Italian American Historical Studies

Historians have chronicled Italian American history from a variety of perspectives: general, topical, sectional, urban, oral historical, biographical, and pictorial. They have relied heavily on archives including papers, documents, diaries, novels, rem iniscences, letters, and interviews as primary sources in their desire to fill in accurately the historical record especially during the early years when the young illiterate male immigrants arrived, worked, and went back home and left little behind.

Therefore immigrant institutions such as the paesani culture, the patrone complex, the boarding house, labor, strikes, and riots have attracted the historian's interest. There are also major events scholars have examined that have had a profou nd impact on Italian American life as well. Sacco and Vanzetti Case is the most famous probably because it took place in the East during the twenties when anti-Italian feeling was strong throughout the country. Another that has been overlooked because it took place in the South during the 1890s when Italians were not perceived as a major threat was the lynching of eleven Sicilian immigrants that occurred on March 14, 1891. These men were were taken off the street, tried, acquitted, and hung by an angry mo b for the murder the young popular Irish police chief, David Hennessy. This photograph from Harper's Weekly, March 28, 1891, depicts twenty thousand individuals who gathered around the statue of Henry Clay on the morning of the lynching in respon se to the urging of a newspaper advertisement that the New Orleans citizens carry out the will of the people the court had thwarted. Speakers roused the mob to storm the Treme Street gate of the Parish Prison where the free men were being "detained" for t heir own safety. This event and its political implications for Italy and America which nearly brought the two countries to war are chronicled in Richard Gambino's study Vendetta published by Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York, 1977.

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• Amftheatrof, Eric. The Children of Columbus: An Informal History of the Italians in the New World. New York: Little, Brown, 1973.
• DeConde, Alexander. Half Bitter, Half Sweet: An Excursion into Italian-American History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971.
• Foerster, Robert F. The Italian Emigration of Our Times. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1924.
• Gallo, Patrick J. Old Bread, New Wine: A Portrait of the Italian Americans. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1981
• Lord, Eliot. The Italian in America. Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1905, reprinted, 1970.
• Mangano, Antonio. Sons of Italy: A Social and Religious Study of the Italians in America. New York: Missionary Education Movement of the United States and Canada, 1917.
• Mangione, Jerre, and Ben Morreale. La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience. New York: HarperPerennial, 1992.
• Nelli, Humbert. From Immigrants to Ethnics: The Italian Americans. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983
• ---. "Italians." In Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, edited by Stephan Thernstorm, Ann Orlov, and Oscar Handlin, 545-560. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1980.
• Pisani, Lawrence. The Italian in America: A Social Study and History. New York: Exposition, 1957
• Rolle, Andrew. The Italian Americans: Troubled Roots. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980.
• ---. The American Italians: Their History and Culture. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1972.
• Villari, Luigi. Gli Stati Uniti d'America e l'emigrazione Italiana. New York: Arno, 1912, 1975.

