|
CBS Home Page
ABOUT US
Faculty & Staff
History
History
II
History
III
|
|
History of the Basque Studies
Program 1967-1982
by William A. Douglass
from The Basque Studies Program Newsletter, No. 27, May 1983
Background
The Basque Studies Program was conceived in 1961 when the
University of Nevada System decided to create an independent
research division to be known as the Desert Research
Institute. Several consultants of national prominence were
brought to Nevada to advise the University regarding
establishment of the new institute’s research
priorities. It was decided that the focus should be placed
upon arid lands and regional western U.S. studies. Three
consulting anthropologists (Dr. Robert Heizer of the
University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Omer Stewart of the
University of Colorado, and Dr. Fred Eggan of the University
of Chicago) recommended that the Desert Research Institute
establish a Basque Studies Program. They reasoned that the
Basques were present throughout the region and that their
close identification with the sheep industry made them a key
human factor in any attempt to evaluate the ecology of the
Great Basin and adjacent areas. The fact that the Basques
also were one of Europe’s most fascinating peoples was
viewed as another potential for research. In short, the
consultants believed that Basque Studies offered an unusual
and unique area of opportunity, particularly since no other
American university was engaged in them.
The University of Nevada accepted this recommendation
and in theory became committed to the establishment of a
Basque Studies Program. However, given the lack of
specialists in the field it was not possible to implement
the concept immediately. In the early 1960s Robert Laxalt,
director of the University of Nevada Press, planned a
year’s sabbatical leave in the Basque country to write
a book about the area. He was commissioned to make initial
contacts in Europe and to ascertain the availability of
library materials dealing with the Basques. Through his
efforts the University of Nevada was given the opportunity
to acquire the personal library of the Basque scholar
Philippe Veyrin.
In 1967 the Desert Research Institute hired William
A. Douglass to launch and coordinate the Basque Studies
Program. Douglass had previously conducted social
anthropological research in two Basque villages (Echalar,
Navarra and Murelaga, Vizcaya). The following year Professor
Jon Bilbao, the world expert on Basque Bibliography, joined
the staff. Douglass and Bilbao jointly initiated a study of
the historical movement of Basques into the New
World.
Until 1972 the BSP remained a function of the Desert
Research Institute. William H. Jacobsen, Jr., a linguist in
the English Department of the University of Nevada Reno,
became linguistics coordinator for the program. Eloy Placer,
an Alavese Basque and Basque literature specialist, joined
the faculty of the Department of Foreign Languages. Yoshiko
Hendricks, a professional librarian with a longstanding
interest in the Basques, became a staff member of the
University library and took an active part in the
BSP.
In 1972, in light of the fact that the Program had
developed many non-research activities such as instruction,
maintenance and development of a library collection, a
summer school in Europe and a book series, the BSP was
transferred from the Desert Research Institute to the
University of Nevada Reno campus.
Since the transfer there have been several personnel
changes. Eloy Placer’s sudden death deprived us of an
enthusiastic and productive colleague. Juan
Magunagoicoechea, Dr. Placer’s replacement in the
Department of Foreign Languages, continued our efforts in
the area of Basque literature. In 1976 he decided to leave
the university. That year Gorka Aulestia joined the staff as
our Basque language and literature specialist. Between 1974
and 1979 Virginia Jacobsen served as assistant coordinator,
as did Darlene Ammons between 1979 and 1981. Jill Berner and
Linda White provide the program with efficient and dedicated
service in their capacities as secretaries and library
assistants.
Over the years the BSP has accorded Adjunct Professor
status to several Basque specialists who are either situated
at foreign universities or who were not currently affiliated
with a four-year American institution. These have included
Dr. Maggi Nicholson of the College of Marin, Dr. Constancio
Castro of the University of Caracas, Dr. Sandra Ott of
Oxford University, and Drs. Richard H. Lane and Dorothy
Legarreta.
Research Projects
Since its inception the Basque Studies Program has conducted
several research projects. Jon Bilbao has continued his
bibliographic work since joining our staff. While in Reno he
has published ten of the eleven volumes of his massive
Eusko-Bibliographia. This is today the major
reference work in Basque Studies, and his presence here
makes the BSP a major world clearing house for Basque
research. Professor Bilbao currently directs the Institute
of Basque Bibliography and Institute of the Basque Diaspora
in Vitoria (Alava). Both were outgrowths of BSP activities
and the respective staffs continue to collaborate
closely.
