Caltagirone family papers and photographs

The collection consists of photographs of the Caltagirone and related families (especially the La Rocca family), dating from circa 1900 to 1999. Photographic formats include black-and-white prints, color prints, tinted photographs, tintypes, and negatives. Thematically, the photographs document a 20th century Italian-American family in Brooklyn, including their residences, celebrations, recreation, and family life. The photographs were collected by Marian Caltagirone.

The earliest photographs in the collection are portraits of members of the La Rocca and Caltagirone families, dating from the 1900s to the 1930s. These include seven photographs mounted on buttons (or pins), some of which are hand-tinted and/or backed with mirrors.

The Fort Greene Houses, where the Caltagirones resided, are extensively documented (interiors and exteriors). These photographs date from the 1940s to the 1960s. Other locations documented during this time include Fort Greene Park, Prospect Park, Prospect Park Zoo, Tompkins Park, the Coney Island and Brighton Beach neighborhoods of Brooklyn, the playground at Avenue F and McDonald Avenue, barber shops (in Brighton Beach and at East 15th Street and Cortelyou Road), and various schools (Eastern District High School, Mark Hopkins J.H.S. 148, P.S. 122, St. Barbara's High School, and the Manual Training High School).

The photographs depict a number of family celebrations and holidays, including Christmas, birthdays, weddings, graduations, first communions, and reunions. The collection includes a number of wedding thank you cards with portraits of the brides and grooms (circa 1930s to 1970s).

Later photographs document the Augustana Lutheran Home for the Aged (1680 60th Street) and snow-covered streets in the Bath Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn (1995).

In addition to the Caltagirone and La Rocca families, the following surnames are represented in the collection: Conti, Sferlazza, Brennan, Giacomaggio, Piscitello, and Biancardi.

Residences documented in the photographs include 512 Marcy Avenue, 107 Navy Walk (in the Fort Greene Houses), 1553 39th Street, 247 Bay 17th Street, 57 Hammond Avenue (Passaic, New Jersey), and homes on Middleton Street and Bleecker Street (Brooklyn). Other institutions documented in the collection include St. Barbara's Roman Catholic Church (Bushwick), the Holy Ghost Church (17th Avenue and 43rd Street), Brooklyn College, the Silver Star Resaurant (18th Avenue and 62nd Street), and Linden Hill United Methodist Cemetery.

In addition to photographs, the collection contains one folder of papers relating to Marian Caltagirone's education at Brooklyn College. That file includes course work, transcripts, certificates, and other documents, dating from 1963 to 1980.

Also included are two memory books regarding Concetta and Agostino Caltagirone, information pertaining to their social security and old age benefits, Marion Caltagirone's Junior High, High School, and Brooklyn College diplomas, and a baby book celebrating the birth of John Caltagirone (son of Concetta and Agostino), as well as some of his hair.