Distributed September 7, 2000
For Immediate Release
News Service Contact: Mary Jo Curtis



John Carter Brown Library to host exhibit on colonial Brazil

The history of Colonial Brazil, illustrated through a selection of significant printed works from the John Carter Brown Library’s collection, will be on display Sept.11 through Dec. 15, 2000.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — In celebration of the 500th anniversary of the landing of Cabral on the shores of Brazil, the John Carter Brown Library will offer an exhibition of works on colonial Brazil from Sept. 11 through Dec. 15.

Entitled Annals of Colonial Brazil, 1500 to 1822, the exhibition will feature approximately 75 significant items from the John Carter Brown Library’s peerless collection of printed works relating to Brazil’s colonial period. Most items selected have not been featured in previous exhibitions at the library.

Portuguese nobleman Pedro Alvarez Cabral was en route to India on April 23, 1500, when, by accident or design, he landed on the coast of Brazil and claimed its territory for his motherland. Brazil achieved its independence from Portugal in 1822 and today occupies roughly half of the South American continent. Its population equals that of all other countries in South America combined, and its economy is the eighth largest in the world.

The exhibition is on display in the main reading room of the library, located on The College Green at the corner of George and Brown streets. It is open to the public weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.

Editors: A private reception is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 8, at 5:30 p.m. to launch the new exhibit. If you are interested in further information or wish to attend, please call the News Service at (401) 863-2476. A photo from the exhibition is also available by request.

The John Carter Brown Library, located at Brown University since 1904, is an independently funded and administered center for advanced research in history and the humanities. The library sponsors fellowships, lectures, conferences and public exhibitions to facilitate and encourage use of its outstanding collection of printed materials about the Americas from 1493 to 1830. For further information about the library, visit www.JCBL.org. For additional information about the exhibition, call (401) 863-9030.

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