In 1968 William A. Douglass and Jon Bilbao initiated
research on the historical movement of Basques into the New
World. It required approximately five years to complete and
took them throughout the American West and to Europe,
Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil,
and Venezuela. This research resulted in publication of the
book Amerikanuak, Basques in the New World. However,
in many respects it is ongoing since the BSP regards
investigation of Basque settlement in the New World and the
contributions of Basque-Americans as one of its primary
missions. Between 1979 and 1981 the Program sponsored
archival research in California, Nevada and Idaho with grant
support from the U.S.-Spanish Joint Committee for
Educational and Cultural Affairs. In 1979 Douglass published
Beltran, Basque Sheepman of the American West, a
biography of a Basque sheep rancher in eastern
Nevada.
William A. Douglass has continued his research into
the nature of Old World Basque rural society. Periodically,
he revisits the two villages in order to determine the
social changes that have transpired. He has also done
fieldwork among the Basque sugarcane cutters of Australia
and is preparing a book about Basque history in that part of
the world.
William H. Jacobsen, Jr. has initiated research on
several aspects of the language, and particularly tonality
as a clue to reconstruction of proto-Basque. This work is
potentially of considerable importance to our understanding
of the origin of the language and its dialectal variations.
He has reported his findings at several conferences and in a
number of publications.
Both Eloy Placer and Juan Magunagoicoechea published
findings on several aspects of Basque literature, and
particularly the work of the famed novelist Pio
Baroja.
Robert Laxalt has continued his well-known literary
approach to an understanding of Basque society and culture.
During the past several years he has published one book and
two National Geographic articles dealing with life in
the Pyrenees.
In 1973 Richard W. Etulain, an historian at Idaho
State University, joined the BSP for one year as a
post-doctoral fellow supported by the National Endowment for
the Humanities. Etulain has subsequently published articles
on the nature of Basque-American society and the image of
the Basques in the literature of the American West. He and
William A. Douglass recently edited an annotated
bibliography of Basque-American studies.
In 1976 Robert Herman began a project on
Basque-American musicology, supported by the Nevada Council
on the Arts and the Gannett Foundation. Richard Lane,
formerly a professor in the Anthropology Department of the
University of Idaho joined our staff as an adjunct
professor. He spent several years engaged in the photo
documentation of the life of the Basque sheepherder. His
photo book on life in the sheep camps is currently under
preparation.
In 1979 Gorka Aulestia began preparation of a major
Basque-American dictionary. The Basque to English volume
(containing approximately 60,000 entries) is now completed
and is undergoing word processing and editing prior to
publication. Preparation of the English to Basque volume
continues at present. Once completed, the dictionary will
represent one of the most significant contributions of the
BSP.
Also in 1978–79, Jon Bilbao conducted several months
of field and archival research among Basques in the
Philippines.
During the current academic year Joseba Zulaika is in
residence as a post-doctoral fellow, preparing the results
of his anthropological research in Itziar (Gipuzkoa) for
publication.
In addition to its staff research efforts the BSP has
served in a consulting capacity to several organizations
engaged in some aspect of Basque Studies. These include
National Geographic magazine, Time-Life Cookbooks
series, Sunset magazine, Modern Maturity
magazine, The New York Times, Christian Science
Monitor, the Associated Press, the NBC Today Show, The
Smithsonian Institution, and the Spokane World’s Fair.
The BSP has also served as a consultant to three documentary
film projects dealing with the Basque
sheepherder.
The Library
From the outset it was our belief that no serious effort
could be launched without first establishing an adequate
library. Most major American universities possess 20 or 30
items dealing with the Basques. In 1967 the Basque Studies
Program acquired the personal library of Philippe Veyrin
(about 750 items). This became the foundation of our
collection. It contained many rare and out-of-print works.
In 1973 we acquired the private library of another Basque
scholar, Ramon Goni. Since Goni’s collection included
primarily Spanish Basque materials, it was a nice complement
to Veyrin’s predominantly French Basque holdings. At
the same time the university provided a generous book budget
(currently $10,000 annually) which allowed us to acquire
most of the contemporary publications as they appeared, and
purchase rare books whenever they became available. Many
agencies and private individuals in Europe, Latin America
and the United States have donated items as well. Finally,
we have an ongoing microfilm project designed to fill in the
gaps.
Today our holdings number over 15,000 titles and 400
serials and comprise one of the best Basque collections in
the world. In general terms it is more comprehensive than
any existing European collection. In specifics it possesses
the best collection anywhere of information regarding New
World Basques. The collection also includes many rare books,
unpublished documents, and several thousand photographs.
