Downtown New Orleans

DESCRIPTION

A visit to the American Italian Museum tells the history of Italian Americans in the Southeast and their many contributions to Louisiana and the United States. But there is much more!

Here, the visitor will learn about the Italians? role in Mardi Gras. On display is the gown opera singer Marguerite Piazza wore as the first Queen of Virgilians, the Italian Mardi Gras ball. Music lovers will learn about Nick LaRocca and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, musicians who pioneered this music form in the early 1900s and other famous Italian musicians.

Family genealogists will find a plethora of information in the foundation?s library, including the Giovanni Schiavo Collection, the world?s most significant collection of Italian-American history. Researchers will also find a living tape library, newspapers, vertical files, a music library and naturalization records. The museum also contains photographs, articles, family histories and memorabilia.

Another fascinating collection is the Dr. John Adriani Collection, a noted anesthesiologist who developed many procedures in anesthesiology which are in use today and author of several important textbooks on the subject. The Adriani Collection consists of medical records, personal journals, textbooks, and memorabilia.

One unique display tells the story of the St. Joseph?s Day altar, specifically in relation to the Sicilian immigrants to New Orleans. Each March 19, local Italians celebrate the feast day by lavishly decorating church altars with freshly made Italian foods. This is the Italians? way of commemorating a centuries-old miracle granted by St. Joseph. Today, local altars are filled with gorgeous foods, Mass is said, and the food is donated to the poor.

Admission to the American Italian Renaissance Foundation Museum and Research Library is free (donations are accepted).

- taken from NewOrleansMuseums.com