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Title: Gino Charles
Speranza
papers
papers
Date (inclusive): 1904-1941
Collection Number: 42012
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
17 manuscript boxes, 30 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder
(35.5 Linear Feet)
Abstract: The papers primarily document Gino
Speranza's
work as a journalist and foreign correspondent for
Outlook and the
New York Evening Post in Italy during the war and political and military attaché for the United States embassy in Rome from 1917 to 1919. The papers
are comprised of writings, diaries, clippings, correspondence, reports, pamphlets, notes, photographs, and printed matter
relating to Italian politics and diplomacy during World War I and in the postwar period. Also available on microfilm (34 reels).
Speranza's
work as a journalist and foreign correspondent for
Outlook and the
New York Evening Post in Italy during the war and political and military attaché for the United States embassy in Rome from 1917 to 1919. The papers
are comprised of writings, diaries, clippings, correspondence, reports, pamphlets, notes, photographs, and printed matter
relating to Italian politics and diplomacy during World War I and in the postwar period. Also available on microfilm (34 reels).
Creator:
Speranza
, Gino Charles, 1872-1927
Speranza
, Gino Charles, 1872-1927
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1942, with an increment in 1945
[Identification of item], Gino Charles
Speranza
papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Speranza
papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Also available on microfilm (34 reels).
| 1872 April 23 | Born, Bridgeport, Connecticut |
| 1892 | BS, City College of New York |
| 1894 | LLB, New York University Law School |
| 1895 | MS, City College of New York |
| 1897 | Legal counsel to Italian consulate general in New York City |
| 1907-1905 | Founding member, Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants |
| 1909 | Marries Florence Colgate
Speranza
|
| 1912 | Gives up legal practice to pursue writing career and volunteer work |
| 1915-1917 | Featured correspondent for the New York Evening Post and Outlook, reporting on the war from the Italian front |
| 1916 | Chairman, Special Committee of the Committee for War Relief in Florence |
| 1917 | Member, General committee of American Relief Clearing House |
| 1917 April | Volunteered services to Ambassador Thomas Nelson Page in Rome and became a volunteer worker in the office of the U.S. military attaché |
| Circa 1919 | Attaché on political intelligence, U.S. embassy in Rome |
| 1925 | Author, Race or Nation? A Conflict of Divided Loyalties |
| 1927 July 12 | Died |
| 1941 | Published (posthumously),
The Diary of Gino
Speranza
: Italy 1915-1919
, edited by Florence Colgate
Speranza
. New York: Columbia University
|
Source: George E. Pozzetta. "
Speranza
, Gino Carlo," http://www.anb.org/articles/15/15-01121.html;
American National Biography Online Feb 2000. Accessed June 26, 2012.
Speranza
, Gino Carlo," http://www.anb.org/articles/15/15-01121.html;
American National Biography Online Feb 2000. Accessed June 26, 2012.
Scope and Content of Collection
The papers primarily document Gino
Speranza's
work as a journalist and war correspondent for
Outlook and the
New York Evening Post in Italy and political and military attaché for the United States embassy in Rome from 1917 to 1919, with materials relating
to Italian politics and diplomacy during World War I and in the postwar period.
Speranza's
work as a journalist and war correspondent for
Outlook and the
New York Evening Post in Italy and political and military attaché for the United States embassy in Rome from 1917 to 1919, with materials relating
to Italian politics and diplomacy during World War I and in the postwar period.
A highlight of the papers are
Speranza's
Diaries, which run from June 1915 to May 1919. His almost daily entries reflect on the news of each day, his interactions with Italian
and American officials, stories of the Italian people during wartime, and his travels with his wife, Florence Colgate
Speranza
. The diaries from 1918 to 1919 include entries on the debate over Italian territorial claims and other issues discussed at
the Paris Peace Conference. Letters, telegrams, photographs and postcards are interfiled with the diary pages.
Speranza's
Diaries, which run from June 1915 to May 1919. His almost daily entries reflect on the news of each day, his interactions with Italian
and American officials, stories of the Italian people during wartime, and his travels with his wife, Florence Colgate
Speranza
. The diaries from 1918 to 1919 include entries on the debate over Italian territorial claims and other issues discussed at
the Paris Peace Conference. Letters, telegrams, photographs and postcards are interfiled with the diary pages.
