Manuscript Guide 1603, Guide to the Masci Family Scrapbooks 1900-1940
TABLE OF CONTENTSDescriptive Summary Container List |
 MG 1603 The New Jersey Historical Society Finding aid encoded by Julia Telonidis. October 2004. Production of the EAD 2002 version of this finding aid was made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Finding aid written in English. Biographical NoteThe Masci family lived and worked in the area of Newark and the Oranges during the turn of the century. The father, Oreste, emigrated from Fottea, Italy in 1883. He became a United States citizen on September 12, 1918, only two months before he died of pneumonia. Maria, his wife, was born in Newark and was of Italian ancestry. She worked for Hahne & Company on Baldwin Street in East Orange while Oreste was a tailor. He and his wife, Maria, had four children from 1911 to 1921, of which only three-Maria, Joseph, and Otto-survived into adulthood. Maria graduated from St. Vincent’s Academy in Newark. Joseph attended Our Lady Help of Christians Church on Clinton Street in East Orange and then won a four-year scholarship to St. Peter’s College in Jersey City. Their youngest son Otto fought in World War II as a member of the 63rd Armored Infantry Battalion. Before the war, he worked for Vogue Garments in Newark and in 1952 he worked for the Automatic Switch Company in Florham Park. Both Joe and Otto loved sports, especially golf. Joe worked as a caddy at the Essex Fells Country Club and the Essex County Country Club, where he won championships against other caddies. Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Content NoteThe collection consists of two scrapbooks containing newspaper and magazine articles and pictures dealing with sports during the first half of the twentieth century. The majority of the clippings are about topics related to college football, boxing, and baseball. Of particular interest are two articles, one about rookie outfielder Joe DiMaggio-who they say has a tough name to pronounce-and the other about Joe Louis, a young fighter who it is predicted might emerge to be a contender for the heavyweight crown. The scrapbook created by Thomas F. Moloney contains clippings from 1915-1940 of college and high school football, minor league baseball such as the Newark Bears, Ironbound league, professional baseball and boxing. It includes a focus on sports figures-in particular Italian-American sports figures-on both the national and the local levels. It is not known how this scrapbook came into the possession of the Masci family. Return to the Table of Contents Return to the Table of Contents Administrative InformationCustodial HistoryIt is not known how this scrapbook came into the possession of the Masci family. Preferred CitationThis collection should be cited as: Manuscript Group 1603, Masci Family Scrapbooks, The New Jersey Historical Society. Acquisition InformationDonated to the New Jersey Historical Society in August 2002 by H. Carl Sturcke, the family’s accountant. Processing InformationThe scrapbooks in this collection are in poor condition and many of the newspaper clippings are brittle; these materials should be handled with care. Return to the Table of Contents Container List |
