Italian Digital History Initiative in San Diego.

Over the weekend, as I walked through the Bella Vita Fest in San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood, I noticed a large display of fascinating old photographs.

Convivio, a cultural organization that works to preserve the Italian community’s history in San Diego, was showing images from our city’s past!

There were photographs of tuna fishermen and boats and cannery workers, old restaurants and businesses on India Street, Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, Washington Elementary School, families, neighbors playing bocce…

It was pointed out to me that many of the houses and buildings that were photographed generations ago can still be recognized on the present-day streets of Little Italy!

Checking out the Convivio website, I see they are undertaking an important history preservation project. Their Italian Digital History Initiative hopes that residents of San Diego will contribute to a growing archives full of memories. The current cornerstone of Convivio’s preservation focus is the Italian Digital History Initiative, established in 2006, which preserves the local Italian community’s heritage through photographs, documents, oral histories, and other new-media resources.

If you have interesting material that helps tell the story of Italian immigrants in San Diego, you can bring it down to the AMICIBAR (the historical Amici House) next to the Little Italy Dog Park on Sundays, between 10 am and 2 pm. They’ll digitize photos, documents (marriage, birth certificates), awards/certificates of recognition, personal letters, permits and licenses (fishing or retail industries, for example), and whatever tells THE STORY OF YOUR FAMILY HERITAGE!

Learn more about this important project by clicking here.

View the historical archives here!

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