The Italian Welfare League founded

One hundred years ago today … the Italian Welfare League held its first event, at the Biltmore Hotel on East 44th Street, with guest speaker Fiorello La Guardia, President of NYC’s Board of Alderman. The League, noted the Sun and New York Herald, had “taken over all social service cases of the Italian consulate” (10 May, p. 6). There were an estimated 391,000 Italian immigrants living in New York in 1920, and over 800,000 Italians and US citizens of Italian descent.

From an article by Barry Moreno, Librarian at the Bob Hope Memorial Library at Ellis Island Statue of Liberty National Monument:

In 1920, the League set up headquarters at Lexington Avenue in Manhattan and opened a branch office on Union Street in Brooklyn. From these strategic points, it provided case work, home visitation, interpretation and translation, legal counsel, medical care, and also taught immigrants the English language, how to apply for American citizenship and about the rights and duties of citizens. Money was raised through aggressive membership drives and by throwing benefit concerts, dances, and co-sponsoring cultural events with local churches and clubs. Its efforts were quite successful thanks to the large Italian population and the enthusiastic support of the Italian ambassador, his wife, and other prominent figures such as master conductor Arturo Toscanini, operatic diva Rosa Ponselle, and tenor Jan Peerce.

(We have featured Ponselle previously, on our January 21 post which you can read here..)

The League was mostly organized and run by women. Its founders included Margherita de Vecchi, Paola Berizzi, Elizabeth T. Bava, and Carolina Allen Perera.

WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, MAY 10, 2020.

TAGS: Italian Welfare League, Immigration, Italian Americans