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• Bodio, Luigi. "Della protezione degli emigranti italiani in America." Nuova Antologia 60 (1895): 628-644.
• Caroli, Betty. Italian Repatriation from the United States. Staten Island: Center for Migration Studies, 1973.
• Ciarlantini, Franco. Incontro col Nord America. Milano: "Alpes," 1929.
• Ciolli, Domenick. "The Wop in the Track Gang." Immgrants in America Review 2 (July 1916): 61-64.
• Ciuffoletti, Zeffiro, and Maurizio Degl'Innocenti. L'Emigrazione nella storia d'Italia, 1868-1975. Firenze: Vallecchi, 1978.
• Cordasco, Francesco, ed. La Societa Italiana di fronte alle prime migrazione di massa. New York: Arno, 1975.
• Cordasco, Francesco, and Eugene Bucchioni, ed. The Italians: Social Backgrounds of an American Group. Clifton: Augustus M. Kelley Publishers, 1974.
• Curinga, Nicola. An Italian Tragedy: The Story of a Humble People. New York: Liveright, 1945.
• Dosch, A. "Just Wops." Everybody's Magazine 25 (November 1911): 579-589.
• DiNoto, Vicenza. "The Phenomenon of the Mafia and the Relationship Between the Mafia and the Italian State." Master's essay, Wayne State University, 1983.
• Felici, Icilio. Father to the Immigrants: The Servant of God, John Baptist Scalabrini. New York: Kennedy, 1955.
• Fenton, Edwin. Immigrants and Unions: Italians and American Labor, 1870-1920. New York: Arno, 1957, 1975.
• Flamona, Ario. Italiani di America: Enciclopedia Biographia. New York: Cocce, 1936.
• Fucilla, Joseph G. Our Italian Surnames. Evamstpm: Chandler, 1949.
• Gabaccia, Donna Rae. Militants and Migrants: Rural Sicilians Become American Workers. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1988.
• ---. From Sicily to Elizabeth Street: Housing and Social Change Among Italian Immigrants, 1880-1930. State University of New York Press, 1984.
• Gambino, Richard. Vendetta : A True Story of the Worst Lynching in America, the Mass Murder of Italian-Americans in New Orleans in 1891, the Vicious Motivations Behind It, and the Tragic Repercussions That Linger to This Day. Garden C ity: Doubleday & Doubleday, 1977.
• Gilkey, George. "The United States and Italy: Migration and Repatriation." Journal of Developing Areas 2 (1967): 23-36.
• Koren, John. "The Padrone System and Padrone Banks." U.S. Department of Labor Bulletin 9 (1897): 133-29.
• LaGumina, Salvatore J. WOP ! : A Documentary History of Anti-Italian Discrimination in the United States. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Books, 1973.
• Livi Bacci, Massimo. L'immigrazione e l'assimilation degli italiani agli Stati Uniti secondo le statische demografiche Americane. Milano: Gioffre, 1961.
• Massara, Giuseppe. Viaggiatori italiani in America, 1869-1970. Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1976.
• Mayo-Smith, Richmond. Emigration and Immigration. New York: Scribner, 1904.
• Miceli, F. Paul. Pride of Sicily. New York: Gaus' Sons, 1950.
• Moreno, Celso. History of Great Wrong: Italian Slavery in America. Washington, D.C.: Department of Labor, 1895.
• Moroni, Gerolamo. "Il peonage nel sud degli Stati Uniti." Bollettino dell'emigrazione 5 (1910): 3-20.
• Morrison, Joan, and Charlotte Fox Zabusky. American Mosaic: The Immigrant Experience in the Words of Those Who Lived It. New York: Dutton, 1980.
• Murray, William. Italy: The Fatal Gift. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1982.
• Nelli, Humbert. "The Italian Padrone System in the United States." Labor History 3 (1964): 153-167.
• Pecorini, Alberto. Gli Americani nella vita moderna. Milano: Treves, 1909.
• Pitkin, Donald S. The House that Giacomo Built: History of an Italian Family, 1898-1978. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
• Portelli, Alessandro. The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stores: Form and Meaning in Oral History. Albany: State of New York Press, 1991.
• Prezzolini, Giuseppe. I trapiantati. Milano: Longanesi, 1963.
• ---. Maccheroni &. Co.Milano: Longanesi, 1957.
• Ross, Edward A. "Italians in America." Century 66 (1914): 439-445.
• Rossi, Adolfi. "Vantaggi e danni dell'emigrazione." Bollettino dell'emigrazione 13 (1908): 3-99.
• Salvemini, Gaetano. Italian Fascist Activities in the United States. New York: Center for Migration Studies, 1977.
• Sartorio, Enrico. Social and Religious Life of Italians in America. Clifton: Kelly, 1918, 1974.
• Savona, A., and M. Straniero. Canti dell'emigrazione. Milano: garzanti, 1976.
• Speranza, Gino C. "Forced Labor in West Virginia." Forum 74 (June 13, 1903): 407-410.
• Steiner, Edward A. On the Trail of the Immigrant. New York: Revell, 1906.
• Stella, Antonio. Some Aspects of Italian Immigration. New York: Putnam, 1924.
• Vecoli, Rudolph J. "Prelates and Peasants: Italian Immigrants and the Catholic Church." Journal of Social History 2 (1969): 217-268.

