Dr. Richard A. Lobban, Jr. was a professor of anthropology at Rhode Island College (RIC) and, upon retirement, was granted Professor Emeritus status. Lobban served as program director for the African and Afro-American Studies department at RIC. A member of the Southern African Committee, Lobban wrote a long-running monthly column, News & Notes, on the Republic of Guinea-Bissau for Southern Africa magazine, published by the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver. Lobban’s books include the Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau Dictionary and the Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, co-written with Joshua Forrest and Marilyn Halter.
Lobban’s work was primarily concerned with national independence for the burgeoning republics of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau as they sought freedom from Portuguese imperial rule. During his tenure at Rhode Island College, Lobban advocated for academic programs focusing on Cape Verde and helped establish the Cape Verde Study Abroad program, a joint project of RIC and the University of Rhode Island. Lobban also helped promote the rights of Cape Verdean immigrants in the greater Providence area and supported national and international nongovernmental organizations in their advocacy work.
The materials in this collection represent Lobban’s writings and document his research interests through materials he collected on Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and surrounding areas in Africa. The majority of the collection consists of drafts and original writings by Lobban (primarily from 1972-1978), as well as writings by others that Lobban collected during his time as a faculty member at RIC. The collection includes both published and unpublished academic papers, unpublished conference papers (delivered at professional anthropological conferences), and student writings (both his own and others’). This collection also includes a contemporaneous war diary Lobban kept while conducting fieldwork in Guinea-Bissau during its 1973 war for independence.
Lobban also collected published materials, such as reports on Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, from government organizations, including the United Nations, the Embassy of the United States, and the U.S. Department of State, as well as from nongovernmental organizations. The collection also contains meeting agendas, minutes, and administrative materials for nonprofit advocacy organizations in the greater Providence area, including the Cape Verdean-American Federation of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Heritage Commission.
Researchers are advised to contact Rhode Island College Special Collections with questions about permissions to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise publish material from this collection. Although Rhode Island College has physical ownership of the collection, it does not necessarily hold literary rights. It is the researcher's responsibility to identify the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
The collection is open for research.
Richard A. Lobban, Jr. papers, MSS-0061, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
This collection has been arranged into the following series:
Materials were donated to Rhode Island College Special Collections primarily by Richard Lobban beginning in the 1980s. Photographs taken by Lobban of the Ernestina were donated by an unknown source.
The collection was initially arranged prior to 2019. The collection was further arranged and described, with additions incorporated by Special Collections intern Adrienn Mendonca-Jones in 2025. The collection was slightly rearranged and redescribed by the Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian Veronica L. Denison in 2026.
Works used in preparation of inventory:
Wikipedia. “Richard Lobban.” Last edited 2 June 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lobban
Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey Archives, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth https://lib.umassd.edu/archives/schooner-ernestina-morrissey/
Rhode Island College Special Collections holds further collections relating to Cape Verde. Please review the
Published books, pamphlets, and other standalone materials have been removed from this collection and added to the Richard A. Lobban Jr. book collection in Special Collections. Duplicate materials have been removed from the collection and destroyed. Please contact Special Collections for further information.
One audio cassette (in box 1, folder 32) has been digitized and is available for listening in the Special Collections Reading Room. No other materials from this collection have been digitized, and none are available online. Please contact Special Collections for information on requesting copies.
This series contains Richard Lobban’s scholarly, research, and professional contributions concerning Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Lusophone West Africa, predominantly spanning from the early 1970s to the early 1990s. It includes handwritten and typed drafts, interview notes, war journals, published writings, and clippings. Additionally, it includes materials related to Lobban’s academic career at Rhode Island College, such as tenure documents and course syllabi; service records on local conference, program, and event committees; community research projects and associated notes; graduate student supervision records; as well as event clippings and ephemera.
This series contains subject files primarily related to Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, as well as Cape Verdean Americans. Items in this collection reflect Lobban’s interest in the development of other African nations near Cape Verde, including Guinea-Bissau, Angola, and Mozambique.
This series consists of scholarly writings, conference papers, lectures, published articles, dissertations, surveys, and unpublished manuscripts collected by Lobban, likely due to his research and academic interests. The materials reflect academic discourse in political science, history, anthropology, African studies, and development studies with a thematic focus on West Africa, particularly Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Lusophone Africa. Subjects covered in the writings include labor and urban anthropology, maritime communities and fishing, colonialism, imperialism, national liberation movements, gender and household economics, race and identity, and public health.
Series 4 contains items collected regarding the schooner Ernestina, including a piece of planking and a nail from the schooner.
The piece of planking was removed from the Ernestina during major repairs at Kelly’s shipyard in Fairhaven, MA, July 1993. The wood is West African mahogany, installed during the schooner’s refitting in Cape Verde at the start of its last trans-Atlantic voyage, on the way to be donated from the Republic of Cape Verde to the State of Massachusetts. The nail was also likely removed during the Ernestina’s repairs.