Scholars from around the country and from abroad regularly
spend lengthy periods of time in Reno utilizing the library.
At the same time, most of the books are available on
interlibrary loan and may be acquired from us through your
public librarian.
Basque Publications
From the outset it was clear that one of the greatest
needs was to provide comprehensive English language works
dealing with the Basques. It was therefore decided to create
a Basque Book Series within the University of Nevada Press.
The series is edited by William A. Douglass. To date there
have been eight publications:
Rodney Gallop, A Book of the Basques
Robert Laxalt, In a Hundred Graves: A Basque
Portrait
Stanley G. Payne, Basque Nationalism
William A. Douglass and Jon Bilbao, Amerikanuak: Basques
in the New World
Gustav Henningsen, The Witches’ Advocate
Robert P. Clark, The Basques: The Franco Years and
Beyond
Beltran Paris and William A. Douglass, Beltran: Basque
Sheepman of the American West
Rachel Bard, Navarra, the Durable
Kingdom
There are currently six additional titles under
consideration or in various stages of
production.
The Basque Book Series has enjoyed phenomenal
success. The average press run for a university press book
is 1000-2000 copies. The smallest run for any title in our
series has been 3000 copies, and the Gallop work has been
through four editions totaling 8000 copies. This is
particularly gratifying since it is our prime means of
meeting one of the BSPs major goals, that of bringing
information about the Basques to the general
public.
The Basque Book Series has a life of its own in that
the profits go toward the production of future titles. In
the case of Robert Laxalt’s book the author’s
royalties revert to the series. Douglass and Bilbao used
their royalty to establish a research and student
scholarship fund for the Basque Studies
Program.
Four other publishing projects are worthy of mention.
In 1972 the program sponsored a linguistics seminar in
Europe. The resulting student and faculty papers were
published by the Basque language institute Seminario de
Filología Vasca “Julio de Urquijo” of San
Sebastián. In August of 1974, a Basque-American
studies workshop was held in Reno. As a result of that
gathering William A. Douglass, Richard W. Etulain and
William H. Jacobsen, Jr. edited a total of nineteen essays
that appeared as a volume in the Social Sciences
Publications series of the Desert Research Institute. The
volume is entitled Anglo-American Contributions to Basque
Studies: Essays in Honor of Jon Bilbao. As a result of
archival research conducted under the auspices of the BSP,
the Instituto de la Diaspora Vasca of Vitoria has published
three works regarding Basques in the United States.
Co-authored by Iban Bilbao and Chantal Eguiluz, they are
entitled Vascos Ilegados en el puerto de Nueva York,
1897-1902. Vascos en el censo de población de
California 1900. Finally, the BSP has instituted an
Occasional Papers Series. The works will be co-published by
Associated Faculty Press (the parent company of Kennikat
Press). The first title, a sociological study of the Basques
of San Francisco, is currently in press and should be
available by this summer. Four additional titles are under
preparation at this time.
Newsletters
The Basque Studies Program publishes its Newsletter twice
annually. It has a readership of approximately 8000
subscribers throughout this country and abroad. While the
Newsletter is primarily designed to inform the public of BSP
activities, it also contains articles of intrinsic
educational and literary value. The BSP also publishes the
specialized newsletter of the Anglo-American Basque Studies
Society which is distributed to over one hundred
subscribers.
Courses and Summer Programs
The Basque Studies Program provides courses on an
intermittent basis in three departments of the University of
Nevada Reno. These include Basque linguistics, literature
and language in the Department of Foreign Languages, Old
World Basque culture in the Department of Anthropology, and
Basque history in the History Department. Some of these
courses have been offered in other Nevada communities
through university extension. In light of considerable
interest in our courses outside of the State of Nevada, in
1969 we resolved to offer a Basque Studies Summer Session
Abroad in Europe. This program has been held on five
occasions. Between 15 and 35 students have enrolled in the
program. Most are from somewhere in the American West, about
one-half are of Basque descent. We plan to continue this
program on a once-every-three year basis. In the past this
program has received financial assistance from the National
Endowment for the Humanities and the Lynne Fereday
Scholarship Memorial, Inc. of Boise (in the form of student
loans).
In 1974 the BSP sponsored a Basque language summer
course in Reno that was taught by Jon Oñatibia who
was brought from the Basque Country for the
purpose.
During the coming academic year the program is
co-sponsoring (with Boise State University) a year-abroad
program for American students to be held beginning in
September of this year at the San Sebastián campus of
the University of the Basque Country. Ten other American
universities are currently contemplating joining the
consortium, and it is our intention to make it a regular,
on-going program.
