Italians of Montclair Digital Archive

DIVE INTO THE RICH HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN COMMUNITY IN MONTCLAIR

This site serves as a digital repository of the materials collected by the Italians of Montclair Oral and Photographic History Project at Montclair State University, which collaborated with local Italian American community members to conduct interviews, digitize photos and documents, and collaborate with local institutions, including the history center and public library, to preserve and share these histories.

Since the late 19th century, the Italian American community has been an integral part of Montclair. Italian immigrants arrived in Montclair primarily from the towns of Lacedonia, Aquilonia, Calitri, San Fele, Mercogliano, and Cerami, Italy, and settled centrally in the Pine Street neighborhood. The personal narratives and historical artifacts in this collection provide a glimpse into the vibrant community that developed there as Italian Americans built families, opened businesses, formed cultural and religious organizations, and navigated relationships with their Black neighbors in the Fourth Ward and the town of Montclair as a whole.

explore the collections

The repository is organized into collections. Each collection provides insight into a specific facet of the community's history. Many of the collections are specific to an Italian American family who contributed to the project. Others are thematic, such as the Italian American-Owned Businesses collection, and others are related to Italian American organizations and institutions, like Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. Donato’s. Finally, there are collections related to Italians of Montclair exhibits and events.

Each collection is tagged using thematic tags that reflect key aspects of the Italian American experience in Montclair: Business & Labor, Celebrations & Cultural Events, Education, Gravestones, Home & Family, Leisure & Entertainment, Migration & Citizenship, Military, Neighborhood, Race, Religion, Sports & Recreation, Travel, and Politics.

Below, you’ll see three ways to explore the collection. The first is a search bar that you can use to search the subcollections for key words. The second is the list of the collections organized by thematic tag; you can click on the subcollection’s name to open it in a new tab and view it in full. Finally, there is a link to a blog view, which shows all the subcollections in one paginated feed.

The Italian American community is also active on Facebook and shares historical materials and stories through the Italians of Montclair Facebook Page and Facebook Group.