Chicago Conference Dedicated to Professor Rudolph Vecoli

Dominic Candeloro (May 03, 2008)
"Reconstructing Italians in Chicago: 25 Authors in Search of Roots and Branches" Conference May 8-10 will be dedicated to Rudolph Vecoli. It will highlight his pioneering work in the field and bring together a constellation of 25 important authors who have written on the subject.


Conference organizers in Chicago announced last week that "Reconstructing Italians in Chicago: 25 Authors in  Search of Roots and Branches" scheduled at Casa Italia May 8-10 will be dedicated to  Professor Rudolph Vecoli, Pioneering Scholar of Italians in Chicago and Director Emeritus of the immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota.  Conferees will view videotape presentations by Vecoli recalling his decision to specialize in Italian American studies and to write his U of Wisconsin dissertation of Chicago Italians before World War I.   

Longtime "Dean" of Italian American Studies, Rudolph Vecoli will be honored by conferees in Chicago.  Originally slated as the keynote speaker for "Reconstructing Italians in Chicago: 25 Authors in Search of Roots and Branches," Vecoli is too ill to attend the event.

 His major early contribution to the field was to challenge Oscar Handlin's  over-emphasis on emigration as an "Uprooting" experience  that  in short order created an "American Melting Pot."   It seems that the Italians who Vecoli studied in Chicago weren't THAT uprooted----that they had retained many elements of South Italian culture--and that the original pioneer Italian immigrants to Chicago tended to be merchants rather than paesants.

Organizers are preparing to highlight the information and the sources that Vecoli used in his research.  Complete information on the conference is available at the conference website  http://dominic.Candeloro.googlepages.com/home   

Though the conference is mainly focused on Chicago Italians, it may also be of interest to scholars with a general interest in immigration.  It's not too late to register.  Low cost lodging is available at Casa Italia Which is located  5 miles south of O'Hare airport.

The event is sponsored by the Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia, the National Italian American Foundation, the Illinois Humanities Council, Leonard Amari, The Romano Group/Morgan Stanley,Queens College CUNY,  Sicilian American Cultural Association (SACA), the Italian American Executives of Transportation, Freddy's Pizza, Societa`Maria Santissima Lauretana, Order Sons of Italy in America-Grand Lodge of Illinois, Triton College, the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans,  Loyola University Department of Criminal Justice, Vic Lezza Spumoni & Desserts, and Amaseno Lodge #3.

THURSDAY, May 8

9am--Breakfast---  Chandelier Room Foyer  $10--reservation required

 Conference Registration Book Fair----Chandelier Room Lobby

10 am  Session 1--Foundations of Chicago Italian American History

                             Fred L. Gardaphe, Queens College/Calandra IA Institute--Chair

                                    “How I Learned About Italians in Chicago”

                             Gary Mormino, University of South Florida

                                     “Academic Foundations of Italian American Studies”

                             Dominic Candeloro, Italian Cultural Center

                                    “Building on Solid Ground: An Appreciation of Rudolph Vecoli”           

                             Rose Ann Rabiola Miele, Boulder City, NV Public Information

                                     “Egidio Clemente and La Parola del Popolo

Noon---1:30 Lunch  $15 Registration Required

2pm-4pm  Session 2  Life in the early Little Italies

                             Peter Pero, CPS

“ Work and Radicalism Among Chicago’s Italians”

                             Michael Serritella

                                    “Tales of Founding Families”

                             Robert Lombardo, Loyola University

                                     “White Hand v. Black Hand : Chicago's Little Sicily"                       

      Peggy Glowacki, UIC Special Collections

                                       “Pasta, Paesans, and Progressives: Chicago Italians and Food”

                               Mike Bacarella, Author Actor

                                     “Garibaldi Guard Members in Chicago”          

                              Jenny Floro Khalaf, ItalianAncestry.com

                                         “Reconstructing Italians Life through Funeral Practices and Cemeteries and More”

                              

4:15-5:30pm--Session 3--In the Neighborhoods-I--Fred Gardaphe. Chair                   

                                    Laura DeBartolo Heidekrueger,

“ 67th and Hermitage---The Forgotten Neighborhood”

                                     Fr. Gino Dalpiaz ,  

                                                 “Church and Neighborhood on the Near West Side” 

                                    Rose Ann Rabiola Miele, Boulder City, NV Public Information

                                                    “Bridgeport---Change, What Change?

                                    Chickie Farella, Melrose Park

                                                   “The Comfort of Community and the Challenge of Growth”

 5:30-6 pm           Reception  Library and Italians in Chicago exhibit

6pm Dinner---- Banquet Center    $25 Reservation Required

7- 8:30  pm Session 3.1  In the Neighborhoods-II--Fred Gardaphe Chair

                 Kathy Catrambone,

                                     “You Can Leave Taylor Street , but it Never Leaves You”

                Billy Lombardo, Author The Logic of the Rose

                                    “Bridgeport; Another Take”

                Tony Romano, Author,   Grand and Western

                 Vince Romano, Taylor Street Archives

                                     “Taylor Street Archives: Beyond Family Values...Beyond the Work Ethic”

                 Peter Venturelli, 24th and Oakley

8:30-10 pm Session 4 Recent Images—

     Vince Gerasole, CBS TV Chicago

                                    “The CBSs of Profiling Contemporary Italians on TV”

                             Bill Dal Cerro

“Italian Image and Mass Media: Lost and Found” with Video Clips form “And They Came To Chicago”

                             Richard Della Croce, OSIA Illinois Grand Lodge Pres.

