Di Domenica, Angelo

File

Identifier: RG-1265

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Published works by Di Domenica (7 volumes); manuscript items on Roman Catholicism and the Americanization of Italians; scrapbooks, 1906-1919.

Dates

Creation: 1880-1985

Creator

Di Domenica, Angelo (Person)

Language of Materials

Materials in the collection are in English and in Italian.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research. Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and copyright holder. Staff may refuse copying of fragile or at-risk materials.

Materials may be accessed by request at the American Baptist Historical Society. For more information on accessing collections or obtaining copies, visit http://abhsarchives.org.

Biographical / Historical

Baptist minister and journalist. ABHMS missionary in New Haven, Connecticut and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Founder and editor of "L'Aurora".

Biographical / Historical

Born in Italy to a Roman Catholic family, de Domenica was converted in New York and graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1910. Three years later, he was called to a small Italian mission in south Philadlephia, a bilingual congretation, The First Italian Baptist Church of Philadelphia. Under his leadership a new church building and community center were built in the heart of the Italian section of Philadlephia. More than 4000 attended an evening school for Italian immigrants conducted for 21 years.

Rev. di Domenica worked on, and had published, a hymnal in Italian and English in 1935, in hopes to appeal to a second generation of Italians who learned and understood more English than Italian.

In 1944, there was a mortgage burning service, and the name of the church was changed to St. John's Baptist Church in 1948.

Dr. di Domenica led in organizing the Italian Baptist Association of America in 1898. In 1903, he became the manager of the first issue of the newspaper New Aurora, becoming its editor soon after.

Denison and Bucknell Universities awarded him honorary Doctorates of Divinity.

Extent

3.4 Linear Feet (7 boxes)

Additional Description

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gifts of Mary Traver Di Domenica, 1982 and Edna De Domenica Pierce, 2005.

Bibliography

Stub entry from A Guide to Manuscript Collections in the American Baptist Historical Society, compiled by William H. Brackney and Susan M. Eltscher (Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and Rochester, New York, 1986).