Image caption: From left to right: Anthony Pereira, Tom Reese, Michael A. Fitts, Ludovico Feoli, Stephanie Stone Feoli, Robin Forman and Hortensia Calvo. Photo: Tyler Kaufman.

The Doris Z. Stone Latin American Library and Research Center was gifted $5 million from the Zemurray Foundation. 

This article originally appeared in the summer issue of Tulanian. 

Tulane recently celebrated the dedication of the Doris Z. Stone Latin American Library and Research Center, made possible by a transformational $5 million gift from the Zemurray Foundation. The gift deepens the university’s century-long commitment to Latin American scholarship and strengthens its capacity for research, teaching and global engagement in the field.

The ceremony took place in April at the center’s home on the fourth floor of the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. The center honors the legacy of New Orleans native Doris Zemurray Stone, a pioneering archaeologist and distinguished scholar of pre-Columbian cultures whose work continues to influence generations of researchers.

“Tulane’s storied history at the vanguard of Latin American studies began with an act of generosity,” Tulane President Michael A. Fitts said at the dedication. “Just over a hundred years later, another historic gift has opened a new chapter for this world-renowned library.”

Fitts added that the Zemurray Foundation’s support is “strengthening our world-class research and empowering our students and faculty to interact with Latin America in ever more meaningful and impactful ways.”

He also recognized Tom Reese (A&S ’65), the longtime executive director of the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies, who retired last year. Fitts lauded Reese for helping build the Stone Center’s foundation and for advancing the university’s enduring relationship with the Stone and Zemurray families across generations.

Speaking to the center’s impact, Tulane Provost and Senior Vice President Robin Forman said, “This gift signals not only ambition for Latin American Studies but also for our libraries. The role of libraries is changing in challenging, exciting and daunting ways. This gift and this renaming signal without any confusion that the Doris Z. Stone Latin American Library and Research Center, more than a static repository, is where leading scholars will come together with rare resources, librarians and each other in ways that allow them to dig deeper into pressing issues in all fields across the academy.”

Hortensia Calvo, who has served as the Doris Stone Director and Director of the Latin American Library since 2003, now holds a joint appointment with the Stone Center, serving as both the director of the library and research center and a research professor.

“This gift affirms a trajectory we have been building over many years — one defined by expanded services, growing collections, and a broader, ever more engaged vision of what a research library can be. That progress would not have been possible without the sustained support of the Zemurray Foundation over all these years,” Calvo said.

Emphasizing the role of the Doris Z. Stone Latin American Library and Research Center in advancing research, Anthony "Tony" Pereira, executive director of the Stone Center, said, “Libraries help us ask the questions that keep us alive, that keep us researching. It is a draw, it is a tool and it is a home for our researchers. It helps our faculty to become leaders in their fields.”

The dedication was attended by Stephanie Stone Feoli (NC ’02), a director of the Zemurray Foundation and granddaughter of Doris Z. Stone, and her husband, Ludovico Feoli (TC ’02, SLA ’07), executive director of Tulane’s Center for Inter-American Policy and Research. Both hold Tulane graduate degrees in Latin American studies. Fitts praised the couple as emblematic of the philanthropic leadership that has fueled Tulane’s rise as a research institution.