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Newsletter Update Number 5: Fall 2007
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.”
The Gangs of New York.
Purpose and brief history of the Archives. The Taylor Street Archives (TSA) is our historic scrapbook, which is designed to preserve the memories of those emigrants (and the offspring of those emigrants) who found their way to the legendary Taylor Street’s Little Italy,” from their Italian origins. Your contributions, whether they simply add to the demographics by submitting your names or expand upon the theme of “Growing Up in Taylor Street’s Little Italy,” by submitting your stories, will add to the richness of a time and a people.
Chicago Public Library
New stories submitted
Peter Pero: labor
Florence Scala
Sheridan Park. The prologue to Hemingway’s classic story, The Snows of Mount Kilimanjaro reads, “On the north slope of Mount Kilimanjaro, lies the frozen carcass of a leopard. What was he doing there?” On the northeast corner of the legendary Taylor Street’s Sheridan Park, stands a plaque dedicating that portion of Sheridan Park to a recently arrived resident of Taylor Street’s Little Italy. What is it doing there? With all due respect, he is/was not of Italian extraction. Whatever those deeds were, they had not been performed in (or for the benefit of) the Little Italy that surrounded Sheridan Park during its 100 year plus history. Ironically, the participants in that dedication ceremony included community leaders such as Florence Scala, Italian & non-Italian political figures, the media, and a host of local business persons of Italian American extraction. (Taylor Street Archives: Sheridan Park Protest.)
UIC’s Hull House Museum We continue our efforts to have the University of Illinois, guardians of the Jane Addams Hull House Museum and its web sites, re-engage the history of Hull House with the history of Taylor Street’s Little Italy. Listing the works of local Italian Americans who lived the history, as additional references for web-site readers to research, will recapture the symbiotic relationship that had existed between these two phenomenon…Hull House and Taylor Street’s Little Italy. The new director, Linda Yu, in a recently published interview stated, “We don’t have a narrow vision of ownership over history or who gets to tell the story…” consistent with our belief that history should include the story of those who lived it. Unchallenged censorship contributes to the flawed perceptions of sociologists and researchers while the true history of Taylor Street’s Little Italy, the social laboratory upon which Jane Addams and her Hull House associates had tested their sociological theories, lies dormant in the minds and hearts of the remaining survivors who lived the experience. (UIC: Flawed History expounds on this topic. For the BCC contingent of the Archives, Bowen Country Club is supplemental reading.)
We continue our efforts to encourage the lay staff of Our Lady of Pompeii, engaged in the day to day operations of the Shrine, to permit the Shrine’s patrons to become aware of the existence of the Taylor Street Archives.
The Sopranos David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, was born Robert Cesario. How ironic, that he, because of the media’s unrelenting assault upon Italian Americans, may have found it expedient to remove the vowel from his last name. Meanwhile, our local media continues to support the Archives by publishing its stories. The May/June dates have been set by Public Service Television (WTTW) and NBC5 to air the documentary, And they Came to Chicago: The Italian American Legacy. The importance of Taylor Street and the Italian American community, in the history of the Jane Addams’ Hull house, was emphasized, as promised, by the producer, Gia Maria Amella. The documentary also picked up on another important theme espoused in the Taylor Street Archives; i.e., organized crime was not an Italian American phenomenon imported from Italy. Organized crime was in existence long before any southern Italians began immigrating to our shores. (Ezekiel: The American Dream.)
Writers, thesis, etc. The book signing for Kathy Catrambone’s, Taylor Street: Chicago’s Little Italy, took place at the University Village Association and the Pompeii restaurant. Historians, novelists, script writers, and post graduate students continue to request permission to quote and reference the Archives …often amplifying upon the concepts espoused in the writings contained in the Archives.
New additions : New stories to be added to the Archives include: 1) View from Morgan Street by Sara Loconte and 2) Mike Garippo by Michael Campo. Mike Garippo is mentioned in another Archive's story: Bowen Country Club. Access the internet site of www.taylorstreetarchives.com and those stories may inspire you to make your contribution to the Archives.
Neighborhood/Groups. We continue to receive lists of neighborhood groups that had existed during those glory days of growing up in our Little Italy.
Scholarship. An annual scholarship of $1,000 is offered to that student who writes the best story on “Growing Up in the Legendary Taylor Street’s Little Italy.”
I leave you with one final quote, from the sister of one of the guys I grew up with, out of a recently submitted story. “You guys are so much alike, it’s as if you all had the same mother.” Vince Romano
All inquires and correspondence for Taylor Street Archives, please click here.
Copyright, 2009, Vince Romano, All Rights Reserved |