italians

Great photo!   It looks like a smiling member of New York's Finest is reflected in the mirror.

Pixel Wrangler Either that or a bus driver. Great photo!

Galilla S   It's a policeman - there's another photo taken by the same photographer, Marjory Collins a few doors down on Mulberry Street a few days later in a grocery store with a policeman in it, and the hat badge (#11129) is the same design.

It's possible it's the same policeman -- the features look very similar albeit he's wearing glasses in one photograph and not in the other.

The grocery store photo is part of the same series in the FSA/OWI Collection of The Library of Congress as the above photograph and hasn't yet made its way to the flickr stream.

New York, New York. Italian-American policeman chatting with customers in a grocery store on Mulberry Street

Marjory Collins (1912-1985), photographer • January, 1943

Happy New Year!   This is Bartolomeo Dicostanzo with his wife Jennie Dicostanzo sharing a toast to the New Year 1943 from behind the bar at their restaurant, Marconi's at 114-116 Mulberry Street in the heart of the "Little Italy" section of New York City.

The DiCostanzo family consisted of at least 7 children, Frank, Luca, Pasquale, Anna, Mary (age 30 at the time of this photo), Tacy, and Rosie. [ 1 ]   No doubt their extended family numbered into high double digits.   They celebrated an annual tradition of a New Year's Eve dinner at their restaurant.

There are several other photographs of the dinner, as well as the chef, in the same series photographed by Marjory Collins in the FSA/OWI Collection of The Library of Congress that haven't yet made their way to the flickr stream.

Here's a photo of two of the daughters that night, along with a photo showing the DiCostanzo family enjoying their annual New Year's Eve Dinner.

Two of the Di Costanzo girls at their New Year's family party.

Marjory Collins (1912-1985), photographer • December 31 1942

The Di Costanzo family, owners of a restaurant on Mulberry Street, hold their annual family dinner in the restaurant on New Year's Eve.

Marjory Collins (1912-1985), photographer • December 31 1942

Pixel Wrangler Do You Know Where the Di Costanzo's family are Coming From?

This building is still there, and that newspaper is still around too.

Please see stumblng.tumblr.com/post/23944336, where I've written a mini-essay on this photo.

The month and year of my birth in Chillicothe, Mo. My folks literally lived in a tarpaper shack. They moved to Norwalk, Ca. three months later. Thank you, folks! I don't like the cold at all, at all! My dad later worked in the war industry and in the merchan marine. My mom was one of thosee "Rosie the riviters" in Long Beach.

Gee, I wish the stupid, smart-ass notes would be deleted off these photos.

I agree about the stupid notes , teenager type of attention seeking and annoying .

A wonderful image that tells an interesting story. My guess it that this child was from Viggiano, a small town at the southern-most point of the Italian Apennine range. Viggiano and nearby towns were the 'sending' towns for seasonal itinerant street musicians, whose range gradually extended during the 18th century, from the Italian peninsular, to Europe, England, America, Argentina, Brazil, even Egypt - and finally to the nineteenth-century to Australia. While the British and American press sensationalised the plight of these "little slaves of the harp", I think that John Thomson and Adelphi Smith were rather more realistic and insightful in their assessment. This child is well dressed and shod, and appears to be well fed. Although he probably left his mother, sisters and younger brothers behind in his home town. He is playing a harp typical of Viggiano; diatonic and portable. The leather strap is for that purpose, and illustrates the famous poem by Paolo Parzanese (1809-1852): Ho l’arpa al collo , son viggianese Tutta la terra è il mio paese. Come la rondine che lascia il nido, passo cantando di lido in lido: e fin che in seno mi batte il cor dirò canzoni d’armi e d’amor. I would be very interested in further comments about the identities of the bystanders - Italian or English? someone with more knowledge than I about costume might be able to help. (Worth reading: John Zucchi, "Little Slaves of the Harp" and Enzo V. Alliegro (in Italian, not available in English)

mystroh This information is fascinating, thank you, mystroh! It would certainly be interesting if anyone had further comments on the bystanders. The two boys either side of the pipe smoking gentlemen seem to be wearing similar attire to the harp player.

My guess it that the elderly man is English. Top hat and clay pipe - not typically Italian for that period? An Italian would have been more likely to have only a moustache. The lad leaning against the post is probably Italian. I have seen hats like this in photographs taken in Viggiano in the first decade of the twentieth century. But I would welcome other opinions!

Very sad to see one little italien slave of the harp www.amazon.com/Little-Slaves-Harp-Nineteenth-Century-McGi...