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IntroductionNearly 200 members of the Sacramento Italian Cultural Society and the Folsom Historical Society attended the opening reception for the exhibit "Nostra Storia" on January 28, 2000. This is a unique story about that wave of people from Italy, primarily from the area around Genoa in the region of Liguria, who settled in the foothills of the Mother Lode region of Northern California in the Mid-19th century. This is the first time that an exhibit has been created to tell the story of these enterprising people who contributed so much to the economic and cultural fabric of California. The history of the Italian Americans is often relegated to the margins of American and California history despite the fact that the Italians are the 5th largest ancestry group in America with more than 25 million Americans claiming to be of Italian decent. Some two million California's are of Italian decent, In fact, for much of California's history, the Italians have been the largest immigrant group in the StateThis exhibit is part of the determination by us, this generation of Italians, to see that our story is told and included in the history of the nation so we to can snare in that history. It is well known that from the 1880's to the 1940's, the Italians were among the largest of the immigrant groups to settle in America. But less is known about the earlier wave of Italians from northern Italy who established their economic and cultural communities across the United States. It was in California that their communities and enterprises flourished the most. We have all benefited from their legacy. From our access to banking services to the food we eat, we are all indebted to these pioneers for the inheritance they have left us. This story, like so many others about the Italians, would not have been told without the financial and intellectual resources devoted to this project by a committed Italian American institution in our community such as the Italian Cultural Society of Sacramento. It takes a large financial investment to put such an exhibit and a well organized team of Italian American scholars and activists that can make such a project a reality. This project, like so many others sponsored by the Society, is a reflection of the need for Italian American institutions like the Society to maintain our Italian community and speak for us when no one else well. That is why we work so hard at marshaling the resources of our community to support these goals. This exhibit is our way of saying thank you to those who preceded us but it is also a way of showing out pride in our contributions to American life. This exhibit is also our way of connecting our past to our future as a community, a people. Without a knowledge of our past we have no memory upon which to build our future and the Italian American movement in the United States is about creating a future for us as we have helped create the past. Without a vibrant Italian American community we can no longer make such a contribution to American society. This exhibit which will become a traveling exhibit, will join the Italian American World War II exhibit "Una Storia Segreta" and other exhibits being developed about the Italians in California agriculture, in the coastal fishing communities and in the urban centers and other regions of California. None of these exhibits has a home. One of the priority public policy goals of the statewide Italian American community is to establish a California Italian American Museum to house these and other exhibits under development. One of the primary goals of the "Italians in the Mother Lode project" is to establish a regional Italian American Museum in the Mother Lode where our story can be collected and displayed. The support and leadership of the Italian American community is vital to the success of these projects. |