The Oyster Bay Historical Society...OBHS Looks at Year 2001

January 11, 2002, Friday

OBHS Looks at Year 2001

Italian-American Experience and Oystering Fill the Days

By Dagmar Fors Karppi


	Maureen Monck, Ph.D. who co-chaired the Oyster Bay Historical Society's successful Italian-American Experience in Oyster Bay with Betty and Hank Tiska.

The Oyster Bay Historical Society celebrated the holidays with their annual open house. This year, because the Earle Wightman House has the Italian-American Experience in Oyster Bay still on exhibit now through February, the party was held at the Oyster Bay Community Center. It was the venue of one of their most successful panel discussions on the Italian-American politician.

Tom Kuehhas, director of the Oyster Bay Historical Society said, "Everyone enjoyed it so much. There was such a nice give and take between the audience and panel, but I had to stop it because we had to open the exhibit, and I even had questions that I wanted to ask the politicians!"

Another panel discussion took place on Nov. 30 at Dowling College. Mario Macaluso, and Dr. Sal La Gumina, were on that panel. It was part of Dowling's year-long celebration of the Italian contribution to American culture. One of the issues they looked at was to compare life of the Italian American in Bay Shore and here in Oyster Bay, said Mr. Kuehhas.

"For the most part they were very similar. I've gotten calls from people upstate, who saw the latest Freeholder and said: 'It was just like my growing up time.' I've even had people who grew up in Queens who said it was all so similar."

Besides being on the panel, Mr. Macaluso offered series visitors the opportunity to buy his book My Mother: Memoir of a Sicilian Woman. He interviewed his mother, Giuseppina Liarda Macaluso, for many hours and translated the tapes from her native Sicilian into English to create the book. "It was like a conversation. You feel like a fly on the wall while the interview is being conducted," said Mr. Kuehhas.

"It was so compelling. She saw everything so black and white: the forces of good versus the forces of evil. For instance, that when people took things that didn't belong to them and got paid back two-fold: that people would get their comeuppance," he said.

The stories explain how hard her life was, married into a Sicilian farming family that had her working out in the fields even while nine months pregnant. Her mother-in-law's attitude was that she didn't need to eat for two when expecting.

Her sister-in-law had sympathy for her and told her every time she passed the large basket of bread in the kitchen, to reach down to the bottom and take a few slices to eat. She said there were always eight loaves in the basket and that the mother-in-law would never know!

When a doctor advised that she needed to add eggs and milk to her diet, the family said "no." She was helped by a peasant-woman from another town who worked for the family. She would tell the mother-in-law that the chickens weren't laying any eggs and ask that Giuseppina come out and help search. When she came outside to search, the peasant-woman would hand her the largest egg she found and told her to eat it.

She was treated better by a servant than by the family she had married into.

The book is written in a style not unlike a conversation with someone. Layer by layer, the story is enriched and embellished as the reader learns more and more about the people in the story. Everyone agreed it is a page-turner. The book is available through the OBHS at a cost of $20 a copy. Mr. Kuehhas said he also has copies of The Freeholder edition on the Italian-American Experience series. They are available for $5 a copy or are free with membership in the OBHS which ranges from $25 for individuals, $35 family with corporate and contributing sponsor memberships available.

Looking at the series over all, Mr. Kuehhas said, "The Italian-American Experience has been so well received, people are still coming to see it. Word is getting around and visitors from the Italian Cultural Association in Plainview are coming to view the exhibit and they may hold a meeting here."

Current Project

While working on the Italian-American Experience, Mr. Kuehhas has been working on a video documentary of the oystering industry.

"We are working on the script right now. Then we have to do the editing. We are hoping on completing the documentary by the early part of 2002. Fritz Coudert has been a major backer of the project." Mr. Coudert is the president of The Waterfront Center.

"I was approached to help them work on their historical maritime exhibits detailing Oyster Bay's rich maritime heritage," he said, broadening the base of his involvement with the community.

On the oystering video, he said, "The whole project started a year ago when the Library of Congress was celebrating its bicentennial. They requested communities across the country to come up with information on local history or a reenactment of an event and I immediately thought of the oystering industry.

"We have been shooting interviews with oyster boat captains and the members of the Flower family including Dave Relyea. We couldn't have come as far as we have without their whole-hearted support."

Next Project

When asked what the next project of the Oyster Bay Historical Society will be, Mr. Kuehhas had an interesting answer.

"Over the last few years, we've taken a look at our collections. For the Tiffany series, we looked, didn't have a lot of information, and set out to 'Find Louis Comfort Tiffany' through interviews and pictures from members of the family in the area. We really filled a void in doing that series. Cool!

"The same happened for the Italian-Americans. So, we will take a look at the collection and decide where we can fill another void in Oyster Bay's recorded history."

It will be interesting to see what they come up with. For information about the OBHS please call 922-5032.