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MC 207

Levis, Rosa Marie Finnochietti, 1878-1959. Papers, 1890-1959: A Finding Aid

Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America

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Radcliffe College
November 1974

© 1974 Radcliffe College

Descriptive Summary

Call No.: MC 207
Repository: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute
Creator: Rosa Marie Levis, 1878-1959
Title: Papers, 1890-1959
Quantity: 5 boxes, 2 folio+ folders, 3 oversize items
Abstract: Correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, of Rosa Marie Finnochietti Levis, volunteer civic service worker.

Processing Information:

Processed: November 1974
By: Katherine Gray Kraft

Acquisition Information:

Accession number: 1188
The papers of Rosa Marie Levis were deposited in the Schlesinger Library by Albert Warren Levis, Jr. in July 1967.

Preferred citation for publication:

Rosa Marie Levis Papers, 1890-1959; item description, dates. MC 207, folder #. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

BIOGRAPHY

Rosa Marie Levis was born March 17, 1878 on Hull Street in the North End of Boston. Her parents, Giovanni and Theresa Finnochietti, were recent emigrés from Genoa, Italy. In her teens, while still a student at the Hancock School, RML began her long career of volunteer civic service, interpreting for doctors in the Hull Street Medical Center. In 1897 she married Albert Warren Levis, a Florentine sculptor and fencer who had come to the United States to help design a bronze door for the Chicago Exposition. They had six children, three boys and three girls; the family lived in the North End until 1914, when they moved to Dorchester. RML was proud of her early advocacy (1910) of woman suffrage, claiming to be the first Italian-American suffragist in Massachusetts. During World War I she participated, with other suffragists, in the sale of Liberty Bonds, and in programs for food conservation and for Americanization of Italian immigrants. In addition, she worked with Boston Italians rolling bandages and assembling supply kits for Italian-American soldiers. She again sold war bonds in World War II, and aided in the organization of relief programs for a war-devastated Italy.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

When deposited in the Library, the papers in the Rosa Levis collection were in scrapbooks. They have been removed and placed in folders for preservation purposes, and rearranged topically. Although this collection contains correspondence and printed material concerning RML's personal life, her husband's business and fencing career, and her suffrage and war-related activities, the bulk of the papers documents her involvement in social, political, and religious women's organizations, in Boston's Italian community, and in the Republican Party. She founded the Chatterbox Club with her daughter Lydia (1919) and the League of the Sacred Heart Church of North Square (1936); was organizing secretary of the Women's Italian Club (1916); was first president of the Women's Columbus Republican Club (1943); and helped to establish the Massachusetts State Federation of Women's Italian Clubs (1947), in addition to membership in many other organizations. She worked to have Italian taught in Boston high schools, and to help Italian immigrants adjust to life in America while retaining pride in their heritage. Politically active from the time she became the "first woman of Italian extraction to register as a Republican," RML served as a committeewoman from the 7th Suffolk Senatorial District, a member of the Republican State Committee, Vice President of the Republican City Committee, Chairman of Ward 15, and a delegate to Republican state and national conventions. She was an energetic campaigner, and her papers include many letters of gratitude from victorious Republican office-seekers, as well as letters from prominent suffragists. She remained active in politics and club work until her death on January 15, 1959 at the age of eighty-two.
The collection is arranged by subjects, some of which overlap. For example, material relating to World War I may be found under "Suffrage and related activity," and "Italian community," as well as "War-related work." The arrangement is chronological within each subject, with the exception of "Clubs," where the arrangement is alphabetical. An index of correspondents is located at the end of the inventory.

SUMMARY OF INVENTORY

CONTAINER LIST

INVENTORY

Additional catalog entries

Adkins, Bertha Sheppard, 1906-1970(?)
Andrews, Fannie Fern (Phillips), 1867-1950
Bagley, Grace Hodges, 1860-1944
Coe, Evelyn Peverley, 1881-1967(?)
Curley, James Michael, 1874-1958
Eisenhower, Dwight David, 1890-1972
Fuller, Alvan Tufts, 1878-1958
Herter, Christian Archibald, 1895-1967
Hoover, Lou Henry, 1874-1944
Hosmer, Clara B
Hynes, John B -1970
Lodge, Henry Cabot, Jr., 1902-
McCormack, John William, 1891-1973
Martin, Joseph William, Jr., 1884-1968
Page, Mary Hutcheson, 1860-1940
Park, Maud Wood, 1871-1955
Peters, Andrew James, 1872-1938
Saltonstall, Leverett, 1892-
Stantial, Edna Lamprey
Storrow, Helen Osborne, 1864-1944
Tillinghast, Anna Churchill (Moulton), 1874-1951
Tobin, Maurice Joseph, 1901-1953
Volpe, John Anthony, 1908-
Walsh, David Ignatius, 1872-1947
Weeks, Sinclair, 1893-1972
Willkie, Wendell Lewis, 1892-1944
Boston, Mass.
Chatterbox Club
Clubs
Fund-raising
Italian-Americans
League of the Sacred Heart Italian Church of North Square, Boston
Massachusetts State Federation of Women's Italian Clubs
Woman--Suffrage
Women's Columbus Republican Club
Women's Italian Club
Republican Party

INDEX OF CORRESPONDENTS

SEPARATION RECORD

The following items have been removed from the collection and added to Schlesinger Library periodical collection:

sch00703