Rhode Island Italian Genealogy Bibliography

As a follow-up to this weekend’s excellent session with Barbara Carroll on Rhode Island Italian Genealogy, here’s a list of some articles from Rhode Island History, the Society’s publication, on the topic:

• Stefano Luconi, “Ethnic Shops versus Chain Stores: Retailing among Italian Americans in theInterwar Years,” vol. 62 (Winter/Spring 2004).
• Stefano Luconi, “Italian Fascism and the Italian Americans of Providence,” vol. 60, (Spring 2002).
• Leo E. Carroll, “Irish and Italians in Providence, Rhode Island, 1880-1960,” vo. 28 (Summer 1996).
• Peter W. Bardaglio, “Italian Immigrants and the Catholic Church in Providence,” vol. 34 (May 1975).

An Impartial Hand

In a recent New Yorker article on the history of debtor imprisonment*, Jill Lepore briefly mentions a 1754 Rhode Island imprint titled The Ill Policy and Inhumanity of Imprisoning Insolvent Debtors (Vault, Alden #142). An impassioned appeal for an end to debtors’ prisons, the only title page attribution is to “An Impartial Hand”. (Probably no relation to Learned Hand, Faithful Hand, Disinterested Hand, or any of these Hands.**) The short pamphlet is a mixture of religiously-based admonition (“How just is the Damnation of JUDAS, who for a little MONEY, betrayed Innocent Blood?”) and rational argumentation (“. . . the wise End of all Laws, is the Good of the Society for which such Laws are made. Is it not best therefore, that each Member in Society, should be employed in some useful Occupation . . .”). The author was well ahead of his or her time: as Lepore points out, it would take nearly a hundred more years for the United States to ban debtors’ prisons.

Although the authorship and publishing details are anonymous, it has long been accepted in bibliographies that this is an imprint from James Franklin’s shop in Newport (more about Franklin in an earlier post).

This copy (one of five known) includes evidence of ownership. A bookplate on the front pastedown identifies it as from the “Estate of William P. Sheffield,” most likely the former U.S. Senator from Rhode Island. The title page also includes pen trials (working on that perfect “of”) and the name Mary Marsh[?].

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* Jill Lepore, Annals of Finance, “I.O.U.,” The New Yorker, April 13, 2009, p. 34.

** The English Short Title Catalog lists 59 imprints with “Impartial Hand” as the author. Evan’s Early American Imprints includes A true narrative of a most stupendous trance and vision (requires subscription), written by “An Impartial Hand”. Apparently it was a popular sobriquet.

Rhode Island Italian

Don’t miss the chance to learn more about conducting genealogical research on your Italian ancestors. This Saturday from 10:00-12:30 professional genealogist Barbara Carroll will offer a hands-on workshop at the Library. More details available at http://www.rihs.org/libevents.htm.

A Lunar Calendar

In celebration of the beginning of Passover, here’s an important item of Rhode Island Judaica: A Lunar Calendar, of the Festivals, and Other Days in the Year, Observed by the Israelites (Newport: Newport Mercury, 1806 — Vault, CE 35 .L8).

This calendar — used to determine holidays and other important dates — reflects Rhode Island’s long tradition of religious freedom. The Touro Synagogue, for instance, is the nation’s oldest, completed in 1763 as a place of worship for a Jewish community that had been in Newport for over a hundred years.

A Lunar Calendar is the first Jewish calendar printed in America and only the second book printed for American Jews. (The Library also holds a copy of the first, A Sermon Preached at the Synagogue, in Newport, Rhode-Island, called “The salvation of Israel”. Both have recently been re-cataloged and re-housed.)

Moses Lopez, the author of the calendar, was born in Portugal and apparently also held a patent for the manufacture of potash.*

This copy includes the following inscription on the front pastedown: “Presented to Jacob J. Cohen by Naphtali Phillips, New York 11th Ce Adar, 5570″ [March 17, 1810].” The image below (click for a closer view) provides an idea of the calendar’s contents and includes annotations by, perhaps, Cohen:

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* See George Mason’s Reminiscences of Newport (Newport: Charles E. Hammett, Jr., 1884), pages 56-7.