The Public Library in an Immigrant Neighborhood: Italian Immigrants' Information Ecologies in Newark, New Jersey, 1889-1919

This historical study of Italian immigrants’ information ecologies addresses the current lack of research on immigrants and libraries. The objective of this research is to develop a textured understanding of the information ecology of Italian immigrants, the exemplary group chosen for this study. The study is situated in Newark which was the site of immigrant settlement and vibrant immigrant information circuits during the last decade of the nineteenth and the first two decades of the twentieth century; a time when the reforms of the Progressive Era, an influx of immigrants, and the effects of urbanization intersected with a growing public library movement. A new conceptualization labeled the Information Neighborhood was developed in this dissertation as a framework to capture the rich information networks within Italian enclaves at the turn of the twentieth century. This framework draws on the work of Robert Darnton’s communication circuits and provides a structure for the descriptions of Italian information resources within their information ecologies and for the exploration of communication media and modes within immigrants’ enclaves. This research and the concept of the Information Neighborhood was informed by Michel de Certeau’s theories of appropriation and of strategies and tactics. Subaltern Studies was employed as a novel approach to the investigation of library history. Subaltern Studies Group’s metatheoretical approach to history from the perspective of marginalized groups positions immigrants as subjects of their own histories. Subaltern Studies also provided a methodology for reading institutional and official sources against the grain to document Italian immigrant print culture and the library’s practices. This subaltern reading revealed tensions in the discourse over Americanization and reading in foreign languages. It established immigrants as actively demanding foreign language material in the library. Both immigrant and librarian discourses revealed cross-cultural and cross-class tensions as well as power imbalances. The research also revealed that the acquisition of Italian language material was positioned within the discourse of the “fiction question” that championed high culture over popular culture. This study advances the understanding of the complex relationship between immigrants and public libraries, privileges Italian immigrant perspectives, and provides a deep examination of their holistic information worlds and practices