Finding aid for the Little Italy Historical Museum Records and Photographs

History of the Little Italy Historical Museum

The Little Italy Historical Museum, also called the Little Italy Heritage Museum, operated first at 12020 Mayfield Road and then at 12026 Mayfield Road in Little Italy, Cleveland, Ohio, from 1983-2007. For most of its history, it was open six days each week during normal business hours. Extended hours and days would occur during special events, such as the Art Walk and Feast of the Assumption. On average, the museum received 650 visitors each month.

The Little Italy Historical Museum was founded by the Mayfield-Murray Hill District Council. The museum started in the council offices when members and visitors casually placed photographs of the Little Italy neighborhood and people on the walls. In 1983, the council formed a Cultural Committee that planned and established an official museum. Verna Ruolo Schuster and Anthony Gambatese were the first volunteer curators. Lauretta Nardolillo and Eva Maesta served as volunteer curators from the late 1990s until the museum's closing in 2007. All of the curators were born and raised and lived as adults in Little Italy.

The museum collected books, photographs, documents, sheet music, posters, certificates, business receipts, letters, and artifacts and textiles. The materials represented primarily the lives, businesses, and organizations of the people of the Little Italy neighborhood. However, the museum also collected items that represented other Italian neighborhoods, the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and Italy. While the curators did solicit some items for the collection, many were simply dropped off at the offices. A prize of the collection was a Sicilian Cart painted with illustrations of Christopher Columbus's voyage to and discovery of America. The Mayfield-Murray Hill District Council won the cart at auction in the 1980s and used it in many Feast of the Assumption processions.

Besides caring for the collections, the curators provided a number of other services. They scheduled and gave tours to school groups, provided information to students conducting research about the neighborhood, and served as neighborhood ambassadors. Since there was no charge for admission to the museum's exhibits, the curators also helped with soliciting donations and raising funds through the sale of souvenirs, music CDs and tapes, and reproductions of photographs from the collections.

In April of 1998, the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) of Cleveland, Ohio, sent a letter to the officers of the Mayfield-Murray Hill District Council and curator Lauretta Nardolillo expressing a desire to acquire and continue the preservation of the museum collections should it ever close. On May 6, 1998, the officers and curator met to discuss the proposal. They unanimously passed a resolution signed by all present that upon the museums closing, all collections of the Little Italy Historical Museum would be transferred to the Western Reserve Historical Society. The collections became a part of the WRHS Italian American Collection in 2007.

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for the Little Italy Neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio
click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for the Italian immigrant community of Cleveland, Ohio

Scope and Content

The Little Italy Historical Museum Records and Photographs, 1888 -2006 and undated, consist of both business records related to the museum and manuscripts and photographs collected by the museum. The collected manuscripts and photographs comprise the majority of the materials. The collection includes agreements, albums, awards, books, certificates, correspondence, 8mm films, flyers, forms, invoices, lists, magazine clippings, magazines, memoirs, memoranda, minutes, negatives, newsletters, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, photographs, posters, proclamations, programs, publications, receipts, reports, resolutions, scrapbooks, sheet music, and VHS tapes.

This collection primarily documents the history of the Little Italy neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, its people, businesses, and organizations. It contains information that would be helpful to those studying ethnic neighborhoods, Italian American history, and neighborhood museums.

Researchers interested in the various aspects of the Little Italy neighborhood and its development will find much useful information, particularly on the businesses, the clubs and organizations, the Catholic and Protestant churches, and the parochial, public, and private elementary schools.

Those studying the landscape history of the area and its changes over time would also find this collection of interest, specifically the materials under the subject heading of Buildings. Photographs may be found throughout the collection that show changes in the built environment but are categorized under another subject, for example, Celebrations. Seen in the background of a number of Feast of the Assumption processions are the neighborhood business and residences.

The large variety of material on the Feast of the Assumption would be useful to researchers interested in religious festivals in general and this celebration specifically.

Researchers studying the public art in the neighborhood, including the Christopher Columbus Statue and the Good Neighbor Mural, will benefit from looking at the materials under the subject heading of Art. Those studying the art of stone carving will find information under the subject headings of Businesses and People.

Many components of the collection would be beneficial for genealogical researchers, primarily the records and photographs under the subject heading of People. These folders contain biographical information on both individuals and families, including obituaries, birth/death certificates, naturalization papers, and diplomas as well as photographs. The scrapbook of Mary Regalbuto Jones contains information that provides a snapshot of life for a child growing up in Little Italy in the 1940s. Lists of names can also be found under the subject headings of Schools, Churches, and Clubs and Organizations.

There are portions of the collection which do not pertain to Little Italy and instead focus on the city of Cleveland and the country of Italy in general. The materials in these sections are basic in nature and provide a foundation for understanding the Little Italy neighborhood within larger historical, cultural, and geographic contexts. The material pertaining to Italy includes several maps and some illustrations of regional costumes. Information about aspects of the city of Cleveland can be found throughout the collection. These materials are more useful for allowing a researcher to understand the collecting interests of the museum itself. Other information about the Little Italy Historical Museum can be found under the subject heading of Museums.

The researcher should be aware that any folder in this collection could contain manuscript and/or photographic material.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Access

None.

The researcher should also consult MS 5080 Alexander L. "Sonny" DeMaioribus Papers; MS 5315 Carabelli Company Records and Photographs; MS 3536 Fiore D'Isidoro Papers; MS 3401 Alta House Records; MS 4086 Alta House Records, Series II; MS 4630 Bertha Blue Family Papers; PG 475 Bertha Blue Family Photographs; MS 5184 Jane Lee Darr Papers; and the
WRHS History Museum Catalog.

All artifacts have been transferred to the Western Reserve Historical Society History Museum.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Organizations/Corporations:

Places:

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 5353 Little Italy Historical Museum Records and Photographs, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

Gift of the Mayfield-Murray Hill District Council DBA Little Italy Historical Museum in 2007.

Processing Information

Processed by Giuseppe Cugliari, Pamela Dorazio Dean, Lindsey Fischer, and Connie Sancetta in 2010-2015.

Detailed Description of The Collection

Little Italy Historical Museum Records, 1900-2003