Interested
in Italians? Facts, Figures and Fancies Available at the Berkshire
Athenaeum
By Kathleen M. Reilly,
Supervisor – Local History & Genealogy Department
Resources of
various types are available at the Local History and Genealogy Department of
the Berkshire Athenaeum to assist researchers in tracking down illusive
Italian ancestors. Books, microfilm, microfiche, CD-ROMs, periodicals, and
interlibrary loans from the Family History Library. It all adds up to a
plethora of available sources to explore at the Pittsfield Library.
A novice researcher might begin the endeavor
with a how-to book on researching Italian ancestors. The Library’s holdings
include titles such as:
-
A
Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Italian Ancestors: How to Find and
Record Your Unique Heritage by Lynn Nelson
-
Finding
Italian Roots: The Complete Guide for Americans by John Philip
Colletta
-
Italian-American Family History: A Guide to Researching and Writing about
Your Heritage by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack
-
A Student’s
Guide to Italian American Genealogy by Terra C. Brockman
Others are available from CWMARS
member libraries by accessing the new “system-wide holds” service
established this past year. Information concerning this resource sharing
service is available by calling 413 499 9488 or visiting the Library’s
Reference Desk.
For tracking the
immigration and migration of your ancestors you can consult specific sources
such as the Italians to America series, edited by Glazier and Filby,
in book or CD-ROM format, Filby’s Passenger and Immigration Lists Index,
1538-1940 and Westward the Immigrants: Italian Adventurers and
Colonists in an Expanding America by Andrew Rolle.
For a more
thorough consideration of this aspect of the topic, the researcher can
consult several issues of Archival Anecdotes. A series on “New York
Passenger Lists” began in the December 1997 issue, the first covering the
“Customs Lists, 1820-1897”. March 1998 continued with “Immigration Lists,
16 June 1897-30 June 1902”. Archival Anecdotes for June of 1998 presented
“Book Indexes”, and September 1998—“Index, 1902-1943”. The issue for
September 2001 has a series of articles focusing on various aspects of
immigration and migration. And on a related topic, the December 1999 issue
contains an article by Walter Hickey on naturalization records.
Sources of
information for tracking Italian ancestors who lived in Berkshire County
include:
-
City and town
directories, which help researchers determine precisely where their
ancestors lived and worked and often to determine their occupation and
employer
-
Vertical Files
on ethnic heritage, specific churches, or well-known Italian residents
-
Berkshire County
state and federal census records;
-
Obituaries from Berkshire County newspapers
-
City and town histories and annual reports
-
Berkshire County probate records
-
Vital records of Berkshire County towns
-
Naturalization records from Berkshire County
courts.
For
finding ancestors who lived in Massachusetts,
but not specifically in Berkshire County, possible sources include: the full
set of Massachusetts state-wide Vital Records and indexes from 1841-1905
with an additional index to Massachusetts Death Records up to the year 1971
as well as expanded city and town records for some towns; the complete State
Censuses for 1855 and 1865; an extensive collection of county, city and town
histories; cemetery records; and probate indexes for select counties. And
of course, the National Archives in Pittsfield has any federal census you
could ever need!
For those
tracking ancestors beyond Massachusetts, resources include the Vermont Vital
Records from the 1760s through 1908, a large collection of eastern New York
vital, church and cemetery records, the Barbour (early church and vital) and
Hale (includes later records from newspapers and cemeteries) collections of
Connecticut records, the Arnold series of Rhode Island records to 1850 and a
wide assortment of published vital, church and cemetery records from Maine
and New Hampshire.
To extend your
local research opportunities far beyond the New England borders without the
expense of traveling, over 3 million films from throughout the world are
available for ordering through the LDS Family History Library microfilm
lending program, including hundreds of reels of material filmed in Italy.
If you are planning to travel, or need to conduct some of your research via
mail, email or internet you should find books such as
Italian Genealogical Records: How to Use
Italian Civil, Ecclesiastical & Other Records in Family History Research
by Trafford R. Cole, Guide to Italian
Libraries and Archives by Rudolf J. Lewanski, and
Permanent Italians: An Illustrated,
Biographical Guide to the Cemeteries of Italy by Judi Culbertson and
Tom Randall, both useful and interesting.
Have you found an
old town or village name in Italy that you need to locate? Ask the
librarian on duty for Lippincott’s
Pronouncing Gazetteer of the World (1900) or the 3 volumes of Karl
Baedeker’s Handbook for Travelers
that cover Italy (1882-1912).
The specific
titles above comprise a sampling of those to be found by searching the
Athenaeum’s online catalog <http://catalog.cwmars.org/search~S62/> using
keywords such as ‘Italian and genealogy’ or ‘Italian and research’. Many
other volumes of interest can also be discovered. Try a search on ‘Italian
and cooking’ to discover titles such as
Southern Italian Cooking: Family Recipes from the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies by Jo Bettoja or We Called
It Macaroni: An American Heritage of Southern Italian Cooking by
Nancy Verde Barr. Using search terms such as ‘Italian and culture’ or
‘Italian and art’ (or history, music, literature, architecture, etc) will
help you locate materials through which you can explore your Italian
heritage to understand the traditions, lifestyle and folklore of those from
whom you descend.
Librarians in the Local History and
Genealogy Department are always available to help researchers locate and use
these materials. The possibilities are endless so be sure to drop by as you
track your Italian ancestors—and other nationalities as well.¨ |
