What are the origins and inspiration for this website called Grandmothers, Mothers, and Daughters:Life Stories of Italian-American Women? Who am I--the interviewer and archivist for the Italian-American women's stories gathered and published here? What is the evolutionary path that led to the creation of this website?

Let me begin by sharing a little of my own story. I am a third-generation Italian-American woman who, since adolescence, has been captivated by her Italian heritage. As one of six children I grew up in a large, noisy, emotive, close-knit family. And as is the case with many Italian-Americans, family was and still is central in my life. I visit with my parents and sisters on a near-daily basis; and I cherish the many large family gatherings that continue to take place.

Twenty-eight years ago--at the age of twenty--I conducted my first audiotaped interview. I recorded my elderly aunt's immigration experience and other childhood reminiscences. Many years later--as an older student returning to college--I conducted additional interviews with various family members as an assignment for a sociology class. I was now truly "hooked" on using interviews to research my roots in an attempt to discover the impact my Italian heritage had had on my family and on my own life.

I also began to understand the potential power inherent in the oral history interview process--for those being interviewed, as well as for me as the interviewer. It was at this point that I started thinking about broadening my interviews to include the stories of other Italian-American families, particularly the stories of other Italian-American women.

A few years later during my graduate studies in sociology at Boston College I decided to make Italian-American women the focus of my Master's Thesis research. This decision was undoubtedly driven by my desire to further understand my roots and my heritage. However, it was also driven by something else. For decades sociologists and social historians either ignored or inadequately addressed the lives of Italian immigrant women and the lives of their Italian-American daughters and granddaughters. Social scientists apparently considered women's experiences, expectations, and contributions to be insignificant--unworthy of representation or analysis. Or perhaps sociologists and historians were not "intellectually cognizant" of the Italian woman's existence. In other words, they simply did not "see" her as a separate entity requiring consideration in her own right. Thus, I wanted to "give a voice" to Italian and Italian-American women--to the grandmothers, mothers, and daughters.

For practical reasons, I later decided to narrow my thesis research to include only elderly Italian-American women from Boston's North End. I made this choice in part because I have always been enamored with the "neighborhood" and in part because the North End is a dying community. According to the Gerontology Institute of the University of Massachusetts at Boston, "Once the present generation passes on, the North End will cease to be an enclave for people of Italian descent...The community is losing its strong, tight-knit ethnic base." (Changing Times, Changing Economics: Experiences of Older Residents in Boston's North End) It is an ethnic enclave in the midst of its death throes. Thus, I felt an urgency to document the lives of the North End's elderly Italian-American female residents--to give recognition to previously unheard voices--before it was too late.

The process of doing oral history interviews with women in the North End enriched and informed my life (and allowed me to develop an extremely interesting thesis). I felt privileged to have been given entrance into their lives--no matter how briefly--and to have shared in their rich and often poignant life stories. The interview process made it possible for me to meet some extraordinary women and to develop a number of new friendships that I continue to treasure.

After completing my thesis (entitled Growing up and Growing Old in Boston's North End: An Oral History Approach to a Study of Italian-American Women) and receiving my Master's Degree, I wanted to ensure that these wonderful, vivid stories would not languish in the Boston College archives or sit in boxes in my basement, rarely to be read. I began to ponder ways to make the oral histories available to a wider audience, to share the life stories of Italian-American women with others. Thus was born the concept for this website. Eventually, my "mission" grew from publishing the seventeen life stories I had already collected to gathering additional life stories from other Italian and Italian-American women throughout the country, using Internet technology. In the near future I hope to include sound in this site--to make "voice-clips" available for each of the women interviewed. [If you would like to add your story or a family member's story, please go to I'd Like to Send.]

This site is dedicated to my mother, Anna--an extraordinary woman--and to the remarkable women of Boston's North End.