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Highlights Robert Laxalt’s In A Hundred Graves; A Basque Portrait was selected by the American Library Association as one of the outstanding books published in the western United States during the last five years. Professor William H. Jacobsen, Jr. presented results of his study of the tonal accent in Western Basque to the UNR Linguistics Colloquium in November. In a paper entitled “Historical Implications of the Western Basque Tonal Accent” he summarized his findings to the Linguistic Society of America at its annual meeting in December in San Francisco. Among the contributors to the special 100th number of the Boletín del Instituto Americano de Estudios Vascos (Argentina) were Professors Juan Magunagóicoechea, who wrote “Un silencio en Bilbao,” a review article of Margaret Shedd’s 1974 book; and William A. Douglass, who contributed “The Basque Experience in North and South America: A Comparison.” The featured speaker at the January program in San Francisco of the International Forum of the World Affairs Council of Northern California was Jon Bilbao. He spoke on “The Basques Today: Historical Perspective on the Current Status of Basque Peoples in the Old and New Worlds.” William A. Douglass spoke to the Western Regional Conference of the Association of American Museums at the banquet concluding its annual meeting held last October in Carson City. The all-Basque program included the showing of the film Arcaina, a Cinemar production, and the singing of Louis Irigaray. Last fall, at the suggestion of the National Endowment for Humanities, Jon Bilbao and William A. Douglass visited two institutions with projects relevant to those of the Program. In St. Paul they contacted the Immigration History Research Center of the University of Minnesota, which specializes in immigrant groups from eastern and southern Europe. At the University of Wisconsin, Madison, they consulted with the members of a project now preparing a dictionary and bibliography for Old Spanish with the help of a CRT cassette off-line computer system. In November, William A. Douglass traveled to Spain and France to consult with members of the Basque academic community regarding a proposed Basque studies Ph.D program and to discuss the feasibility of conducting jointly-run summer workshops. The Program’s project to produce two slide/lecture programs with partial support from the North American Basque Organization is well under way. A “trial” program was viewed by NABO representatives in March in Boise. This preliminary version was also previewed at the University of Wyoming, and in Elko, at the Northeastern Nevada Museum. The final version will be ready for distribution this fall. Professor Roslyn M. Frank of the University of Iowa spent a week with us in December conducting research into various facets of Basque linguistics and culture. At a colloquium she presented the latest results of her research into the etymologies of selected Basque words to Program staff and other interested members of the university community. This spring she is teaching for the first time a course on Basque language and culture at the University of Iowa, which also recently purchased a large collection of duplicate books from our Program. Patricia Summerside, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at Indiana University, is in residence this year conducting research on the Reno Basque community. Basque 151 was taught this spring by a new arrival from Vizcaya, Mr. Gorka Aulestia, a Teaching Fellow in foreign languages. Jill H. Berner was appointed Secretary to the Basque Studies Program in January. Mrs. Berner is a UNR graduate in art and Spanish, and has had many years of experience in library work. The December 1975 issue of Current Anthropology contains an article by William A. Douglass entitled “Issues in the Study of South Italian Society.” The Basque Studies Program gratefully acknowledges a donation from Mrs. Alfrida Poco Teague to establish a Charles Iriart Memorial Fund in memory of her cousin. William A. Douglass recently received a five-year Research Scientist Career Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Heath. In 1978 he will conduct a year of field research with Basque sugar cane cutters in North Queensland, Australia. The Program is very pleased with the growing number of visitors to the Basque Collection. To mention only a few, we welcomed in recent months the Lucu family from Sebastopol, California; Mr. And Mrs. Tomás Guerricagoitia from Bolívar, Vizcaya; Héctor Espinoza from Santiago de Chile; Juan Celaya, noted industrialist from Oñate, Guipúzcoa; and José Alvarez Enparantza, the writer, now living in Hendaye. We hope to welcome many more to our facility, especially after our move next fall into the library annex now being constructed. |
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