Exhibition Review Italian Americans of the Mahoning Valley 1890–1924. Curated by Paula Schaefer. Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor, Youngstown, Ohio. December 5, 2013–February 1, 2014. ©2014 John D. Calandra Italian American Institute Downloaded from http://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/iar/article-pdf/4/2/165/1202622/italamerrevi.4.2.0165.pdf by guest on 06 February 2022 The history of Italian Americans in northeastern Ohio follows a narrative recognizable by descendants of ethnic enclaves across the Rust Belt—these immigrants toiled under unfavorable conditions for industrial capitalists and faced discrimination in the workplace; women, summoned to the United States by their husbands, tended to the needs of the family while navigating a strange new land; young children, many of whom were born after a family’s immigration, grew up amid two distinct cultures. But Italian-American history in the Mahoning Valley is not entirely a textbook case: The story of Italian immigrants in this region has unique chapters that set it apart from those of other urban communes such as New York City, Boston, or Philadelphia. The exhibition Italian Americans of the Mahoning Valley 1890–1924 does a respectable job interpreting a sizable amount of information related to this pivotal moment of the Italian diaspora and U.S. history; it outlines the basics in a digestible manner and, with limited space, achieves a holistic view of the period through thoughtful text, reproductions, and carefully selected artifacts and archives. Mounted in the lobby of the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor (known locally as the Steel Museum) and funded by a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council, Italian Americans of the Mahoning Valley 1890–1924 examines the Italian settlements that populated the coal- and iron-ore-rich Ohio Valley located centrally between its urban neighbors, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. This presentation, curated by Youngstown State University student Paula Schaefer as a companion to the Smithsonian Institution’s Museums on Main Street exhibit Journey Stories (also on view in the building from November 6–December 31, 2013), made efficient use of the space available and complemented the overall mission of the institution. Sharing the account of the area’s Italian-American community in a facility overseen by Youngstown State University’s Department of History is apropos; they have dedicated the building’s permanent exhibition, By the Sweat of Their Brow: Forging the Steel Valley (which in turn details the valley’s urban, immigration, and labor histories), to the history of manufacturing in the region. This modest yet richly detailed display culled the collections of the Catholic University of America Archives and the Ohio Historical Society/Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor, as well as familial archives, to weave together the tale of Italian Americans who successfully fashioned a community based on shared heritage and experience. Text and image heavy, the exhibit featured durable vinyl panels that functioned as the main storytelling element. These followed a logical chronologic order: what drove emigrants from their towns and villages, the realities of their immigration, employment in the Mahoning Valley, the evolution of Little Italies and the hardships those neighborhoods endured, and the influence of Italian-American culture in the region. 166 • Italian American Review 4.2 • Summer 2014 Downloaded from http://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/iar/article-pdf/4/2/165/1202622/italamerrevi.4.2.0165.pdf by guest on 06 February 2022 Exquisite high-resolution reproductions of archival documents performed as visual vignettes supporting the main themes of the exhibition. These reproductions were satisfying in that they allowed one to look at individuals and families as case studies and understand the impact of the broader topics broached in the panel copy. For example, the enlarged facsimile of Alfonso Porfirio’s passport and Ellis Island inspection card from 1903, yellowed with age, was a simple yet effective illustration used to illuminate the panel describing the era’s “pull” factors; likewise, on the panel explaining local labor opportunities the 1905 double portrait of Aniello Clemente and Joseph Pallante, the handsomely dressed adult son of a recruiter for Niles Fire Brick Company (NFB), paired with a 1895 group photograph of unskilled laborers from NFB, successfully communicated the number of men employed by manufacturers through the padrone system. Between the informative panels lining the Steel Museum’s lobby, several acrylic display cases housing material culture sat on two cloth-covered tables. An advantage to placing these tactile elements on tables was that they sat at a low level where one could get up close and look at the objects from all angles. These cases included identifying captions mounted to foam core, many of which were peeling at the corners; unlike the vinyl panels, the aesthetics of this part of the display left something to be desired. The two tabletop arrangements were a continuation of the themes outlined in the neighboring panels, and each presentation seemingly defined the roles of the two genders in the Italian-American community. One display highlighted men’s work life through artifacts and archives: Pat Liste’s hard hat and padlock from his storage locker at Republic Steel; a worker’s badge, payroll page, refractory brick, and book of standards from NFB; Carnegie Steel’s “bible” of steelmaking, The Making, Shaping, and Treating of Steel, a text first published in 1919 and still in use by the steel industry. The wear on Liste’s belongings was perhaps the most evocative detail in the grouping, alluding to the sheer number of hours of his life he sacrificed to Republic Steel. Across the lobby, a second display sandwiched between panels about neighborhoods and Italian-American culture drew attention to the domestic realm by showcasing a number of items relating to the life of women. Carolina Moccia DeBlasio’s crocheted scarf, Lucia Clemente Pallante’s Italian-language prayer book and wooden rosary, and Irene DeCapita’s embroidered shawl each implied the movement of hands. Whether engaged in craft or devotion, these imagined hands triggered ruminations of women’s domestic work over time and its attendant values. While much of the history of the Mahoning Valley’s Italian Americans mirrors those of other Italian-American communities across the nation, there are a few anomalies that made their experiences in Ohio idiosyncratic. One exception noted throughout the exhibit was the indirect chain migration to the nearby town of Niles, Ohio, via Brazil. Residents of Bagnoli Irpino (Avellino province) first relocated to Desclavado near São Paulo in Brazil (misidentified as “Belem Desclavio” in the captions) before being recruited to work in the United States; laborers from the province of Avellino were prized for their ability to manufacture refractory brick, which was fabricated locally and used to line the steel furnaces. Also acknowledged was the community’s push for education and literacy for themselves and their children. Unlike immigrants to some of the larger urban enclaves in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest, Italian Americans of the Mahoning Valley took advantage early in the twentieth century of local resources Exhibition Review • 167 —MELISSA E. MARINARO Senator John Heinz History Center Downloaded from http://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/iar/article-pdf/4/2/165/1202622/italamerrevi.4.2.0165.pdf by guest on 06 February 2022 offering citizenship and English classes; parents encouraged their children to pursue an education, even at the collegiate level, instead of pulling them out of school to work. Il Cittadino Italo-Americano, Youngstown’s Italian-language newspaper, emulated this patriotic sentiment by advertising citizenship classes to their readership, reinforcing the community’s desire to assimilate. The capstone of Italians in the Mahoning Valley 1890–1924 focused on the foundation laid by those early immigrants that established a lasting legacy for future generations. Fraternal organizations and celebrations like the St. Rose Festival, the Warren Italian-American Heritage Festival, the Brier Hill Italian Festival, and Columbus Day celebrations created and perpetuated traditions that are still alive in the Youngstown area. The presence of Italian parishes, such as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, assured that the community had a haven to engage in ethnically keyed religious practices. Homeownership, seen as the greatest accomplishment for a people once refused the right to own property in their native land, was attainable and deepened Italian roots in the region. Mortgage documents belonging to immigrants Joseph Pallante and Alfonso Porfirio, two of the exhibit’s case studies, were a tangible symbol of their eventual Americanization. It was in this final assemblage that the Mahoning Valley’s ItalianAmerican journey story came full circle, confirming that the struggles, sacrifices, and steadfastness of the community did not go unrewarded.