Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership included in their newsletter At A Glance a note about our recently launched website A History of Dominican Music in the United States , the first open-source digital platform narrating the history of Dominican music as it developed during the past century in the United States.
Jhensen Ortiz
Librarian
The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Library donated over 500 Dominican-related materials to the Bronx Community College Library (BCC) to serve their growing Dominican and Latino student population. BCC Professor and Librarian Nelson Santana picked up the materials and stated that this donation will enrich student’s accessibility to materials on the Dominican Republic while simultaneously increasing the library’s holdings on Dominican studies.
We hope this donation will help the BCC student and faculty to expand their knowledge on Dominican studies.
Jhensen Ortiz
Librarian
Earlier this year, Matthew Santana and I went on a trip to Sleep Hollow, New York to choose books from the vast library of Dr. Estrella Betances de Pujadas, a professor, poet, and author of several books.
We would like to acknowledge Sam Gonzalez, a neighbor and friend of the Pujadas family for contacting us and letting us know about this amazing personal collection of books, magazines, maps, and many other pertinent materials related to Dominican history and culture.
This collection is unique because it captures Dr. Estrella Betances de Pujadas research interest as well as her family’s personal experience with Trujillo's tyranny represented in her thesis The influence of Rafael Trujillo in Dominican Literature in 1991. The scope and historical importance of many of the works in this collection are extraordinary. In fact, her personal book collection will enrich our library’s ability to provide primary and secondary sources to students, researchers and the public interested in Dominican studies as well as support contemporary literature and political history of Latin America and the Caribbean region. Our blog is glad to highlight a few books from her collection:
This collection contains several out of print and valuable books such as a first edition copy of Flores Tropicales [Tropical Flowers] (only two printed copies on WorldCat are currently available to general readers). This historic collection of literary essays by poet Mariano A. Soler y Meriño featured a prologue by prominent poet, essayist, and columnist Gastón Fernando Deligne considered one of the great poets in Dominican literature of the late 19th century and beginning of the 20th century.
The donation contains a program highlighting the Dominican Republic’s participation in N.Y. World’s Fair (1939); and The Fair of Peace and Fraternity of the Free World (Feria de la Paz y Confraternidad del Mundo Libre), an international world's fair that took place during the Trujillo Era in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (1955-56). It also includes postcards and maps of Santo Domingo during the Trujillo Era. In addition, there are Dominican tourism brochures from 1960s and 1970s that display the popular hotels, beaches, entertainment attractions from those decades.
This set of volumes of the book Familias Dominicanas [Dominican Families] first published in 1967 by Academia Dominicana de la Historia [Dominican Academy of History] was written by Carlos Larrazábal Blanco, a founding member and honorary president of the Instituto Dominicano de Genealogía [Dominican Institute of Genealogy]. These three books are an important reference on the origins of Dominican family surnames and a valuable resource for anyone interested in conducting genealogical research on their family history.
Classic Dominican cookbooks and recipes are also part of the collection:
Bornia, Ligia. La Cocina Dominicana. Santo Domingo: Editora Taller, 1979.
Betances de Pujadas, Estrella. Recipes of Santo Domingo/ Recetas Dominicanas. Santo Domingo: Editora Amigo del Hogar, 1973.
Recetas Dominicanas: Dominican Recipes. Santo Domingo: Ladies Guild of Santo Domingo, 1977.
Henríquez de Pou, Silvia. Mujer 2000: Recetas de Cocina. Santo Domingo: Editora Amigo del Hogar, 1988.
Dra. Estrella Betances de Pujadas’ book of classic Dominican recipes Recipes of Santo Domingo/ Recetas Dominicanas is a welcome addition to our collection. She published the book when she was chair for the Ladies Guild in Santo Domingo who later published their own Dominican recipes in 1979. This book was a second edition republished to raise funds for the “School of Special Education” in Santo Domingo.
These are the books published by Dr. Estrella Betances de Pujadas and available at CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Library:
Betances de Pujadas, Estrella, and Carlos F. Pérez. Origen y proyecciones del Protectoralismo Dominicano. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana: Editora Alfa y Omega, 1979.