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• Adams, Charlotte. "Italian Life in New York." Harpers62 (1881):676-684.
• Barton, Josef J. Peasants and Strangers: Italians, Rumanians, and Slovaks in an American City, 1890-1950. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1975.
• Bernardi, Adria. Houses With Names: The Italian Immigrants of Highwood, Illinois. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990.
• Bodnar, John. Lives of Their Own: Blacks, Italians, and Poles in Pittsburg, 1900-1960. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982.
• Bohme, Frederick G. A History of Italians in New Mexico. New York: Arno, 1958, 1975.
• Briggs, John W. An Italian Passage: Immigrants to Three American Cities, 1890-1930. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978.
• Churchill, Charles W. The Italians of Newark: A Community Study. New York: Arno, 1942, 1975.
• Cinel, Dino. From Italy to San Francisco. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1982.
• Colajanni, Napoleone. Gli Italiani negli Stati Uniti. Napoli: Rivista Popolare, 1909.
• Cordasco, Francesco, ed. La societa Italiana di fronte alle prime imgrazioni di massa. Il contributo di Mons. Scalabrini e dei suoi primi collaboratori alla tutela degli emigranti. New York: Arno, 1975.
• Federal Writers' Project. The Italian of New York. New York: W.P.A., 1938.
• Gabaccia, Donna R. From Sicily to Elizabeth Street: Housing and Social Change Among Italian Immigrants, 1880-1930. State University of New York Press, 1984.
• Gumina, Deanna Paoli. The Italians of San Francisco, 1850-1930. New York: Center for Migration Studies, 1978.
• Harney, Robert F., and J. V. Scarpaci, eds. Little Italies in North America. Toronto: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1981.
• Josa, Guglielmo. "L'Emigrazione nel Molise." Bollettino dell'emigrazione 10 (1907): 50-69.
• Kathaka, David. "The Italian Experience in Wyoming." In Peopling the High Plains: Wyoming's European Heritage, edited by Gordon Olaf Hendrickson, 67-94. Cheyenne: Wyoming State Archives and Historical Department, 1977.
• La Piana, George. The Italians in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. San Francisco: R and E Research Associates, 1915, 1970.
• Magnaghi, Russell M., and Vittorio Re. "Italians." In Ethnic Groups in Michigan, edited by James M. Anderson and Iva A. Smith, 166-176. Detroit: Ethnos Press, 1983.
• Mormino, Gary R., and George E. Pozzetta. The Immigrant World of Ybor City: Italians and Their Latin Neighbors in Tampa, 1885-1985. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990.
• Nelli, Humbert S. Italians in Chicago: 1880-1930. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970.
• Perilli, Giovanni. Colorado and the Italians in Colorado. Denver: Smith Brooks, 1923.
• Perry, Stewart E. San Francisco Scanvengers. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.
• Radin, Paul. The Italians of San Francisco: Their Adjustment and Acculturation. New York: Arno, 1935, 1975.
• Re, Vittorio. "History of the First Italian Presbyterian Church of Detroit." Detroit: Center for Urban Studies, Ethnic Studies Division, Wayne State University, 1979.
• ---. "Michigan's Italian Community: A Historical Perspective." Detroit: Wayne State University, Office of International Exchanges and Ethnic Programs, 1981.
• Rolle, Andrew. The Immigrant Upraised: Italian Adventures and Colonists in an Expanding America. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968.
• Schiro, George. Americans by Choice: History of the Italians in Utica. New York: Arno, 1940, 1975.
• Schiavo, Giovanni. The Italians in Missouri. New York: Arno, 1929, 1975.
• ---. The Italians in Chicago: A Study in Americanization. New York: Arno, 1928, 1975.
• Villari, Luigi. "Gli Italiani nel sude degli Stati Uniti." Bollettino dell'emigrazione 10 (1907): 39-49.
• Vismara, Rev John C. "Coming of Italians to Detroit." Michigan History Magazine 2 (1918): 110-124.
• Workers of the Writers' Program. The Italians of Omaha. New York: Arno, 1941, 1975.
• Yans-McLaughlin, Virginia. Family and Community: Italian Immigrants in Buffalo, 1880-1930. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 1982.
• ---. "A Flexible Tradition: South Italian Immigrants Confront a New Work Experience." Journal of Social History 7 (1974): 429-445.

