Date of Award
8-31-2026
Document Type
Open Access Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
First Advisor
Vincent Cannato
Abstract
This thesis examines the development of the Italian immigrant community in Washington, DC, from the early nineteenth century through the beginning of the Second World War. Unlike the dense ethnic enclaves that characterized Italian settlement in many American industrial and port cities, Washington never developed a recognizable Little Italy. Nevertheless, Italians in the nation's capital constructed a cohesive community through social, religious, familial, and economic networks that connected a geographically dispersed population.
Drawing on extensive original archival research, including oral histories, personal memoirs, parish records, newspapers, and manuscript collections, this thesis reconstructs the experiences of Washington's Italian immigrants and their descendants. Holy Rosary Parish, mutual aid societies, family and hometown networks, Italian-owned businesses, and regional traditions connected Italians across the city, reinforcing enduring social ties and a shared ethnic identity despite the absence of a traditional Little Italy.
Taken together, these findings demonstrate that geographic concentration was not a prerequisite for maintaining ethnic identity. Instead, Washington's Italians built and sustained a cohesive community through deliberately cultivated religious, familial, economic, and social networks. More broadly, these findings suggest that immigrant community formation should be understood not only through residential settlement patterns, but also through the institutions and relationships that sustained community across geographic space.
Recommended Citation
Millander, Kathleen P C, "Beyond A Little Italy: Italian Community Formation in Washington, D.C." (2026). Graduate Masters Theses. 975.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/masters_theses/975
Comments
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