Coming to Russell Library: Farms, Factories and Families: Italian American Women of CT

Post from Russell Library:
Anthony Riccio, author, photographer and oral historian, will speak about his book Farms, Factories and Families: Italian American Women of Connecticut Farms, Factories and Families.This book documents the rich history of Italian American working women in Connecticut, including the crucial role they played in union organizing.

• Saturday, Sept. 20
• 2 to 3:30 p.m.
• Hubbard Room of Russell Library, 123 Broad St., Middletown

Farms, Factories and Families opens with the voices of elderly Italian American women, who reconstruct daily life in Italy’s southern regions at the turn of the twentieth century. Raised to becaretakers and nurturers of families, these women lived in a patriarchal society that offered them few choices. This enlightening work reveals the trajectories of immigrant women who arrived in Connecticut with the ability to face adversity with quiet inner strength, the stamina to work tirelessly from dawn to dusk, the skill to manage the family economy, and adherence to moral principles rooted in the southern Italian code of behavior. Second- and third-generation Italian American women who attended college and achieved professional careers have not forgotten their legacy. This book gives them the opportunity to tell their own stories, in their own words.

Mr. Riccio will read sections of Farms, Factories, and Families and discuss the research and interview process he used to write the book. Copies of his books will be for sale and signing following the presentation. He has written two other books about the Italian American experience in New Haven and Boston, and says that once he started listening to the stories of the women he interviewed, he couldn’t get enough.

(Photo Credit: Russell Library website)