Skip to content Skip to footer
  • University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
  • Ask a Librarian
  • Library Hours:
  • My Library Account
UMass Dartmouth Library
  • Find, Borrow, Request
        • Borrow Materials

        • Search the Catalog
        • Technology Lending
        • Borrowing Policy
        • Online Resources

        • A-Z Databases
        • Research Guides
        • E-Resource Passwords & Links
        • Submit a Request

        • Request Items from Other Libraries
        • Suggest New Materials
        • Ask a Librarian
        • Special Collections

        • Archives & Special Collections
        • Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives
        • Theses and Dissertations
        • All Find, Borrow, Request
  • Research & Instruction
        • Student & Faculty Services

        • Research & Information Literacy Services
        • Services for Online Learners
        • Faculty Services
        • Research Tools

        • Research Guides
        • Citation Help
        • A-Z Databases
        • Get Help from a Librarian

        • Staff Directory
        • Ask a Librarian
        • Library Tutorials
        • Institutional Repository

        • UMassD Repository
        • About the Repository
        • All Research & Instruction
  • Library Spaces
        • Study, Research, Learn

        • Digital Scholarship Hub (DiSH)
        • Archives & Special Collections
        • Study & Work Spaces
        • Reserve Spaces

        • Reserve Group Study Rooms
        • Reserve Other Library Spaces
        • Find Your Way

        • Floor Maps
        • Campus Map
        • All Library Spaces
  • About
        • About the Library

        • Mission & Vision
        • History of the Library
        • Staff Directory
        • Visit the Library

        • Library Hours
        • Floor Maps
        • Policies

        • Policies & Guidelines
        • Gifts & Support
        • Related Resources

        • Law Library
        • Visual & Media Literacy Hub
        • All About

Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives

Hours, Policies, & Access
Contact Us
Donating Your Papers
Archives & Special Collections

Featured Collection:  The Papers of Joseph E. Fernandes, MC 99

Joseph Fernandes caricature as the “King of Beef.”

Learn about Joseph Fernandes, founder and CEO of the Fernandes Super Market chain through our online exhibition, “The Life and Career of Joseph E. Fernandes,”  created by Sonia Pacheco and Marcia Fernandes.  Fernandes was deeply involved in the local community, and especially involved with the local Portuguese American community. Mr. Fernandes was born in Arco da Calheta, in Madeira, Portugal, on March 12, 1923, to José and Rosa (Teixeira) Fernandes. He was given the name José Rodrigues Fernandes at birth and would assume the name Eduardo at his confirmation around the age of 14. He immigrated to the United States in April of 1924, and lived most of his life in Norton, Massachusetts. By the time he was naturalized as a citizen in 1946, immediately following his discharge from the military, he was signing his name as Joseph E. Fernandes.   

Visit the Archives Blog

Quick Links


FMPAA Finding Aids

Digital Archives Collections

Digital Newspaper Collections

Oral Histories

Genealogy Resources

Center for Portuguese Studies & Culture

Other Sites of Interest

About the Archives

The Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives is  named for pioneer Portuguese-language radio and newspaper personality, Affonso Gil Mendes Ferreira and houses the largest collection of historical material documenting the experience of Portuguese immigrants and their descendants in the United States.

Groundwork for the Archives was laid in 1975 with the donation, to the university’s library, of a complete collection of the Diário de Notícias, a Portuguese-language daily newspaper published in New Bedford from 1919 to 1973. This gift, from publisher João Rocha, in conjunction with the reinvigoration of the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture in 1996, and the hiring of a new Archives and Special Collections librarian, led to an increase in the collection of documents associated with the presence of the Portuguese in the United States.  As the collection grew, the idea for an archive dedicated specifically to the Portuguese-American experience took hold, and in  2004 that idea was presented to the university’s administration by the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture in collaboration with the Archives and Special Collections department of the Claire T. Carney Library.

As the idea evolved, the director of the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture, Professor Frank Sousa spearheaded a fundraising campaign aimed at establishing an appropriate space on campus to house these materials. In 2005, Ms. Otília Ferreira made the lead gift to the campaign, thereby receiving naming rights to the new archive.  She chose ‘Ferreira-Mendes,’ the moniker by which her father, Affonso Gil Mendes Ferreira was known.  The new facilities, funded by private donors and the governments of Massachusetts and the Autonomous Region of the Azores, were dedicated on September 18, 2009.

National in scope, the Archives contain documents of Portuguese-American individuals and organizations. Among its holdings are newspapers, books, recordings, family photographs, scrapbooks, business records and correspondence that document social history, illustrating the collective experience of immigration, settlement and life in the United States. The primary goal of the Archives is to make these rich and growing resources easily accessible to anyone interested in Portuguese-American history and culture.  The collections are overseen by an archivist dedicated to the Ferreira Mendes Portuguese American Archives.  Programming, based on the collection’s vision statement, are facilitated by a Social Historian.

For more information, see the Archives vision statement and collection policy.

Claire T. Carney Library

285 Old Westport Road, Dartmouth, MA 02747-2300

Reference Help Line: 508-999-8678

Circulation Desk: 508-999-8750

Information: 508-999-8675

Main Campus: 508-999-8000

Connect With Us

Contact Reference

Contact the Archives

Leave a Suggestion

Report a Technical Issue

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Visit Us

Claire T. Carney Library • University of Massachusetts Dartmouth © 2022