He was one of the founders of the Kentucky-Tennessee American Studies Association.
Graduate students there can receive the Durant da Ponte American Literature Fellowship, which was founded in his memory.
Durant da Ponte was born on July 7, 1918, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Harry Graham da Ponte II and Julia Pratt.
He was a direct descendant of opera librettist Lorenzo da Ponte.
He married Martha Lee Osborne, a former professor of philosophy at the University of Tennessee, and had two children, David and Graham.