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• Arrighi, Antonio. Antonio, the Galley Slave. New York: Revell, 1913
• Bernady, Amy A. Italia randagia attraverso gli Stati Uniti. Torino: Fratelli Bocca, 1913.
• ---.America Vissuta. Torino: Fratelli Bocca, 1911.
• Brandenburg, Broughton. Imported Americans. New York: Stokes, 1903.
• Campon, Peter F. The Autobiography of Emanuel Carnevali. Compiled and preface written by Kaye Boyle. New York: Horizon, 1967.
• Cianfarra, Camillo. Diario di un emigrante.New York: L'Araldo Italiano, 1900.
• Ciarlantini, Franco. Al Paese delle stelle. Milano: "Alpes," 1931.
• Conte, Gaetano. Dieci anni in America: Impressioni e ricordi. Conferenze riguardanti l'emigrazione Italiana nell'America del Nord. Palermo: Spinnato, 1903.
• Corresca, Rocco. "The Biography of a Bootblack." Independent5 (December 4, 1902): 2863-67.
• D'Angelo, Pasquale. Son of Italy. New York: Macmillan, 1924.
• Di Donato, Pietro. Three Circles of Light. New York: Messner, 1960.
• Dolci, Danilo. Banditi a partinico,173-189. Bari: Laterza, 1956.
• Domenica, Angelo di. Protestant Witness of a New American: Mission of a Lifetime. Chicago: Judson, 1956.
• Ets, Marie Hall. Rosa: The Life of an Italian Immigrant. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1970.
• Gallenga, Antonio. Episodes of My Second Life. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1885.
• Gallo, Fortune T. Lucky Rooster: The Autobiography of an Impresario. New York: Exposition, 1967.
• Giacosa, Giuseppe. Impressioni d'America. Milano: Cogliati, 1908.
• Greco, Pietro.I ricordi d'un immigrato. Brooklyn: Gaus' Sons, 1964.
• Iamurri, Gabriel A. The True Story of an Immigrant. Rev. ed. Boston: Christopher, 1951.
• Iannace, Carmine B. La scoperta dell'America. Padova: Rebellato, 1971.
• ---. Uomini e galantuomini. Firenze: Grafica Toscana, 1970.
• Juliani, Richard N. "American Voices, Italian Accents." Italian Americana 1 (1974): 1-25.
• LaGuimina, Salvatore J. The Immigrants Speak: Italian Americans Tell Their Story. Staten Island: Center for Migration Studies, 1979.
• La Sorte, Michael A. "Diary of an Immigrant." Attenzione 3 (January 1981): 31-36.
• ---.La Merica: Images of Italian Greenhorn Experience. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1985.
• Lombardi, Luigi. Pages of My Life, by Lu-Lo. Fond du Lac, Wisconsin: n. pub., 1943.
• Manganiello, Giuseppe F. L. Reminiscenze: Pagine di vita vissuta. Revere, Mass.: n. Pub., 1963.
• Marchello, Maurice R. Black Coal for White Bread: Up from the Prarie MInes. New York: Vantage, 1972.
• Margariti, Antonio. America! America! Salerino: Galzerano, 1980.
• Massari, Angelo. The Wonderful World of Angelo Massari: An Autobiography. New York: Exposition, 1965.
• Maurino, Ferdinando. D. Dal cavo delle mani: Pagine di vita attuale in Italia e in America. Cosenza: Pellegrini, 1968.
• Mosso, Angelo. Vita moderna degli Italiani. Milano: Fratelli Treves, 1906.
• Orlando, Guido. Confessions of a Scoundrel.Phildelphia: Winston, 1954.
• Pannuzio, Constantine. The Soul of an Immigrant. New York: Macmillan, 1921.
• Pellegrini, Angelo M. Americans by Choice. New York: Macmillan, 1956.
• ---. Immigrant's Return. New York: Macmillan, 1951.
• Perez, Giovanni. Ricordi d'America. Genova: Tomati, 1873.
• Piacenza, Aldobrando. "Memorie di Aldobrando Piacenza," 1956. University of Minnesota, Immigrant History Research Center.
• Quattrociocchi, Niccolo. Love and Dishes. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1967.
• Robbins, Emily F. "If One Speak Bad of Your Mother, How Do You Feel?" Red Cross Magazine, September 1919, 44-47.
• Rondina. F. S. "L'emigrante Italiano, racconto." Civilita Cattolica(Roma), ser. 15, pts. 1, 2, (1892).
• Rossi, Adolfo. Un Italiano in America. Treviso: Buffetti, 1907.
• Sermolino, Maria. Papa's Table D'Hote. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1952.
• Tresca, Carlo. "Autobiography." University of Minnesota Immigrant History Research Center.
• Turco, Luigi. "The Spiritual Autobiography of Luigi Turco." 1969. University of Minnesota Immigrant History Research Center.
• Vanzetti, Bartolomeo. The Story of a Proletarian Life. Boston: New Trial League, 1923.
• Ventresca, Francesco. Personal Reminiscences of a Naturalized American. New York: Rueson, 1937.