In 1941,
Speranza's
diaries were edited and published in two volumes by Florence Colgate
Speranza
, who also volunteered for various war relief agencies in Italy during the war. In preparation for this publication, Florence
Colgate compiled seventeen
Scrapbooks containing photographs, clippings, letters, printed matter, and ephemera that correspond to the pages of the published diaries.
Some notes on the photographs and correspondence are in
Speranza's
handwriting however clippings and postcards dated after 1927 confirm that the scrapbooks were compiled after his death. Florence
Colgate's own personal diary is in the
Florence Colgate
Speranza
file.
Speranza's
diaries were edited and published in two volumes by Florence Colgate
Speranza
, who also volunteered for various war relief agencies in Italy during the war. In preparation for this publication, Florence
Colgate compiled seventeen
Scrapbooks containing photographs, clippings, letters, printed matter, and ephemera that correspond to the pages of the published diaries.
Some notes on the photographs and correspondence are in
Speranza's
handwriting however clippings and postcards dated after 1927 confirm that the scrapbooks were compiled after his death. Florence
Colgate's own personal diary is in the
Florence Colgate
Speranza
file.
As a journalist embedded with Italian soldiers along the Isonzo river and in the Alps,
Speranza's
Writings are comprised mainly of his firsthand reports from the frontline. Some topics he addresses include America's role in the
war, the Adriatic question, the effects of war on Italian towns on the front, and the difficulties of fighting at high altitudes.
Many of these experiences are also recollected in his
Diaries. The series also contains some articles written after the war as well as
Speranza's
writings and reports from his time as an attaché to the American embassy in Rome.
Speranza's
Writings are comprised mainly of his firsthand reports from the frontline. Some topics he addresses include America's role in the
war, the Adriatic question, the effects of war on Italian towns on the front, and the difficulties of fighting at high altitudes.
Many of these experiences are also recollected in his
Diaries. The series also contains some articles written after the war as well as
Speranza's
writings and reports from his time as an attaché to the American embassy in Rome.
In the
Correspondence series are the letters
Speranza
received from an Italian American soldier stationed in Bari named Esterino Alex Tarasca.
Speranza's
interactions with Tarasca inspired a series of short stories titled "American I.," a draft of which is included in his Writings.
Other correspondence of note includes letters exchanged with U.S. ambassador to Italy Thomas Nelson Page and American consul
to Italy B. Harvey Carroll, Jr.
Speranza
received from an Italian American soldier stationed in Bari named Esterino Alex Tarasca.
Speranza's
interactions with Tarasca inspired a series of short stories titled "American I.," a draft of which is included in his Writings.
Other correspondence of note includes letters exchanged with U.S. ambassador to Italy Thomas Nelson Page and American consul
to Italy B. Harvey Carroll, Jr.
The container list for the papers includes a numbering system taken from envelopes that originally housed the collection materials.
The numbers refer to a preliminary inventory of the papers most likely created when they arrived at the archives in 1942.
Although the numbers do not appear to have any logical sequence, they identify materials that were originally grouped together
and for this reason, when available, the numbers were carried over onto the folder titles. For example, II-34 indicates Section
II, Envelope 34. While this numbering system has been retained, similar materials have been combined in series to facilitate
research.
The collection is arranged in ten series: Biographical file, Diaries, Correspondence, Writings, Italy subject file, Clippings,
Photographs and postcards, Florence Colgate
Speranza
, Scrapbooks, and Oversize materials
Speranza
, Scrapbooks, and Oversize materials
Gino
Speranza
Papers, New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division
Speranza
Papers, New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division
Gino
Speranza
Papers, Italian American Collection, Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota
Speranza
Papers, Italian American Collection, Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota
Comando di Fiume d'Italia. Bolletino ufficiale, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Luigi Aldrovandi Marescotti typescript, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Moses Stephen Slaughter Papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Benajah Harvey Carroll, Jr. Papers, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin
Thomas Nelson Page Papers, University of Virginia Library
Subjects and Indexing Terms
World War, 1914-1918 -- Italy
Italy -- History -- 1914-1945
Italy -- Politics and government -- 1914-1945
Rijeka (Croatia) -- History
Italy -- Foreign relations -- Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia -- Foreign relations -- Italy
Military attachés
Italy -- Civilization
Italy -- Description and travel
Italy -- Foreign relations -- United States
Italy -- Social conditions
United States -- Foreign relations -- Italy
D'Annunzio, Gabriele, 1863-1938
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