To Know Where You Are Going, Know Where You Have Been

To Know Where You Are Going, Know Where You Have Been was a statue proposed for construction at Montclair’s Bay Street New Jersey Transit train station, located in the Fourth Ward Pine Street neighborhood which had long been the center of Montclair’s Italian American community. The proposal design included an obelisk designed to honor both the Italian and Black histories of the Fourth Ward. A prototype of the statue was created and entered as a potential design, but it ultimately was not selected for installation.

St. Sebastian Society

Founded in 1926, the St. Sebastian Society has a long history in Montclair. Affiliated with Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the society has hosted an annual procession with the St. Sebastian statue alongside several carnivals and celebrations for decades.

Pictured below are some historical photos of the Society’s activities, including the St. Rocco Feast, discontinued in the 1930s.

Some of these traditions are finding new life in recent years; the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Festival was revived in 2004.

Pictured below is another recent St. Sebastian event, the 2018 macaroni dinner.

St. Donato Society

The St. Donato Society is a recently-established community group primarily composed of men dedicated to honoring St. Donato. For years, the society has maintained a statue of St. Donato at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, where it serves as a focal point for their annual procession in the saint's honor. In addition to the procession, some years feature a carnival, bringing together local families to celebrate Italian and Catholic heritage.

Schools

This collection, gathered from community members with significant contributions from the Pondisco family, offers a glimpse into the local educational experience of Italian American children in Montclair. A large portion of the collection centers around Glenfield School, which was primarily attended by Black and Italian students. The materials provide insight into the experiences of these communities within the school system, shedding light on the cultural dynamics and the stories of students who were educated in Montclair.

4th Ward Italian District

Many Italian Americans who settled in Montclair lived in the 4th Ward neighborhood around Pine Street.

Local experts provided a walking tour with additional information about the neighborhood.

The following photos were provided as visual aids for the tour.

The gallery below shows visitors enjoying the tour.

In the below video, Marisa Trubiano talks to local residents Dominic DiGeronimo and Frank Gerard Godlewski about their memories of the neighborhood.

History Center Exhibit

In 2004 and 2005, the Montclair History Center hosted two exhibits based on the oral histories, photographs, and ephemera collected by the Italians of Montclair Oral and Photographic History Project.

Community members were invited to the exhibit with the invitations and press materials below.

The gallery below shows the exhibit materials, as well as the audience at the opening reception.

In addition to the physical displays, the exhibit featured a rotating film of photos collected through the Oral and Photographic History Project, shown below (split across two galleries due to number of images).

The exhibit was also covered in the Italian press.

Feasts and Festivals

Both historically and in the modern day, feasts and festivals have been an important part of community building for Italian American residents in Montclair. These galleries and videos provide a glimpse of the celebrations held.

Tauriello Family

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. This collection was generously provided for digitization by Linda Tauriello.

To view other collections digitized through the project, visit the Family Collection tag.

Tango and Nicastro Families

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. This collection was generously provided for digitization by Vinny Tango.

To view other collections digitized through the project, visit the Family Collection tag.