Public Service
Staff members of the Basque Studies Program are constantly
asked to lecture to service clubs, schools, church groups,
etc. both within and outside of the State of Nevada. The
current N.A.B.O.-sponsored slide shows are an example of the
way in which we try to service the public demand for
information regarding the Basques.
Funding
To finance this diverse range of activities over the
fifteen-year period of its existence the Basque Studies
Program has received support from many sources. Initial
funding was provided by the Desert Research Institute with
monies that originated with the Fleischmann foundation. The
first year approximately $10,000 was raised from private
donors which permitted purchase of the Veyrin collection and
program development. In succeeding years we have been
fortunate to receive additional private donations. Most
notably, the Gastanaga family of Reno established a fund
that for a several-year period provided the BSP with a
monthly stipend. Other individual donors have been most
generous. Also, several families have established funds in
memory of their deceased loved ones. To date private
donations have approximated a quarter of a million dollars.
These funds have provided the BSP with the flexibility that
made it possible to develop new and innovative directions in
Basque Studies. Without this support there would have been
no Basque Book Series, no Newsletter, no Basque Studies
Summer Sessions Abroad, no Basque-English dictionary
project, and our library collection would be much smaller
than it is today.
At the same time the basic funding for the BSP rests
heavily upon state of Nevada appropriated monies. Since the
1972 transfer of many BSP activities to the Reno campus, the
Program is a part of the regular university budget.
Currently, the state of Nevada provides two professional
positions, one secretary, and a modest operating
budget.
A particularly critical source of funding over the
years has been federal, state and private foundation grants.
In 1969 Douglass and Bilbao received approximately $30,000
from the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct a
study of “Ethnicity Maintenance among
Basque-Americans.” In 1971 Douglass received a ten-year
Career Development Award (1971-1981) from NIMH which
included funding for various aspects of Basque research in
the American West, Europe and Australia. In 1974 Richard W.
Etulain received a year of support from the National
Endowment for the Humanities for a year’s residence in
Reno. In 1975 the BSP received approximately $50,000 from
the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Hilliard
Education for preparation of a Basque-English dictionary
(unfortunately the project had to be cancelled due to the
unavailability of key personnel). In 1975 N.A.B.O. provided
half of the costs of producing two slides and a traveling
library module. The Banco de Vizcaya provided $5,000 for the
same project. In 1976 Robert Herman received approximately
$5,000 from the Nevada State Council on the Arts and $6,000
from the Gannett Foundation for a study of Basque
musicology. Between 1979 and 1981 the BSP received
approximately $40,000 from the U.S.-Spanish Joint Committee
for Educational Cultural Affairs for archival research of
nineteenth century Basque immigration in the American West.
In 1980 William A. Douglass received approximately $60,000
from the National Science Foundation for a comparative study
of Basque and Italian immigration in Australia. In 1981 the
Summer Institute of Linguistics provided $9,000, the
Hilliard Foundation $14,000, and the University of Nevada
Foundation $5,000 for the Basque-English dictionary project.
The National Endowment for the Humanities has just awarded
$64,000 for cataloguing of the Basque library
collection.
There is another form of support of the Basque
Studies Program which deserves special mention. Since its
inception the BSP has benefited from literally thousands of
hours of donated time. For many individuals, participating
in our activities has been a labor of love. Interested
persons have volunteered for such thankless jobs as
babysitting the telephone when staff was not available
(there was a time when financial support was so minimal that
we had a major problem keeping the doors open during
business hours). Some time contributions have been major.
For example, Virginia Jacobsen donated ten to twenty hours
weekly for two years before becoming a member of our staff.
Betsy Zane, a faculty wife, worked steadily for four years
on a bibliography of Basque publications in English. Janet
Inda worked for more than a year on the N.A.B.O.-sponsored
slide show. Several women from the Reno Basque Club have
helped label and sort the mailings of our Newsletter. It is
this kind of dedication that makes the Basque Studies
Program unique in many respects.
In conclusion, we would like to emphasize that we do
not regard the BSP as a strictly University of Nevada
undertaking. While the program is housed in Reno, its
activities are regional, national, and even international in
scope. We hope that you will regard the Basque Studies
Program as your program and feel free to call upon our staff
in any fashion. If you happen to be in the Reno area, we
would welcome a visit. We are housed on the second floor of
the University Library in room 274.
Note: The Center for Basque Studies is currently located on the third floor (north entrance) of the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. Map
|
