Dear Readers,
An October assortment of Italian Connections:
A.I.H.A., Italian American Historical Association, Western Regional Chapter (founded in 1974), an association that helps promote the understanding of the Italian experience in America, recently held its Annual Membership meeting at the University of San Francisco’s Lone Mountain Campus, prior to a presentation by University of Santa Clara Professor Gerald McKevitt, S.J.The Western Chapter, in association with Piemontesi nel Mondo, presented Gerald McKevitt, S.J., author of the book Brokers of Culture: Italian Jesuits in the American West.
Gerald McKevitt, a historian and professor of Jesuit Studies at the University of Santa Clara spoke about his new book featuring the pioneering Jesuits who not only ministered to Indians and immigrants in the far West, but also founded USF and the University of Santa Clara.
In March 1848, just two months after gold had been discovered at Sutter’s Mill, Father Michael Accolti, a Naples born Jesuit, responsible for seeing that a string of Jesuit missions among the Indians in the (now) states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana were built and maintained, noticed that miners were returning from California with gold and persuaded his superior to give him permission to sail to San Francisco in search of gold, to provide funds for Indian missions and the greater glory of God. Fr. Accolti spoke Italian, French, Spanish and English.
He had a voice like Enrico Caruso and a magnetic personality. His traveling companion, Fr. Joseph Nobili, a more modest man, was convinced by his bishop, Joseph S. Alemany, O.P. that instead of heading for the Mother Lode, gold country they should found a Jesuit College, at the dilapidated, nearly abandoned Franciscan mission in Santa Clara.
After some setbacks, Fr. Accolti traveled to Rome in 1854 and convinced his Superiors to send Jesuits from Torino, many of whom had been exiled in the political upheaval of 1848 to California, for Jesuit Colleges in Northern California. Bishop Alemany was determined to have a San Francisco College and a quiet Piemontese, Fr. Anthony Maraschi, was there to help.
The Church went up first. It was in a frame building, seventy-five feet long and thirty-five feet wide, that Fr. Maraschi dedicated on July 15, 1855 in a place where the Emporium Department Store would later be built (between 4th and 5th Streets on Market) that the St. Ignatius Academy opened its doors.
It was the precursor of St. Ignatius College Preparatory and the University of San Francisco (October 1855) and for years the Turin Province continued to supply Jesuits for the classrooms.
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“Baltimore Own Little Italy Artist, the Artwork of Tony DeSales” is a visual and literary memorial to Baltimore born Tony DeSales, 1941-2000.
Tony De Sales was the son of first generation Polish and Italian immigrants. Unfortunately, mental illness and depression on the part of his mother and divorce caused parental neglect.There was no large extended family to help with raising the children. Tony’s paternal grandmother had died with her best friend on Mother’s Day, both killed in a taxicab accident on Central Avenue. His maternal grandmother died just after the birth of Genevieve.
Tony grew up and struggled to express his talent despite the deprivation he endured as a child. As a very young man, he took on the care of his mother. He dressed her up and sat her comfortably on “the Corner”, Fawn and High Streets in Little Italy, where he sold his artworks to patrons of Little Italy’s restaurants.
The intersection of Fawn and High Streets is occupied by four Italian Restaurants, Capriccio, Chiapparelli’s, Germano’s Trattoria and Sabatino’s. The restaurants attracted tourists from all over the world.He worked outside in Little Italy for over thirty-five years. He became a Baltimore institution, engaging tourists and local people in lively conversation on just about any topic; literature, music, history, chemistry, physics, politics and local news from the neighborhood.
He hand-published a small newspaper, Piccolo, that contained local stories about the people and events in Little Italy. He played the organ in St. Leo’s Church and wrote opera. In the warm months of the year he brought his mother with him and introduced her proudly as “My Mama. Her name is Genevieve.” He chatted with celebrities – Dustin Hoffman, Luciano Pavarotti and Danny De Vito – who came to dine in the Little Italy restaurants.
Tony spent thirty-five years working outside on the street corner selling drawings of his neighborhood. He saw elegance and beauty in his surroundings. The churches, the brick rowhouses, the marble steps, the stained glass windows, the painted screen doors: all were as worthwhile to him as the high art of 15th century Florence. He loved the people of Little Italy and they loved him back.
Like the seed germinating in the sidewalk crack, his talent flowered on a street corner in Little Italy where he captured the beauty of his beloved Baltimore.
