Spring 2008 Newsletter  

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, 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.

 

Neighborhood/Groups. We continue to receive lists of neighborhood groups; e.g., clubs, neighborhoods, teams, etc., that had existed during those glory days of growing up Taylor made.

 

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 from May 8-11.

 

Chicago Public Library   A presentation of the Taylor Street Archives was made at the Neighborhood Stories event sponsored by the Roosevelt Library on Taylor and Aberdeen streets. A hard copy of the Archives is now in the research section of the library.

 

New stories to be added to the Archives include: 1) View from Morgan Street by Sara Loconte; 2) Mike Garippo by Michael Campo. Mike Garippo is mentioned in other Archive's story focusing on the Bowen Country Club WWII alumni.  3) 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. 4) Alistair Cooke: “…a date which will live in infamy.”  An essay inspired by and submitted to a group of Italian Americans who saw fit to hold a round Table discussion on the experience of Chicago Italians in WWII. 5)  Vito Favia: Chain around the World. Vita Favia is one of the 257 Bowen Country Club alumni who served in WWII. Their banner hung from the BCC dining room. Like John Basilone, another Italian American mentioned in the previous story, he lost his life on Iwo Jima. 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 who had made the ultimate sacrifice in fighting to preserve America’s freedom. The Vito Favia story reaches out beyond pain of friends and family. 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 WWII conflict. All besmirched by the media and Alistair Cooke.

 

 

Pending stories:  Chickie LaPlaca: Phooey on You, Thomas Wolfe.

 

Peter Pero: Peter’s book, Italian Americans in Labor, will soon be ready for publication.

 

Sheridan Park. To date no new memorial plaques have made claim to Sheridan Park. We continue our efforts to keep the legacy of the Park consistent with the 100 year history of Taylor Street's Little Italy.

 

UIC's Hull House Museum  Lisa Lee, 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. The writings of those who lived the history would recapture the symbiotic relationship that had existed between these two phenomenons - Hull House and Taylor Street's Little Italy. During our most recent encounter, Lisa Lee informed me that I should petition the directors at their meeting to get their approval to include TaylorStreetArchives in the bibliography of Italian American writers in the Hull house web site, as additional references for web-site readers to research. Apparently a change in procedure that has occurred since my first inquiry over a year ago. To date I have not been informed of the meeting date of that group.

 

Bowen Country Club web site:  Also at the suggestion of Lisa Lee, Nugent Vitallo, caretaker of the Bowen Country Club web site, was petitioned to include Italian American writers, writing on the Italian American experience, in the bibliography of the BCC web site. We await the decision on whether or not an awareness and understanding of the neighborhood that was the source of 90% of the BCC campers would be important to future students and researchers alike.

 

Shrine of Our lady of Pompei:  To date, Reverend Fragomeni continues his support of the Taylor Street Archives. We continue our encouragement of the lay staff of the Shrine to make the parishioners aware of and contribute to the 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.

 

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. (Isaiah: 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 writings of our local Italian Americans. It is unfortunate that, to date, the Hull House Museum has yet to decide whether or not the works of our local writers who tell the story of the Jane Addams” “Hull House Neighborhood.” should be included in the bibliography of the Museum’s web site complex. Fifty years is a long time to make a decision.  Where are our political and community leaders?  Their silence on this issue is deafening. (UIC: Flawed History.)

 

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