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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

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UMass Amherst Celebrates $200,000 Verizon Foundation Gift to Digitize Du Bois Papers

04/03/2009

The W.E.B. Du Bois Library at UMass Amherst will digitize an estimated 100,000 items from its Du Bois collection, thanks to a $200,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation. The campus community and special guests celebrated the gift at a ceremony in the library's Learning Commons on April 3, 2009.

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UMass President Jack Wilson, left, speaks with Professor Amilcar Shabazz,  right, head of the Afro-American Studies department at UMass Amherst.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: John Solem</span>
Donna Cupelo, Verizon region president of New England, delivers the good news: a $200,000 gift from the Verizon Foundation to digitize the Du Bois archives.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: John Solem</span>
From the archives: W.E.B. Du Bois leads a 1917 anti-lynching march in New York.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: UMass Amherst Libraries</span>
From the archives: Letter from Marcus Garvey to W.E.B. Du Bois.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: UMass Amherst Libraries</span>
From the archives: W.E.B. Du Bois and founding members of the Niagara Movement in Buffalo, New York, 1905.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: UMass Amherst Libraries</span>
From the archives: Letter from Mohandas Gandhi in response to a missive from W.E.B Du Bois.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: UMass Amherst Libraries</span>
UMass Amherst Chancellor Robert Holub (standing) speaks with Randolph Bromery, chancellor and professor emeritus.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: John Solem</span>
Scholar MaryNell Morgan receives applause after singing a  "sorrow song," a spiritual that W.E.B Du Bois included between the chapters of his best-known book, The Souls of Black Folk.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: John Solem</span>
Scholar MaryNell Morgan, who sang selected "sorrow songs" at the event, speaks with Esther Terry, vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: John Solem</span>
From the archives: W.E.B. Du Bois, his wife, Nina, and son Burghardt.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: UMass Amherst Libraries</span>
The audience at the Learning Commons in the Du Bois Library is delighted by the news of Verizon's $200,000 gift to digitize the Du Bois archives.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: John Solem</span>
Jay Schafer, director of UMass Amherst Libraries, speaks to the crowd gathered in the Du Bois Library's Learning Commons.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: John Solem</span>
Celebrating the gift: Jay Schafer, Provost Charlena Seymour, Robert Holub, Randolph Bromery, Donna Cupelo, Jack Wilson, and Verizon Foundation Director Al Browne. (Additional titles provided in other captions.)<br /><span class="cap">Credit: John Solem</span>
Randolph Bromery, chancellor and professor emeritus, speaks with 
Robert Potash, professor emeritus of history and member of the Friends of the Library board.
<br /><span class="cap">Credit: John Solem</span>
From the archives: W.E.B. Du Bois, his wife, Nina, and Harlem Renaissance writer James Weldon Johnson at Du Bois' home in Great Barrington in the 1920s.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: UMass Amherst Libraries</span>
From the archives: Letter from W.E.B Du Bois to Mohandas Gandhi.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: UMass Amherst Libraries</span>
UMass Amherst Chancellor Robert Holub says the project provides an excellent example of how the university combines the latest information technology with excellence in public service to create new opportunities for scholarship, teaching and research.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: John Solem</span>
From the archives: Letter from Booker T. Washington to W.E.B. Du Bois.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: UMass Amherst Libraries</span>
Robert Cox, head of special collections and university archives, hails the unique importance of the Du Bois archives.<br /><span class="cap">Credit: John Solem</span>

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