In the early 2000s, the Italians of Montclair Oral and Photographic History Project provided digitization for photographs, documents, and personal artifacts of Italians and Italian Americans in Montclair, with the mission to uncover, record, and preserve the precious traces of the Italian American community in Montclair from the late 19th century through the early 21st century.
Researchers from Montclair State University met with seniors from the local Italian American community to share the project’s vision. Participants in these early meetings brought some photos and artifacts that became the first materials digitized by the project.
The gallery below includes foundational documents of the project, including the interview guide and recruitment materials.
The project digitized hundreds of documents, photographs, and objects, which can be viewed by visiting the Family Collection tag, and conducted over 50 oral history interviews with Italian American Montclair residents. The gallery below pictures participants in the project.
Transcripts of the interviews and reflections from the interviewers are available below. Click on the name of an interview narrator and the document will download. If there are multiple documents associated with the interview, there will be additional documents listed after the name.
Frances Ferlauto and Angelica Fusco: Transcript, Interviewer Reflection
Angelo (Buddy) Fortunato: Part 1
Angelina Marzullo: Part 1, Part 2