Betances, de Pujadas, Estrella. Unos cuentos para padres con sus niños. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana: Editora Corripio, 1980.
Betances, de Pujadas, Estrella. Perico Grillo se va a Nueva York y otros relatos. Madrid, España: Asociación Literaria Calíope, 1999.
Betances, de Pujadas, Estrella. De las entrañas de las criaturas y de la tierra. U.S.: publisher not identified, 1999.
Betances, de Pujadas, Estrella. Desde la sima de lo mundano, hasta la cima de lo espiritual. U.S.: publisher not identified, 1999.
Betances, de Pujadas, Estrella. Entre bromas y entre veras, síntesis y moralejas. Madrid, España: Asociación Literaria Calíope, 2000.
Betances, de Pujadas, Estrella. Asuntos dominicanos: literatura, artes y cultura. U.S.: publisher not identified, 2001.
Betances, de Pujadas, Estrella. Stages of My life. Baltimore, MD.: Publish America, 2004.
Jhensen Ortiz, Librarian
Since 2014, the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Library (CUNY DSI), the most extensive Dominican Studies collection in the United States, has successfully collaborated with the City College Academy of the Arts (CCAA)’s Bridge to College Program for 8th graders. Every year, students excitedly look forward to this 8-week workshop to explore Dominican culture in the United States through history, folklore, food, race, class, and gender, using archival and library sources. In addition to lectures and discussions, we have interactive hands on activities where students are exposed to archival sources, including artifacts, films, and vinyl records. By the end of the seminar, students have a stronger understanding of Dominican culture and experience how college professors ask questions, do research, and solve problems. During the final class session, students are responsible for presenting what they have learned to the rest of the Bridge to College students and staff at CCAA.
Besides the Bridge to College Program, the Dominican Library offers an Immersion Summer Institute for 7th graders and various educational workshops during the year to hundreds of students from the New York City public schools, CUNY, community based organizations, and colleges and universities throughout the United States. These workshops are organized using the unique resources found in the CUNY DSI Library and Archives, under the leadership of Prof. Sarah Aponte (Chief Librarian) and Jhensen Ortiz (Librarian). The workshops also help teachers enhance their curriculum by incorporating new knowledge learned at CUNY DSI.
With these educational workshops, the Dominican Library is bringing the joys and challenges of research using archival materials to those without too much experience, or any at all, in academia.
Top Image: Prof. Sarah Aponte (left) and Librarian Jhensen Ortiz (right) with the CCAA Bridge to College students.
Middle Image: CCAA Bridge to College students interacting with books of Taino (indigenous population of La Española).
Bottom Image: Mr. Martin Toomajian, CCAA teacher (left) with students from the Bridge to College Program.
Prof. Sarah Aponte
Chief Librarian and Associate Professor
Gracias Prof. Max U. Montesino por donar a nuestra biblioteca su reciente publicación Retrato del dominicano en la organización: impacto de la cultura nacional en el comportamiento gerencial (Editorial Santuario, 2018).
Este libro contiene un análisis introspectivo sobre el impacto de valores y normas de la cultura nacional dominicana en la conducta organizacional de habitantes de República Dominicana en empresas privadas, instituciones gubernamentales y entidades sin fines de lucro; tanto en el país o como miembros de la diáspora alrededor del mundo. Con esta donación, el Prof. Montesino contribuye a enriquecer los materiales bibliográficos que ofrecemos en nuestra biblioteca a los estudiantes, investigadores y la comunidad que nos visitan.
Jhensen Ortiz
Librarian
The CUNY DSI Library is proud to announce its recent acquisitions. We are grateful for the support and generosity of The City College Libraries. We look forward to making these titles available to students, researchers, and the general public very soon.
Here is a list of the books we acquired:
Jhensen Ortiz, Librarian
CUNY Dominican Studies Institute
jortiz2@ccny.cuny.edu
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
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
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