                                                “From Education to Activism”

                               Michael Pollele, John Marshall Law School

                                                “Suing the Sopranos”               

 Friday May 9

9am--Breakfast---  Chandelier Room Foyer           $10--reservation required

 Conference Registration Chandelier Room

9:30----10:30   World War II  Session 5--

                         Gary Mormino, University of South Florida

                                    “World War II Changed Everything”

                        Vic Giustino, Chicago City Colleges

                                    “Italians in Chicago in World War II”

                        Judy Santacatarina, Northern Illinois University

                                     “Amabile Santacatarina and Italian Broadcasters in War and Peace”

                        Dominic Candeloro,

                                    “Who Wants to Identify with a War Torn Enemy?”

Noon---1:30 Lunch   $15 Reservation Required

2pm-4pm  Session 6  Balbo in Chicago

                             Don Fiore, Italics

                                    “The Impact of an Italian Hero on 1930s Chicago”

                             Robert Allegrini 

                                    “Balbo and Italian Immigrant Patriotism”   

 "Gli Atlantici" clips from newsreel film of the Balbo Flight, 1933

Gloria Nardini –

                                    “My Father Translated for Balbo”

4-6 pm Session 7 The Post World War II Migration 

                            Chair Thomas Secco, Triton College 

                         Calogero Lombardo

                         Paul Ciminello    

                         Gino Nuccio

                         Dino Porto

                         Pat Capriati

                         Luciana Boccia

 5:30-6 pm Reception  Casa Italia Lobby and Italian American Veterans’ Museum

6pm Dinner---- Banquet Center

7- 10 pm Session  8 Italian Americans Women in Chicago

             Gloria Nardini, Chair

              Chickie Farella, Performance Artist

             Annette Dixon, Author

              Ernesto Milani

“Rosa”

              Peggy Glowacki ?

Saturday May 10

9am--Breakfast---  Chandelier Room Foyer           $10--reservation required

 Conference Registration Chandelier Room

Session 9---9 am- 10 am Keynote Address

Fred Gardaphe’, Distinguished Professor of Italian American Studies, Queens College  

                        “Leaving Little Italy”

10 am--Noon  Session 10 Chicago Italians in literature

                         Tony Ardizzone, Indian University on tape

                         Michael Antonnucci, Keene State

                                    "'Let's Play Two'(Double Plays & Double Consciousness in Tony Ardizzone's _Heart of the Order_)"              Billy Lombardo

                                    “The Logic of the Rose”

                         Calogero Lombardo

                                    “Altavilla”

                         Tony Romano

“When the World Was Young”

                          Pamela DeFiglio,

“Tina De Rosa: A personal Appreciation.”

Noon---1:30 Lunch

2pm-4pm  Session 11  New Sources

                            Peter Venturelli, Valparaiso University 

                             Robert Lombardo, Loyola University

                                    “Digital Help in Reading Yesterday’s Newspapers” "The Use of Historical Data".

                             Dan Niemiec, Genealogy columnist Fra Noi

                                      "The Future of Computer Genealogy: 2010 and Beyond"

4:00 pm-6 pm-- Session 12  Into the Future---Italian American Organizations Since 1950  

                             Dominic DiFrisco,  JoAnne Serpico, Pres. JCCIA, JoAnne Spata, JCCIA past presidents

                             Richard Della Croce, Pres. OSIA

6  pm \----Reception  Italians in Chicago Exhibit, Italian Cultural Center

7- 9 pm Banquet---------Speaker    $25--reservation required 

 For full info about the May 8-10 Conference
http://dominic.Candeloro.googlepages.com/home

To Register for the conference, Print this form and mail it with your check to Casa italia, 3800 Division St., Stone Park, IL 60526.  Please help us with our planning by registering before May 5.  Call 708 345-5933 for additional info.

 

Name______________________________________ 
Phone____________________
Address_________________________________ State ___   Zip _______
City___________________________ Email_____________________________
Full Registration $100 Includes conference fee for 3 days and meals.
One-Day Registration (without meals)  $20/day   ____  Thur   Fri    Sat.   (Circle)
All Three Days of Conference Sessions without meals $40.
High School Students $5/day.
College Students $10/day.
Meals Must Be Ordered by May 5 5pm
 
Breakfast $10               Thur.        Fri.       Sat.
Lunch $15,                   Thur.         Fri.       Sat.
Dinner $25                    Thur.         Fri.       Sat. 
Amount Enclosed $____________

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