Vizzini family papers

The Vizzini Family Papers document the lives and activities of Salvatore (1908–2007) and Maddalena "Madeline" (Tinebra) Vizzini (1912–2015), who emigrated from Racalmuto, Sicily, in the 1920s and met and married in New York, where they raised two children. The collection contains copies of Salvatore and Madeline's birth certificates, their Italian passports, engagement and wedding invitations, their marriage license and certificates, and U.S. naturalization papers. Salvatore attended evening school to learn English and study civics, and four notebooks record his exercises in letter writing, essays, and vocabulary. He was also active in fraternal organizations, such as the Legione dei Vespri (Vespers Legion), made up of men born in Sicily or whose paternal ancestry was Sicilian; the collection includes his dues book and copy of the legion's constitution.

Italians (like immigrants of various nationalities) formed mutual aid societies to provide support—social as well as financial, usually in the form of burial insurance—to their countrymen. Immigrants from the Vizzinis' hometown organized the Società di Mutuo Soccorso Maria SS.ma del Monte Fra i Cittadini di Racalmuto in New York (Mutual Aid Society of Maria Santissima del Monte among the Citizens of Racalmuto in New York) around 1919. The society was named for and honored the town's patron saint, the Madonna del Monte, a statue of the Virgin Mary discovered in North Africa and brought to Racalmuto in 1503 (a pamphlet relaying this event and the miracles attributed to the statue is found in Box 2, Folder 11). Salvatore Vizzini was a member from at least 1928, and served as recording secretary beginning about 1938. In that capacity he preserved the documents present in the collection, which include the society's constitution and by-laws, membership applications, letters received from fellow Italian mutual aid societies, and announcements and fliers. One undated broadside shows an image of the Madonna with the text "M. SS. DEL MONTE la cui festa si celebra al 218 Chrystie St., in N.Y." (Maria Santissima Del Monte whose feast is celebrated at 218 Chrystie St., in N.Y."). The collection also includes Vizzini's lapel badges worn for society functions, and a 1939 photograph of the organization's 20th anniversary taken at the Roman Catholic Church of the Nativity on Second Avenue.

Of historic interest are a number of forgotten Manhattan venues mentioned on documents throughout the collection, such as
• Beethoven Hall, 210 East 5th Street (Box 1, Folder 24)
• Broadway Central Hotel, 673 Broadway (Box 1, Folder 1)
• Central Opera House, 205 East 67th Street (Box 2, Folder 8)
• Great Central Palace, 90–96 Clinton Street (Box 1, Folder 20)
• National Theatre Building, Houston Street at Second Avenue (Box 2, Folder 4)
• Stuyvesant Casino, 140–142 Second Avenue (Box 1, Folder 21)

Rounding out the collection is a small assemblage of English and Italian-language print matter in the form of pamphlets and clippings on topics of Italian and Italian-American interest, such as poetry by Olindo Guerrini (1845–1916), and articles by fellow Racalmuto native Leonardo Sciascia (1921–1989).