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• Blumenthal, Ralph. Last Days of the Sicilians: At War with the Mafia; The FBI Assault on the Pizza Connection. New York: Timesbooks, 1988.
• Bonanno, Joseph. A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983.
• Davis, John H. Mafia Kingfish: Carlos Marcello and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. New York: Signet Book, 1989.
• Demaris, Ovid. The Last Mafioso. New York: Bantam Books, 1981.
• Giancana, Antoinette, and Thomas C. Renner. Mafia Princess: Growing up in Sam Giancana's Family. New York: Avon Books, 1985.
• Kobler, John. Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone. Greenwich: Fawcett Crest Book, 1971.
• Mustain, Gene, and Jerry Capeci. Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti. New York: Dell, 1988.
• O'Neill, Gerard, and Dick Lehr. The Underboss: A Dramatic Inside Look at the Rise and Fall of a Mafia Family. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989.
• Pileggi, Nicholas. Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family. New York: Pocket Books, 1985.
• Pistone, Joseph D. (with Richard Woodley). Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia. New York: Signet Books, 1989.
• Pitkin, Thomas Monroe. The Black Hand: A Chapter in Ethnic Crime. Totowa, New Jersey: Littlefield, Adams &. Company, 1977.
• Renner, Thomas C., and Cecil Kirby. Mafia Enforcer: The True Story of Life and Death in the Mob. New York: Bantam Books, 1987.
• Servadio, Gaia. Mafioso : A History of the Mafia from its Origins to the Present. New York: Delta Book, 1978.
• Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Facts On File Publications, Inc., 1987.

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• Barolini, Helen. Images: A Pictorial History of Italian Americans. Staten Island: Center for Migration Studies, 1981.
• Cresci, Paolo, and Luciano Guidobaldi. Partono i bastimenti. Milano: Mondadori, 1980.
• Scarpaci, Vincenza. A Portrait of Italians in America. New York: Scribner, 1982.

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• Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies: A guide to Italian manuscript collections.
• Wayne State University Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs . A guide to personal and organizational papers that contain several imp ortant Italian-Americans involved in the labor movement.
• The University of Minnesota Immigrant History Research Center. A profile of the Italian American holdings.

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