Julissa Calderón and Gadiel Del Orbe visit CUNY DSI

After our tribute to Normandía Maldonado last week, the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Archives and Library was fortunate to receive this morning Julissa Calderón and Gadiel Del Orbe from BuzzFeed's “Pero Like” producers. They came to film a video about the historical legacy of Normandía Maldonando and interviewing members of the staff Assistant Director Anthony Stevens Acevedo, Chief Librarian Sarah Aponte, and Archivist Jessy Pérez.

The Normandía Maldonado Collection was on full display with photographs, letters, flyers, and posters that illustrate her achievements throughout her life.

Julissa Calderón is Doña Normandía’s niece and came to learn about her contributions from other people outside her family. We would like to thank Julissa and Gadiel for coming to us and utilizing her collection to share Doña Normandía's story on such a large online platform. We are looking forward to seeing the finished product in the coming weeks!

Jhensen Ortiz

Librarian

 

Thank you Dr. Minosca Victoria Alcántara for your visit and kind donation

Professor Sarah Aponte would like to thank Dr. Minosca Victoria Alcántara for donating her dissertation "Latina High School Students Figured World of Stem: Identity Formation in Formal and Informal Communities of Practice" (Teachers College, Columbia University 2015).  We are also grateful for her visit to the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Library.

William Parra

Research Assistant

 

Visita de historiadores dominicanos

El Profesor Anthony Stevens-Acevedo y la Profesora Sarah Aponte, Director Auxiliar y Encargada de la Biblioteca del CUNY DSI respectivamente, agradecen al Dr. Marcos Charles (izquierda en la fotografía) por coordinar la visita de los historiadores dominicanos José C. Novas, (segundo desde la izquierda), Luis Alvarez López (tercero desde la izquierda) y Ramón Emilio Espínola (derecha) a nuestra Biblioteca, donde donaron numerosas publicaciones de su autoría y compartieron ideas para futuras colaboraciones.

 Los historiadores donaron las siguientes publicaciones para que formen parte de nuestra colección:

 Luis Alvarez-López

-          Secuestro de bienes de rebeldes: estado y sociedad en la uìltima dominacioìn espanÞola, 1863-1865

-          Dieciséis conclusiones fundamentales sobre la anexión y la guerra de la restauración (1861-1865)

-          Cinco ensayos sobre el Caribe hispano en el siglo XIX : República Dominicana, Cuba y Puerto Rico 1861-1898

-          Dominican Republic and the Beginning of a Revolutionary Cycle in the Spanish Caribbean

-          Guerras de liberación en el Caribe hispano, 1863-1878

 Ramón Emilio Espínola

-          La participación dominicana en las guerras por la independencia de Cuba

-          Remembranzas: crónicas de la Ocupación 1916-1924, la era de los Estados Unidos.

-          Dominicanas ejemplare: estudio histórico-biográfico y breve análisis del machismo en la historia

-          Trujillo: causas e implicaciones que dieron origen a la dictadura

-          Trujillo y sus relaciones con los gobernantes haitianos

-          Trujillo, anécdotas y cosas de un dictador

-          Mujeres extraordinarias de la patria puertorriqueña

-          Compendio histórico-biográfico de extranjeros que participaron en la formación de la nación dominicana

 José C. Novas

-          El presidente Cáceres: fábula del progreso, el orden y la paz

-          La batuta de Alejandrito: perfil biográfico del general Alejandro Woss y Gil, 1856-1932

-          Twice the diplomat: Frederick Douglass's assignments to the island of Santo Domingo

-          Los gavilleros: la lucha nacionalista contra la ocupación, 1916-1924

-          Balaguer, Trujillo y el beso de Judas

-          Trujillo: La emboscada final: muerte y funeral del generalísimo

 

William Parra

Research Assistant

Donación del Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración

La Prof. Sarah Aponte agradece la grata acogida del arquitecto José Manuel Antuñano Peralta, Director del  Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración durante su visita a Santiago, República Dominicana.

En la foto, aparecen en compañía de la relacionista Arelis Albino, en donde le obsequian el libro: El Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración; historia y arquitectura por Edwin Espinal Hernández y César Payamps Hernández.

 

William Parra

Research Assistant

Thank you Professor Rosa Andújar for your visit and kind donation

Professor Sarah Aponte would like to thank Professor Rosa Andújar, Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Department of Liberal Arts at King's College London, for donating her article "The Caribbean Socrates: Pedro Henríquez Ureña and the Mexican Ateneo de la Juventud." We are also grateful for her visit to the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Library. This article is part of the book Classics in Extremis: The Edges of Classical Reception (Bloomsbury, 2017) that will be released in early 2018.

