The Grapevine: A Historical Italian Festival Secret
By Rosalyn Queen on August 18, 2022 from The Grapevine
I BET YOU DID NOT KNOW THIS: In 1998 when I was contemplating retiring from the Italian Festival, I wrote a grant to the National Italian American Foundation for $5,000. The grant was for the purpose of recording about 50 interviews with Italian Americans in West Virginia having been born in Italy or having parents who were immigrants.
After a little research I found that there were several written interviews but to our knowledge there were no interviews in their own voice. In these interviews you can hear their passion, their sorrow, and their happiness.
The grant was written to NIAF, and it included an individual who would do the interviews, an individual who could serve as an interpreter if needed. It would also include an individual who could serve as a secretary and handle those responsibility.
When I wrote the grant, I said that I would serve as the individual who would do the interviewing. The grant included materials for interviewing such as a recorder and tapes. I also inserted funding for all the completed interviews to be copied and stored in the genealogy department of the Clarksburg Library. A recorder was also purchased to stay at the library for use with the tapes.
I inserted a questionnaire that included questions that I would ask the individuals when interviewing. Judy Byer helped me compile this questionnaire. I also included a “Collecting Release Form” that was signed by the interviewee, which stated that they agreed to the fact that this interview could be used for educational and historical purposes and for research, publication, instruction, and other relate purposes for the preservation of our Italian heritage.
Having gathered all this information, I submitted the grant to NIAF in early 1999. While attending the NIAF Gala in October 1999, it was announced by the Grant Department that I had been awarded the grant and could start immediately on the project.
I started contacting individuals and setting up times to do interviews. I interviewed Pasquilina Mazza, and Rose Mazza served as the interpreter. Some others who were interviewed were A. Sereno, Rose Greco Martin, Mary Barile Merandi, Nola Tarantino with the Oliverio and Romano history, Joe Tarantino, James Joseph Oliverio, Frank Fragale who can be heard singing an Italian song, and sisters Filomena Oliveto and Judy Oliveto Tiano who sang the rosary in Italian. You will be able to find several other interviews. In Fairmont I also interviewed Mrs. A. Fulda and Helen Fuscaldo, and Gloria Alvarez shared the history of the D’Annunzio family and their bakery in North View.
Spend an afternoon in the Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library listening to these fascinating stories. It will only make you prouder of your heritage.
The one thing I want to impress on you is that you should record your family history from your parents and grandparents. It will be something that you can share with your children and grandchildren. Be sure to include customs and recipes.
So now it is no longer a secret, and you know it.
I hope to see you on the street at the Italian Festival and until next week “Now You Have Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
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