Exciting news about our trip to the Dominican Republic- Part I

The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute' s Head Librarian, Sarah Aponte and the Director of Communications and Marketing, Altagracia Diloné Levat, recently attended meetings in Santiago (Cibao region) and Santo Domingo, the capital of the country. This is the first part of our blog entries on this  memorable and productive trip.

Our Dominican Library received important donations of books and audiovisuals that will certainly enrich our growing collection.

In Santiago de los Caballeros, we visited Centro León (http://www.centroleon.org.do/), a great cultural resource in the Caribbean region, with an excellent library. Every year, Centro León and INEC (Instituto de Estudios Caribeños) organize the Congreso Internacional Música Identidad y Cultura en el Caribe and they publish the conference proceedings. We were very fortunate to get the following materials for our library and to meet so wonderful people:

 

Book: El merengue en la cultura dominicana y del Caribe. Ed. Darío Tejeda and Rafael Emilio Yunén. Santiago de los Caballeros: Centro León; Santo Domingo: Instituto de Estudios Caribeños, 2006.

DVD: El merengue símbolo de identidad dominicana.Ed. Darío Tejeda and Manuel Mejía. 2006.

  

Book: El son y la salsa en la identidad del Caribe. Ed. Darío Tejeda and Rafael Emilio Yunén. Santiago de los Caballeros: Centro León; Santo Domingo: Instituto de Estudios Caribeños, 2007.

DVD: II Congreso Internacional: El son y la salsa en la identidad del Caribe.DVD 1: Concert. DVD 2: Conference. 2007.

After our visit to Santiago, we traveled to Santo Domingo where met with incredible organizations and individuals. It was very rewarding to feel the respect and interest they all expressed for our library and how much they wanted to share their publications with us. Below are some of the donors we would like to highlight:

"The Taxi Driver" - As soon as we got into Reynaldo González's cab,  we noticed a book right next to him. As our conversation flowed we expressed curiosity about the book and at the end, we convinced Reynaldo to donate it to our Dominican Library.

Los panfleteros de Santiago: torturas y desaparición. By Ramón Antonio, Negro, Veras. Santo Domingo: Archivo General de la Nación, 2009

 

Roldán Mármol - Twice we had the pleasure of meeting with Roldán, one of the leading promoters, interpreters, and cultural activists of African heritage in the Dominican Republic. One of his most recent musical recordings is Sí Gagá, a unique compilation of different Gagá groups and musicians. He also donated some of the following recordings:

Librería La Trinitaria - The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Library has been fortunate to receive donations from book vendors and bookstores throughout the United States and abroad. During our visit to Librería Trinitaria, Doña Virtudes Uribe welcomed us with her usual warm and donated several books to our library. She also encouraged a Dominican author, Guaroa Ubiñas Renville to donate two of his books. We are very grateful for her generous support!!

"A Professor from la UASD" - While we were having lunch at a vegetarian restaurant, we joined José C. García, who turned out to be a lawyer and professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo. The following day, Prof. García was kind enough to visit us at the Hotel and bring with him two of his books published by Editora Universitaria UASD. He also donated a copy of the new Dominican Constitution approved in 2010. 

These are Prof. García's books: Trujillo y la universidad (2002) and Concordato entre la República Dominicana y la Santa Sede. Por los siglos de los siglos... (2010).

Stay tuned for Part II... ¡Hasta pronto!