The Oral History Institute, located in Salt Lake City, Utah, began a project in 1982 to document the interaction between the dominant culture and various minority cultures in Utah. Interviews were conducted with members of individual ethnic and cultural groups including members of the dominant white culture. The project was conducted under a grant from the Utah Endowment for the Humanities.
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The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library's
Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.
Processed by Janet Smoak and Karen Carver in 1990 and 2005.
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The Utah Endowment for the Humanities funded the Oral History Institute (OHI) of Salt Lake City to conduct interviews with members of different ethnic minorities and racial groups. This particular series of interviews with Italians took place in 1987. Events recalled by the interviewees span the time period from the 1880s to 1987. Common themes within the interviews are family life, work, religion, discrimination, and relations with the community, and in particular the Mormon establishment in Utah. Of interest are interviews that relate experiences during the 1922 Carbon County Coal Miner's strike and also reminiscences of the 1922 Carbon County Castlegate Mine Explosion.
Audio cassette tapes and photographs were transferred to the Multimedia Division of Special Collections.
Mrs. Bonaci (b. 1910) discusses the experiences of her family in the Carbon County, Utah, coal mines. She recalls the 1922 coal miner's strike, the Depression, and World War II. 24 pages.
Mr. Bonacci (b. 1937) recalls his childhood as part of a large Italian family on a farm outside of Helper, Utah. He speaks of his teaching and administrative career in school districts in and around Price, Utah. He also offers his impressions of Catholic and ethnic relations in eastern Utah. 36 pages.
Mr. Bonaci (b. 1901) recalls his work in the coal mines of Carbon County, Utah. Subjects covered include descriptions of various jobs performed in the mines, the 1922 strike, and the development of the union in eastern Utah. 60 pages.
Mrs. Juliano (b. 1904) reminisces about her childhood in rural Utah, ethnic relations in eastern Utah, her married life and raising children. 49 pages.
Dr. Notarianni (b. 1948) recalls his childhood; his father's business in Magna, Utah; life during the Depression; and religious and ethnic difference in northern Utah. 54 pages. Also included is a 22 page essay by Notarianni entitled "Italians in Helper, Utah."
Leslie Kelen interviewed Mary Angotti Palomi (b. 1911) and her brother, John Angotti (b. 1930). Mrs. Palomi recalls the trip from Italy when she was a child and a brief period of life on her father's cattle ranch before a flood destroyed the property, causing her father to return to work in the coal mines. The pair reminisce about childhood in Sunnyside, Utah; conditions in the coal mines and surrounding camps; religious and ethnic differences in eastern Utah; and the 1922 miner's strike. 92 pages.
This box contains the master files for these interviews. RESTRICTED. Access by manuscripts staff only.