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Dear Readers,
Books from my bookshelf and Italian Connection therein:
Arcadia publishing is the leading local history publisher in the United States. Their “Images of America” series celebrates the history of neighborhoods towns and cities across the U.S.A.

They have many “Italians of..” titles i.e. Chicago, Northern Pennsylvania, Federal Hill, Rhode Island, New Orleans, New York’s Little Italy and Long Island Italians. Here is a toll free number 1 – 888 313 2665. You can call to order or inquire about other Italians of titles. You can also click on www.arcadiapubblishing.com and discover more Italian connected titles…

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Books not published by Arcadia, but of interest to readers with Italian connections in Boston, Washington D.C., Texas, St. Louis, Philadelphia or Milwaukee, include “Immigrants On the Hill” (Italian Americans of St. Louis) by Gary Ross Mormino; “The Italian American Community of Faith” (Holy Rosary in Washington D.C. 1913 – 2003) by Mary Elizabeth Brown, published by Center For Migration Studies (C.M.S.) 209 Flagg Place, Staten Island, N.Y. 10304; “Milwaukee’s Italians” (The early years) by Mario Carini, published by the Italian Community Center of Milwaukee, tel. (414) 223-2180, 631 East Chicago St. Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202; “Philadelphia’s Italians” (Building Little Italy) by Richard Juliani; “Boston, The North End Where It All Began” by Fred Langone, $19.95 plus post from the Post Gazette, 5 Prince Street, Boston, MA 02113 and “The Italians of Texas” by Valentine J. Belfiglio, published by Eakin Press, Austin Texas.

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Carlos Bowden Jr., first nurtured photographer Gino Sbrana’s (1879 – 1947) glass negatives of Italians of the Bay Area into a photographic exhibit in 1989, which I saw at San Francisco’s Museo Italo Americano. Now Arcadia published the photographs of Gino Sbrana in book form, titled “Italians of the Bay Area”.

Priced at only $19.95, the book is like having an Italian American photo exhibit on your bookshelf available anytime you desire a private showing. Signor Bowden is to be applauded loudly for his efforts in transforming a box of old glass negatives into a treasure trove of joy, especially for viewers in the Bay Area.

The book is a visual record of San Francisco’s Bay Area Italians especially the Italian farming community as it was in the early 1920’s.

Gino Sbrana was born in 1879 in Pisa, Italy. In 1894 he and his family, brothers Olinto and Carlo, his mother and father Giuseppe, immigrated to the United States. The Sbrana family took up residence in San Francisco. Records indicate in 1902 there was a “Sbrana Bros. Fruits and Vegetables” located at 220 Broadway.

Gino met Marie Rubino of Oakland at the California Packing Corporation and married her in 1913. That year Oakland directories indicate a “G. Sbrana Photographer 356 Myrtle St. Oakland”. Love won over his initial San Francisco business inclination and he relocated. Marie and Gino continued to live in Oakland along with their two young daughters, Jeanette and Tosca, until 1918, when the family decided to move to San Jose.

Gino built a small backyard portrait studio and darkroom at the new family house at 757 Locust Street and continued his successful dual careers as a photographer and boiler-room engineer for Del Monte and Defurry Canning. On new year’s eve, 1925, while leaving Oakland to return to San Jose, Gino’s Chevrolet was hit by a drunk driver, resulting in internal injuries to Gino’s chest.

The injury eventually led to the demise of his photographic career. Gino died in San Jose in 1947 and is buried at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery.
In 1985, author Carlos Bowden, a photography enthusiast, was living in a cottage behind an old Methodist church in Ferndale, California. A woman visitor interested in seeing the large, beautiful glass windows of the church came knocking at his door.

Unfortunately he was not at home but his roommate was and gladly showed her around the church. She had noticed some of the author’s antique camera equipment sitting around and mentioned having boxes of old glass negatives. She promptly left, after thanking his roommate for the church tour.

Hearing about the “box of glass negatives” upon his return , the author decided to try and find her immediately going store to store in diminutive “Downtown” Ferndale.

Luckily, after a short search, he located her in Etter’s Gallery, where Betty Workman first told him of the glass plate negatives she had been given, found beneath the studio apartment where she was living on Locust Street in San Jose. This is how remarkably close the lost history of Bay Area Italians came to never being known at all.

Betty Workman’s initial interest in making stained-glass lamp shades out of the glass negatives, turned out to be the reason Marie Sbrana gave her the entire glass-plate collection, and in turn, led to their escape from the oblivion of a San Jose basement. Once Betty came to understand the nature of his photographic interest in the glass plates, she understood that by giving him the collection, its preservation would be insured and its historical significance might be discovered.

Starting from scratch, in 1985, with a box of 70 year old glass negative of unidentified people the only fact he knew for sure were the name of the photographer, Gino Sbrana, and where his collection was found, San Jose.

Undaunted by this challenge he decided to research the photographs by creating a large traveling exhibit of hand tinted photographic murals and showing them directly to the Italians of San Francisco Bay Area.

In 1988, with a friend, he went on a mural exhibition printed directly from the Sbrana glass plate negatives. In 1989, the large Sbrana exhibit was shown in numerous San Francisco locations, including the Mills Building, Club Fugazi, Museo Italo Americano, and Festa Italiana.

The Italian community first began to recognize both the historical significance and the beauty of Gino’s long – forgotten imagery through these exhibitions. Names, dates, locations, and stories began to be revealed. Finally, the lost photographic treasure began to be discovered and appreciated by the public.

But still, who was this historian with a camera who had so diligently documented thousands of Italians of the San Francisco Bay Area so masterfully, and yet, had become so completely forgotten? To try and answer who Gino Sbrana was, as a photographer and as a person, would require finding someone who knew him personally. He recalled having been told that Gino had a young photographic assistant and nephew by the name of Phil Brunetti and that Phil had a younger brother named Andrew.

Once the go-ahead was given for the publication of this book, he was able to retrace some of the steps and research done back in 1988 and was able to find Andrew, who turned out to be a gold mine of information.

He gave generously of his time and spoke at length of the old days and his recollections of Uncle Gino. The fact that his mother, Jennie Rubino, was the sister of Gino's wife, Marie Rubino, and that both families lived in the San Jose area, and that his brother, Phil, was Gino's assistant, all greatly contributed to the thorough and intimate understanding of this long lost master photographer.

Many of the photos selected for the book were taken by Gino at Italian farms and ranches.

Gino long career and skills as a portrait photographer were greatly admired and known in the Italian community, leading to a steady flow of portrait commissions all over the Bay Area. Gino's pre-1906 association with the Italian farmers and ranchers, while working with his brothers in San Francisco as a fruit and vegetable distributor, is more than likely what led to a lifelong affiliation and friendship with the Italian vegetable farmers.

Once each of the needed exposures had been carefully made and the equipment returned to Gino's Chevrolet, the dinner festivities would begin.

These events would be followed by many requests from the dinner guests to hear Gino's beautiful operatic voice.
This talent was so greatly admired that he was known to have given outdoor concert performances at the University of Santa Clara Theatre. Gino, who knew many operas by heart, loved to sing and would do so whenever possible, whether in the darkroom or in concert or at these Italian farm parties.

On many occasions, late in the evening, Gino's voice could be heard over the fields of cauliflower on both sides of the San Francisco Bay singing Tosca and La Boheme or just singing back to San Jose in his Chevrolet.

The photos and captions in this book make it a joy to peruse at your leisure again and again...

 

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