In February 1972, Rhode Island College announced the establishment of the Ethnic Heritage Studies Project. The project set out to document the experiences of Rhode Island's many ethnic groups and to create curriculum materials, conferences, and the acquisition of ethnic materials for the then newly created Special Collections at Rhode Island College. While the interviews with DeCiantis seem to be completed under this project, they were never part of the Rhode Island College Ethnic Heritage Studies Project records given to the Rhode Island College Special Collections.
This series contains audiocassettes of the interviews as well as a transcript of one of the interviews and an edited version of another interview. The series also includes written recollections provided by DeCiantis. In the interviews and written recollections DeCiantis discusses his early life in Italy, being adopted and finding his birth family in Italy, politics, the Ku Klux Klan in Rhode Island, and his career. The materials relating to the Ethnic Heritage Studies Project were added to the DeCiantis papers in 1983.
-
Ethnic Heritage Studies Project Interview: Early Life in Natick, R.I. (1973-12-18, Tape 2 of 2)
Michael DeCiantis and Carmela Santoro
This oral history is from the Michael DeCiantis Collection, Series 9: Ethnic Heritage Studies Project Interviews. The original recordings is located in Box 6, Folder 12, Tape 02. This is part two of a two part interview about DeCiantis' early life in Natick, RI as an Italian immigrant. As part of the digitization process, the audio tape was transcribed using AI software, and edited by library staff. The transcription is embedded in the video file, which, where possible, are paired with related images. In this interview, DeCiantis discusses the Italian School where he learned to read, write, and speak English. He says that the most difficult word to pronounce was "couldn't" because of the combination of letters. He attended Baker Street School when he was 11. (See letter from Edwin Luther, Superintendent of Schools in West Warwick, dated December 3, 1973.) He talks about the importance to the school children of raising the flag at school and making friends with youngsters of all nationalities. The Judge comments on the failure of schools in those days to teach the children the fundamentals of correct speech. Students learned to read but not to speak well. He tells of his after school chores and other activities including the joys of childhood play. He comments on abortions and his early impressions regarding births, a midwife Maria Pontarelli, and his mother giving birth in the home. He reflects on the attitudes of the immigrants toward the United States government during World War I, his boredom with school, and the interruption of his education. Next, he discusses various attempts to get jobs and his subsequent return to school. He talks about his interest in law and his entrance to Boston University as a special student.
-
Ethnic Heritage Studies Project Interview: Early life, parents, Italy (1973-12-04, Tape 1 of 2)
Michael DeCiantis and Carmela Santoro
This oral history is from the Michael DeCiantis Collection, Series 9: Ethnic Heritage Studies Project Interviews. The original recording is located in Box 6, Folder 11, on cassette tape 01. This is part one of a two part interview about DeCiantis' early life in Natick, RI as an Italian immigrant. As part of the digitization process, the audio tape was transcribed using AI software, and edited by library staff. The transcription is embedded in the video file. In this interview DeCiantis discusses the region in Italy where he immigrated from, and his efforts to learn about his biological family when he returned to Italy later in life. The interview ends abruptly just before the one hour mark.
-
Ethnic Heritage Studies Project Interview: Early life, parents, Italy (1973-12-04, Tape 2 of 2)
Michael DeCiantis and Carmela Santoro
This oral history is from the Michael DeCiantis Collection, Series 9: Ethnic Heritage Studies Project Interviews. The original recording is located in Box 6, Folder 11, on cassette tape 02. This is part two of a two part interview about DeCiantis' early life in Natick, RI as an Italian immigrant. As part of the digitization process, the audio tape was transcribed using AI software, and edited by library staff. In this interview DeCiantis discusses his half-sister, who only meets later in life, and the trip from Italy to the United States via ship in the early 20th century., and some recollections about his early life with his adopted family in Rhode Island. This interview picks up
-
Ethnic Heritage Studies Project Interview: Early Life in Natick, R.I. (1973-12-18, Tape 1 of 2)
Carmela Santoro and Michael DeCiantis
This oral history is from the Michael DeCiantis Collection, Series 9: Ethnic Heritage Studies Project Interviews. The original recordings is located in Box 6, Folder 12, Tape 01. This is part one of a two part interview about DeCiantis' early life in Natick, RI as an Italian immigrant. As part of the digitization process, the audio tape was transcribed using AI software, and edited by library staff. The transcription is embedded in the video file, which, where possible, are paired with related images. Topics covered are early life in Natick, R. I., description of Natick, America as the promised land, a place where one could become rich in a short time, life at home, taking in boarders, chores as a child, Natick R.I. in the early twentieth century, Baker Street, Knight's farm, side streets and the village houses, the Swedish settlement and the Swedish church, the French store run by Mailloux, the Company Store, Providence Street and Prospect Hill. The is recording interrupted after about 25 minutes.
-
Three short essays about various aspects of life in Natick (R.I.)
Michael DeCiantis
Three sketches by Michael DeCiantis in which he talks about various aspects of life in Natick, Rhode Island.
-
Ethnic Heritage Studies Project Interview: The Ku Klux Klan in Rhode Island (1974-05-13)
Michael DeCiantis, Norman Smith, and Carmela Santoro
The subject of this interview is the Ku Klux Klan in Rhode Island politics, mostly in the 1920s and 1930s, and the effect on the political parties in the state. The principle interviewer is Dr. Norman Smith, Associate Professor of History at Rhode Island College at the time of the interview. This ·interview was sponsored by the Ethnic Heritage Studies Project.
-
Notes by Michael DeCiantis about himself, his boyhood in Natick, Rhode Island, and the life of that community.
Michael DeCiantis
In these pages Judge DeCiantis reviews some of the ground that was included in the taped interviews and fills in background about the places and people who became part of his life. According to Professors Carmela Santoro, who conducted most of the interviews with DeCiantis, "The Judge was not pleased when he read the transcripts of the interviews so he decided to write his own story about himself and his early years in Natick."
-
Ethnic Heritage Studies Project Interview: Politics in the 1930s, the O'Hara Case (1975-07-02)
Carmela Santoro and Michael DeCiantis
This oral history is from the Michael DeCiantis Collection, Series 9: Ethnic Heritage Studies Project Interviews. The original recordings is located in Box 6, Folder 15. In this interview DeCiantis discusses politics in Rhode Island, mostly the O'Hara case, involving Walter O'Hara, Governor Robert E. Quinn and the Naragansett Racing Association.