If we do not act now, the following shall be our epitaph:  "...and it came to pass that, for those who followed us, it was as if we never were here."  Martin Scorsese

2009 Newsletter

Purpose of the Taylor Street Archives (TSA):

The Taylor Street Archives (TSA) is our historic scrapbook. It is designed to preserve the memories of those emigrants-and their offspring-who found their way to the legendary Taylor Street's Little Italy.

We invite you to join the TSA by submitting your:

                1) names to add another branch to the Family Tree (add to the demographics),

                2) stories & pictures to expand upon the theme of "Growing Up in Taylor Street's Little Italy"

They will add to the rich history of a time, a place and a people.

Taylor Street Archives website: The new upgrades are nearing completion. The website has added:

1)  Search Engine which will enable you to find any neighborhood group, club, individual's name, street, business, institution,town in Italy, etc.

2)  Sponsor Page, which will memorialize those businesses whose genesis was the legendary Taylor Street, as well as other contributing businesses and individual donors.

3)  Neighborhood/Groups page listing the names of all the members of your group; e.g., Blue Boys Club, etc. If you have not already submitted the names of your group, do so now. If possible, include a group picture and a story about your group.

4)  Family Tree Application to reserve a branch for your family on our giant family tree can be accessed directly from the website. You can always contact Vince to receive an application by mail.

5)  Teachers' Resource page provides a guide for educators as to the stories/essays that fulfill the needs of their particular discipline and guidance for a planned field trip to Taylor Street.

Book: The first edition of the Taylor Street Archives book is nearing completion. One chapter will list the various groups that evolved in the Taylor Street neighborhood--e.g., Tirtilli's, Morgan Fads, Cecilia Boosters, Tay-Hals, Zacatecas, Guardian Angel Church, Debs, Wolverines, Bowen Country Club, Blue Boys S.A.C., etc. If your neighborhood group, club, team, etc., existed during those glory days of growing up "Taylor made," send us the list of names to be memorialized in both the TSA website and book.

Wikipedia: The following Wikipedia articles made no mention of the Italian contingent that made up the Hull House Neighborhood:  Hull House, Jane Addams, Taylor Street, Near West Side, and Halsted Street. They now incorporate the Taylor Street Archives into their bibliographies and as a companion link. The flaw of omission has now been corrected. The above named articles now recognize our existence, providing their readers with an accurate and more scholarly rendering of their subject matter.

Scholars: Since the corrections made to the flawed Wikipedia articles, therehas been a significant increase in Scholars and reporters contacting us. Most recently, the Taylor Street Archives was required reading at an Oak Park River Forest High School class. Their planned field trip included the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame and the Hull House Museum. The Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism was one of the recent interviews.

UIC's Hull House Museum: As mentioned in previous newsletters, Lisa Lee, most recent Director of the Museum, stated, of the Taylor Street Archives "...an amazing resource that should be a part of any story we need to tell about the history of this place and its continuing relevance for issues today." In a recently published interview she also stated, "We don't have a narrow vision of ownership over history or who gets to tell the story." History should include the story of those who lived it. Lisa acknowledges that the very first invitation (1890) sent to the residents of The Hull House Neighborhood, by Jane Addams and Ellen Starr, was written in Italian. It begins with, "Mio Carissimo Amico," and is signed, "Le signore Jane Addams and Ellen Starr." Jane Addams further attests that Italians were the inner core of The Hull House Neighborhood when she states, "Italians occupied the area from the river on the east on out to the western end of...from Harrison Street on the north and Roosevelt Road on the south." We are hopeful that Lisa will be successful in encouraging the Museum's Board of Directors to include, among the thousands of documents comprising the bibliography of Hull House and Jane Addams, the one document that was written by those who lived the Hull House experiment, i.e., the Taylor Street Archives, as one more link on their Hull House web site.

Shrine of Our lady of Pompeii (OLP) : Rev. Fragomeni, one of the first to endorse the TSA, recently hosted a meeting of influential figures, which was held at OLP.  At that meeting, Jo Ann Serpico, JCCIA President, impressed with the TSA, asked for a copy of the TSA application to be included in a future monthly mailing of the JCCIA. I concurred with her that a significant portion of the JCCIA members have their roots in Taylor Street's Little Italy, as do the parishioners of OLP. This year's summer fest and Veterans' Day mass had given us the opportunity reach out to those groups.

Scholarships:   Among the scholarships planned is an annual scholarship of $1,000 to that individual who submits the best story about "The Legendary Taylor Street."

Writers' Conference :    Yours truly has been invited to be one of the presenters at the Illinois Humanities Council's: Reconstructing Italians in Chicago...in Search of Roots and Branches. Dominic Candeloro has arranged for the conference to be held at Casa Italia in Stone Park on May 8, 2011.

Casa Italia and the Chicago Public Library: The TSA was introduced at the Neighborhood Stories event sponsored by the Roosevelt Library on Taylor and Aberdeen. A hard copy of the TSA is now in the research section of the library. A similar request made by the Casa Italia library will be honored shortly.

Recent stories added to the Archives include :

1) Florence Scala: Betrayal. Which mob -The Hull House Mob, the Daley Mob, or the First Ward Mob: a political essay on which mob betrayed the neighborhood.

2) Alistair Cooke: A Date Which Will Live in Infamy. An essay submitted to a group of Italian Americans who saw fit to hold a Round Table discussion on the experience of Chicago Italians in WWII.

3) Italian American Writers' Conference speech:  My End of Taylor Street.

Recent stories to be added to the Archives:

1)View from Morgan Street by Sara Loconte

2) Mike Garippo by M. Campo. Garippo, killed during the invasion of Germany, in December 1944 is also mentioned in another Archive's story focusing on the Bowen Country Club WWII alumni.

3) Vito Favia: Chain around the World by J. Parise with V. Romano. Vito is one of the 257 Bowen Country Club alumni who served in WWII. Their banner hung from the BCC dining room. Vito lost his life on Iwo Jima, as did John Basilone. Both Italian American warriors are mentioned in the Alistair Cooke story. Mrs. Hick's letter of condolence is contrasted with that of Alistair Cooke's national TV announcement that besmirched the names of every Italian American family that had made the ultimate sacrifice in fighting to preserve America's freedom when he announced that, "Al Capone was representative of contributions made by Italian Americans." It connects with Mike Garippo, another BCC alumnus who lost his life in WWII and "Shorty Ray" DiGulio who lost his sight during that same conflict.

                4) You Guys are so Much Alike, it's as if You All Have the Same Mother. A Taylor Street eulogy.

Questa ecosa nostra!

All inquires and correspondence for Taylor Street Archives, please click here.

Copyright, 2009, Vince Romano, All Rights Reserved