William Parra

Research Assistant

El historiador y ensayista José C. Novas dona su publicación

La Profesora Sarah Aponte agradece al historiador José C. Novas por donar su reciente publicación Trujillo, la emboscada final. Muerte y funeral del generalísimo (Editorial Argos, 2014) a nuestra biblioteca. Actualmente, el Prof. Novas es uno de los ganadores de la beca de investigación CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Archives and Library Research Award. Su trabajo de investigación es sobre los Judíos de Sosua.

Jhensen Ortiz

Asistente bibliotecario

 

Visita del Dr. Carlos Báez Evertsz

La Profesora Sarah Aponte agradece al Dr. Carlos Báez Evertsz por donar varios de sus libros a nuestra biblioteca y por su grata visita. La donación consiste de dos de su obras: La modernización fallida: República Dominicana (1996-2012) (editorial Betania, 2012) y Desigualdad y clases sociales (editorial Betania, 2016).

Jhensen Ortiz

Asistente bibliotecario

Visita del Dr. Manuel Rodríguez Bonilla

La Profesora Sarah Aponte agradece al Dr. Manuel Rodríguez Bonilla por donar varios de sus libros a nuestra biblioteca y por su grata visita. La donación constituye de tres obras: La Batalla de La Barranquita (Comisión Permanente de Efemérides Patrias, 2016), Juan de Jesús Reyes El cantor de la Barranquita (Soto Castillo, 2016), y La Barranquita hablan los patriotas y la traición (Archivo General de la Nación, 2016).

Jhensen Ortiz

Asistente Bibliotecario

Dominican Musician Ricardo Gautreau and his brother Jorge Gautreau Ibarra, NYPD retired sergeant donates family documents, photographs, and music albums to our library.

We would like to thank Ricardo and Jorge for donating their family musical history to our library. They are the first of many musical families we hope to reach out to for the Dominican music in the U.S. website project funded by the NEH. Ricardo Gautreau and his brother Jorge attended the First Blacks in the Americas launching on December 2, 2016 and stayed afterwards to discuss the site with our Chief Librarian Sarah Aponte. Luckily, for me, Prof. Aponte connected me with Ricardo after hearing about the Gautreau musical family history and I followed up to meet with them again the following year. We met on March 6, 2017 and they came with many photographs, news clippings, vinyl records, and other documents pertaining to not just their musical family history, but their ancestral family lineage that goes back centuries in the Dominican Republic. We are grateful to Ricardo and Jorge for entrusting us to preserve their family history and allowing us to share it with the public, scholars, and readers.

A brief biography:

Ricardo Gautreau was born in the Dominican Republic to a musical family. He holds a music degree and a Masters in Bilingual Education from The City College of New York, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. At City College, he studied with noted composer/pianist John Lewis, founder of the immortal Modern Jazz Quartet. He has also studied with master composer/pianist/educator, Ran Blake, and Jazz guitar legend, Sal Salvador. His father Francisco Gautreau arrived with his family in 1963 and integrated himself into the Latin music scene playing with numerous Latin/Latin Jazz bands in New York, including the legendary “Machito and his Afro-Cubans.” His brother, Pablo Canti, was a lead singer and principal songwriter for the popular Salsa band, Conjunto Melao; later he led his bands and wrote hits for stars like Willie Colón and Adalberto Santiago (ricardogautreau.com/bio, 2017). 

Ricardo’s son, Remy, is a talented singer-songwriter of captivating Pop songs that are headed for the top of the charts. He skillfully blends the influence of old-school artists like Sam Cooke with modern day acts like John Mayer and Bruno Mars to create music that is very original, yet very accessible. His music is available on Itunes, Spotify and more (ricardogautreau.com/bio, 2017).

His brother Jorge who accompanied him on his visit served in the New York City Police Department for twenty-five years. His years of public service included founding in 1993 the New York Dominican Officers Organization (NYDO), with the intention of orienting its members about recruiting to the various law enforcement agencies, creating youth athletic programs, and assisting the community via workshops and the dissemination of vital information.
Furthermore, their visit gave us a glimpse of their family’s history and their connection to The City College of New York since their brother Emmanuel Gautreau was a City College valedictorian in 1991.
In addition, they shared information about other family members Manuel Ambrosi Malagón-Fajar who was nominated in 1994 to be commander of a nuclear submarine USS Olympia stationed in Pearl Harbor. 

Among the materials donated, there are three albums from the Gautreau family that are a mixture of different music genres and contain influences from Rock and Roll, Latin music, Pop, and Jazz. The albums are available for listening at the library. Once again, we would like to thank Ricardo and Jorge for sharing their music and history with us for the world to hear, read and enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you would like to know more information about Ricardo Gautreau’s music or family history please visit http://ricardogautreau.com/index

Jhensen Ortiz

Assistant Librarian