By Joseph M. Calisi ©2021 All Rights Reserved
Little Italy, Manhattan, December, 2021 –
The building that once housed the Italian American Museum (IAM) [https://www.italianamericanmuseum.org] at 155 Mulberry Street, was razed a couple of years ago only to enjoy a rebirth with a completely new structure that will serve as a cultural hub and community nexus for Italian Americans and the Little Italy neighborhood. The projected opening is projected for the Columbus Day weekend of 2023.
The IAM was charted in New York State as the first Italian Museum in America in 2001 about a year after the successful exhibition of “The Italians of New York – Five Centuries of Struggle and Achievement” at the New York Historical Society that was sponsored and curated by when Dr. Joseph V. Scelsa, who lead the Italian American Institute At CUNY in 1999. Dr. Scelsa is the Founder and President of The Italian American Museum.
With the increased exhibition and archival space in the new building, the mission of the Italian American Museum remains the same as it was in the old building: to preserve, promote, and celebrate the culture and history of Italian Americans. The museum walls will continue to bridge the past, the present and be a living record of Italian and Italian American contributions to America going forward.
The story of Italians in America began in what became New York City when Cesare Alberti emigrated from the Italian peninsula in the 1600s when it was named Niew Amsterdam under the Dutch. In a few years, Alberti became a successful tobacco farmer in Brooklyn. Many decades later, the population of Italians greatly increased beginning in the 1880s as native Italians fled their homeland that was in dire need of land and government reforms. The peak of immigration to the United States occurred at the beginning of the 20th century and Italians had to fight discrimination every step of the way by working hard and educating their children. A notable achievement was reached late in the 20th century when Antonin Scalia and Samuel A. Alito, Jr., served as two Italian Americans of the nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court at the same time!
As Dr. Scelsa said on the Museum’s website, “America. In our Museum, we seek to tell our whole story from Columbus to Cuomo and everything in between, our struggles and our accomplishments through hard work, ingenuity and perseverance. It has not always been easy but we have much to be proud of, for our contributions to American society are enormous. Now we will have a secular cathedral for all to see, experience and appreciate where we came from and what we have achieved.”