Nancy D’Alessando Pelosi, Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives said “When I was growing up, Baltimore’s Little Italy was a neighborhood in the best sense of the world.It was a real community where people knew each other and looked out for each other. Tony’s sketches bring back wonderful memories of my family and the community and city we were so proud to call home.” Nancy’s father, Thomas D’Alessando, Jr., was congressional representative from the surrounding district for five terms, from the late 1930s to 1947.
He then served twelve years as Mayor of Baltimore, retiring in 1959 to be followed by his son, Thomas D’Alessando III, in that post some eight years later. Nancy, the only daughter, is the youngest of Thomas D’Alessandro, Jr.’s six children.
“Baltimore’s Own Little Italy Artist, the Artwork of Tony DeSales”, a book co-authored by Rita F. French, Perrin L. French and Irvin F. Lin and published by Genovefa Press (P.O. Box 50954, Palo Alto, CA 94303, tel. 650.324.0575, www.genovefapress.com) $29.95 plus s&h, is a must read and enjoy for anyone with Italian Connections in Baltimore’s Little Italy neighborhood and a great gift for all of your Baltimore born friends and relatives.
Even those of us “born in the USA” far away, who have visited Baltimore or Baltimore’s Little Italy while attending UNICO National Convention a decade ago will be delighted with the happy memories the artwork of Tony DeSales conjures up.
Tony’s sketches are dedicated to the tourists who come to Baltimore and are touched by the experience. They are also dedicated to the people of Little Italy and all the Baltimoreans who got to know Tony DeSales and loved him back.
In keeping with Tony DeSales interest in the background stories of subjects he sketched, historical captions are provided to accompany his drawings. Below a sketch of Little Italy’s 15 foot/frontage Row Houses on High Street: If one were to create a slogan describing the housing in Baltimore, it might be “Rowhouses Rule.”
Since 1900, rowhouses have been the preferred type of dwelling for Baltimore. Immigrants, such as those in Little Italy, were able to buy homes because of the unique pricing system used to sell rowhouses. The buyer paid for the house, not the land, making ownership possible for those who could not otherwise be able to afford it.
The book is also available at www.LittleItalyMd.com and Amazon.com.
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Richard Vannucci, A.I.H.A./WRC Treasurer invites you to become a member of the Western Regional Chapter, if you share these objectives: The AIHA/WRC seeks to create a true understanding of the Italian American experience in the West.Its members encourage Italian American Studies programs at universities; collect, preserve, study and popularize materials that illuminate the Italian American experience in the West; and hold regular programs to present those studies to the public.
The National American Italian Historical Association was founded in late 1966 by a group of historians, educators, sociologists and other interested persons who met at the La Guardia Memorial House in New York City.
In 1974, a group of historians and interested persons in the Bay Area formed the first regional chapter of the AIHA. The new Western Regional Chapter devoted itself to the study of the Italian experience in the western states, including California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, New Mexico, and Hawaii. The Western Regional Chapter has been operating ever since, twice hosting the AIHA National Conference in San Francisco and once in Las Vegas.
The WRC presents its findings through programs, events, and exhibits, often collaborating with local Italian American organizations and individuals to maintain community histories. Memorable programs have included: ‘1994’ - Una Storia Segreta: When Italian Americans Were ‘Enemy Aliens’, a traveling exhibit about WWII restrictions that has been displayed in over fifty sites nationwide and has resulted in national legislation.
1996 – An Affair to Remember: A Tribute to Salvatore Guaragna, aka Harry Warren’, an evening of music, video and personal testimony about the work of composer Harry Warren, who gave show business some of its greatest tunes.
1998 – Italian American Fishing in Northern California’, a 2-day conference focusing on four Italian Fishing Communities (San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Pittsburg and Monterey) and their influence on the Pacific fishing industry.
2001 – A Celebration of Public Law #106-451’, a community event at the Colombo Club to mark the passage of the Wartime Violation of Italian American Civil Liberties Act signed by President Clinton on November 7, 2000.
And more recently, ‘Italian Jesuits in the American West’. Interested? Send WRC dues (Individual: $15.00, Family: $20.00) to Richard Vannucci, AIHA/WRC Treasurer, 5072 Elrod Dr., Castro Valley, CA 94546. WRC website is www.aiha-wrc.org
10631 Vinedale Street, Sun Valley, CA 91352 - Phone (818) 767-3413 - Fax: (818) 767-1410
