Highlights Archives
Italian Immigrant Stone Workers in Wisconsin
The entrance to the Wisconsin Historical Society's headquarters building on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is guarded by impressive carved stone lions. Within the building, staff work to collect, preserve and share stories of our state and North American history. In passing by or viewing photographs of the stately building that houses library, archives and museum collections along with historic preservation, education and administrative offices, probably few people pause to wonder about the artisans who created the stone lions as symbolic guardians of our culture.
The stone carvers who created these lions as well as imposing carvings in our state Capitol building came from northern Italy. The artisans brought the art, culture and politics of their homeland with them. For example, in order to socialize and assist one another's families in times of need, the Italians formed mutual aid societies and neighborhood houses in Madison, Milwaukee and Waukesha. In Madison's own Greenbush neighborhood the Italian Workmen's Club was founded on January 18, 1912, "to improve the economic conditions of the Italian Workmen in Madison and to help protect and further their members' overall social conditions." Likewise, the Italian-American Women's Club was founded to benefit the Italian-American women of the Greenbush neighborhood.
Italian Immigrant Stone Workers in Wisconsin, is the next featured topic in the Wisconsin Historical Museum's popular dinner and lecture series, A Taste of Wisconsin Traditions, scheduled for Thursday, September 25. Speaker Randy Croce, coordinator for Labor Education Services at the University of Minnesota, will show a portion of his documentary, If Stone Could Speak, discuss the carvings at the Wisconsin Historical Society and the state Capitol buildings, and talk about the impact of the Italian stone workers in Wisconsin. An Italian dinner catered by Bunky's Cafe precedes the program. The original Bunky's was one of the first Italian restaurants in Madison at the corner of Park and Regent streets, an intersection known as "Spaghetti Corner" in Madison's Greenbush neighborhood.
:: Posted September 18, 2008
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