Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese American Archives
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's Claire T. Carney Library, situated in the South Coast of Massachusetts, between the cities of New Bedford and Fall River, is at the center of a region with one of the largest populations of immigrants and descendants of immigrants from the Portuguese speaking world. The Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese American Archives, endowed in 2005 and named for well-known Taunton radio personality and producer, Affonso Ferreira-Ferreira Mendes, has been actively collecting records of social, cultural, educational and religious organizations and personal and family papers of the Portuguese community in the United States since 1996.
The archives include collections of manuscripts documenting local Portuguese American families and organizations, and the work of important individuals within the Portuguese community nationally, a collection of photographs on a wide range of topics, an oral history collection, over original newspapers from the Portuguese press in the United States, and personal papers collections of local politicians, educators, authors, and businessmen.
In early 2007 the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese American Archives received an endowment from Mr. Edmund Dinis to establish the Edmund Dinis Portuguese American Political, Legal and Public Service Collection. Later in 2007 the Government of the Autonomous Region of the Azores pledged significant funds to support the archives and share digital resources. Through the generosity of these and many other individuals the community, a portion of the library was renovated and opened September 18, 2009 as the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese American Archives and the University Archives and Special Collections. If you would like your family papers, business or organizational records to be a part of the permanent history of the Portuguese community in the United States and strengthen the future of the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese American Archives, please contact the archives librarian for donation information.
Sonia Pacheco
Archives Librarian
for the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese American Archives
