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PIP Chapter #1 Chicago Meeting Report On the mild
Spring evening of Wednesday, April 19th, PIP Chapter #1 Chicago met
for the 30th time since it’s inception seven and a half years ago
at it’s usual hangout, Suparossa Ristorante Italiano in Woodridge, IL.
Forty-four (44) eager and interested local Italian genealogists gathered for a
tasty Italian family style dinner and the beneficial program which followed. Many of the
attendees brought their own personal artifacts to share with the group. These
items were displayed with the usual library of materials brought to each
meeting by the Pip Leader. The Chapter #1 library is growing and now includes
all the Italian genealogy books, both hard and soft cover, which have been
published plus a variety of pamphlets and assorted research guides. Also
included are local resource referrals, Lascio’s published columns, a binder
of immigrant passenger ship photos and English to Italian translated letters
to request civil and church documents. Leader Anthony
Lascio #1051 opened the meeting by asking first timer NICK BRASILE to
introduce himself. Nick is from
west suburban Aurora, IL. Anthony then
spoke about the upcoming POINT Conference detailing the specifics including
some of the topics to be presented. About
a half dozen attendees expressed interest in the Austin, Texas event.
Anthony reported that Chapter #1 collected and sent $165.00 to Lin
Brinkman #1388, Chapter #10's leader to assist toward the organizing this
second POINT Conference. Everyone
applauded. Also mentioned was reference
in the latest Pointers Journal to new PIP chapters in Santa Barbara, CA (#23)
and Salt Lake City, UT (#24) with the prospect of the 2002 POINT Conference
held there. What an opportunity to tie in with the LDS library. It was then
announced that a new book has been added to the Chapter #1 library, the MORTON
ALLAN DIRECTORY OF EUROPEAN PASSENGER STEAMSHIP ARRIVALS. JIM SCARNEGIE,
the COOLLIST Master, was introduced and spoke about a plan to shift our
Chapter #1 subscriber email link up from COOLLIST to eGROUPS explaining all
the benefits and advantages. The
attendees voted to make the change. LISA PERKINS came
forward to explain the revisions and improvements on Chapter #1's web site. It has been expanded to include a tool box containing
Lascio’s Fra Noi Italian Newspaper genealogy articles, an Italian/English
and vice versa translator, and Italian family group sheets for downloading
plus a search site map. She also
spoke about proposed changes in the future.
Lisa received a rousing round of applause for her dedicated work as
webmistress in producing and maintaining our top notch web site. The evening’s
main event was the pre announced program “BRAINSTORMING ITALY’S RECORD SOURCES”. The format was to separate of
the full group into four mini groups representing Italy’s four major
geographic regions; NORTH, CENTRAL, SOUTH and SICILY. We have no one with roots
in Sardinia. Each group appointed a “captain” who lead the open discussion
concerning everyone’s research experiences whether in person or via
correspondence as they sought archival records from the resources of church,
civil, diocesan and provincial. After
the allotted time period had elapsed, each captain gave a brief report
summarizing the mini group’s sessions. ALEX DeVOLPI who
lead the North mini group reported that his group concentrated on problem
solving and strategies; methods of collecting information; hiring a professional
genealogist and it’s cost effectiveness versus the cost of traveling to Italy
oneself; the advantages of tracing ancestry backwards from yourself through
parents and so forth rather that jumping right into the fray in Italy first; and
surprising response from large cities in Italy versus small towns. JAMES SCARNEGIE
who captained the Central Italian genealogists reported as follows: LDS
records are not all cataloged and obtaining assistance from a Mormon Church
“insider”; some Italians used their middle names not their given names
therefore genealogists should check out middle names as they research archives;
a desire of the mini group to continue to share their experience with others
from their region in the future; utilizing the Chicago Italian embassy;
accessing Italian military records; and the cost factor when requesting records
from Italian sources. The South of Italy
was summarized by Capt. DAN NIEMIEC #2304 who related his group’s discussion
highlighting the following: absence of microfilmed church records from Southern
Italy; an experience of what occurred when relatives mass mailed requests to
Italy for information and the resulting backlash; Italian genealogists; the 10
year descent indexes; a document which may have been for tracking an
individual’s town to town movement; and using a letter from an American priest
to an Italian priest for credibility purposes. The final report
was provided by RICHARD JACOBS #2827 who headed up the Sicilian contingent of
genealogists. This mini group
questioned sending a little money to Italy’s record sources as an incentive to
obtain the desired information before the regular fee after the results were
received; how to treat the Italian record keepers and building proper
relationships to obtain results; many of Italy’s records are already filmed
but not yet released by LDS due to the privacy factor or lack of ecclesiastic
authorization; a personal experience viewing civil records in Palermo in the
process of being “computerized”; some reluctance by Italian archivists to
permit microfilming, primarily the bishops of certain dioceses; and the best
method to utilize the LDS catalogs by starting out on a larger scale (Italy) and
working down to the smaller geographic areas as provinces and comunes. Each Captain did an
outstanding job leading his mini group and reporting on the brainstorming
session. The full group was
enthusiastic about this concept and asked the Chapter leader to schedule this
again. There also was interest in
sitting together by region at future dinner meetings. Lascio wished everyone a BUON PASQUA and announced the next
meeting date; Wednesday, July 19th at 7:00 P.M. once again at
Suparossa. |
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© PIP Chapter 1, 2003 ~ Webmaster: LPRoots@yahoo.com ~ page last updated on Monday, March 10, 2003 |