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Cora Slocomb di Brazza

Cora Slocomb di Brazza (January 7, 1862 – August 24, 1944) was an American heiress and Italian activist, businesswoman, and philanthropist. Born into a wealthy family in New Orleans, she relocated to Connecticut after her father's death and was raised in Quaker traditions. Privately tutored, she studied in France, Germany and the Isle of Wight, taking painting lessons with Frank Duveneck. In 1887, she went to Italy and married Detalmo Savorgnan di Brazza, brother of explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza. They settled in his family estate at the Castello di Brazzà [nl] in Moruzzo in the Province of Udine, wintering in Rome. She created a lace-making school and eventually opened seven Brazza Lace Cooperative Schools. Besides promoting basic education, the schools taught bobbin lace-making and marketed the wares to help women rise above poverty. Speaking four languages, Slocomb di Brazza printed various language pamphlets to attract interest from abroad in their products. She displayed the goods of the Lace Cooperative Schools at trade shows and world fairs. She also was successful in a drive to reduce US import duties on handcrafted items in 1897, arguing that the tariffs would drive up immigration.

Cora Slocomb di Brazza
Slocomb di Brazza in Rome, 1904
Born
Cora Ann Slocomb

(1862-01-07)January 7, 1862
New Orleans, Louisiana, US
DiedAugust 24, 1944(1944-08-24) (aged 82)
Rome, Italy
Other names
  • Cora A. Slocomb de Brazza
  • Cora Slocomb di Brazza Savorgnan
  • Cora Slocomb Savorgnan di Brazza
  • Countess di Brazza
Citizenship
Occupations
  • Educator
  • activist
  • businesswoman
  • philanthropist
Years active1887–1906
Children1
Parent
RelativesIdanna Pucci (great-granddaughter)
Signature

Involved in the peace movement from 1889, Slocomb di Brazza created the peace flag and was the founder of the International Council of Women's Committee on Social Peace and International Arbitration in 1897. The committee worked to create agreements for nations to solve conflicts diplomatically and avoid war. Aligned with her peace work, she undertook numerous humanitarian drives to assist immigrant communities, reduce strife caused by cultural differences, and improve Italian–American relations. Slocomb di Brazza campaigned against the death penalty, fighting for a pardon and then assisting accused murderer, Maria Barbella, in gaining a second trial, at which she was acquitted. She attended the 1903 and 1904 Congresses of the International Council of Women, representing the Consiglio Nazionale delle Donne Italiane (CNDI, National Council of Italian Women). With activists from CNDI, she founded the Società Cooperativa delle Industrie Femminili Italiane (IFI, Italian Women's Industries Cooperative Society) in 1903 to remove middlemen who exploited craftswomen. In 1906, Slocomb di Brazza developed a mental illness which kept her isolated and confined for the next thirty-seven years. The Brazza Cooperative Lace Schools which she initiated are still operational and the peace flag she designed has been widely used in international ceremonies and celebrations.

Early life and education Edit

 
Abigail Day Slocomb, ca. 1890
 
Cuthbert H. Slocomb, 1865

Cora Ann Slocomb was born on January 7, 1862, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Abigail Hannah (née Day) and Cuthbert Harrison Slocomb.[1][2] At the time of her birth, her father was a Confederate soldier, serving in the Louisiana Washington Artillery during the American Civil War.[1] After his war service, he returned to his partnership in a hardware store which had been founded by his father, successfully accumulating a fortune prior to his death in 1874.[3][4] Her mother, who worked professionally under the name Abby Day Slocomb, was a Quaker and descendant of Elisha Hinman, a soldier in the American Revolutionary War.[4][5][6] She filed several patents, designed the Connecticut State flag, founded the Groton, Connecticut, chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and founded the preservation society and museum for Fort Griswold.[6][7][8]

Slocomb was educated in New Orleans until her father's death. The family then relocated to Connecticut, where she studied with private tutors.[1][8] At thirteen, she went abroad, studying in Germany and France, before completing her education on the Isle of Wight.[1] In 1884, she became a student of Frank Duveneck, studying painting at the Royal Academy in Munich, Germany. After completing her course, Slocomb traveled to Rome in 1887 and met Detalmo Savorgnan di Brazza, brother of Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, who explored Africa reaching the Congo River.[9][10][11] Soon after their meeting, Slocomb contracted typhoid fever and withdrew to Sorrento for several months to recover. Immediately upon hearing of her recovery, di Brazza went to see her and proposed marriage.[9] The couple were married on October 18, 1887, in New York City. Because Slocomb was Protestant and di Brazza Catholic, a civil service took place at 3 East Forty-Fifth Street officiated by Italian consul General Giovanni Raffo, followed by a religious ceremony performed by Father Ducey of St. Leo Catholic Church.[10] Part of her marriage contract required her to become an Italian national.[12]

Career Edit

 
Slocomb di Brazza and her daughter, Idanna, around 1893

After their marriage, the couple lived at the Castello di Brazza in Moruzzo in the Province of Udine and wintered in Rome at the Palazzo Vaccari on Via del Tritore.[1][13] Their only child, Idanna, was born in 1888.[14] Concerned about the poverty of peasants in Friuli, Slocomb di Brazza created a lace-making cooperative to give the women a means of support during the seasons when they could not work on their farms.[15] She also opened a toy-making workshop in Fagagna, which created dolls and operated until the onset of World War I.[11][16] Teaching women the skill to make lace, which she had learned in her childhood, she created patterns which incorporated decorative motifs that were traditional in the region. Slocomb di Brazza spoke English, French, German, and Italian and printed pamphlets in each of the languages to attract consumers from abroad.[15] In 1891, she opened the first lace-making school in the hamlet of Santa Margherita del Gruagno.[13] To promote the idea of a school, she taught six girls how to make torchon lace by weaving sixty threads on bobbins and had them demonstrate their new skill at the agricultural show they had organized at the castle for September 8.[11][15] The lace-makers were the highlight of the show and generated around forty students for the school.[11] Finding no qualified teacher, Slocomb di Brazza taught basic education courses as well as the technical and artistic requirements of lace-making, training the best students to become teachers.[11][15]

 
Italian mother and daughter making lace at the Brazza Lace Cooperative Schools, 1906

Following this model, in 1892 a second school was opened by her student Angelica Marcuzzi in Fagagna.[11] Later five other Brazza Lace Cooperative Schools were developed with facilities in Brazzacco, Martignacco, and San Vito di Fagagna.[11][17] As there was no market for the lace products in Friuli, Slocomb di Brazza used her contacts in Rome to gather antique lace samples. Marrying those with samples provided by her mother and her students,[18] she published a book, A Guide to Old and New Lace in Italy: Exhibited at Chicago in 1893, which accompanied an exhibit of the laces in The Woman's Building at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.[19] At the Congress of Women held during the exposition, Slocomb di Brazza presented a talk, The Italian Woman in the Country to familiarize the delegates with the work being done to improve women's economic situations in Italy.[20] The exhibit won a gold medal,[19] and after the exhibition, the Philadelphia Museum of Art acquired the laces.[21] Following that success, the schools expanded and submitted works to other fairs, winning two gold medals at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris and recognition at the 1905 Liège International, in Belgium, among others.[11] For three decades after the first Brazza Lace Cooperative School opened in 1891, the main earnings of women in the region came from producing lace, or growing violets. She encouraged her brother-in-law Filippo Savorgnan di Brazza [it] to develop a marketable flower from a wild white violet. Women were able to grow and sell this violet to earn money.[22]

Activism Edit

 
Students at the Brazza Lace Cooperative School, 1906

From 1889, Slocomb di Brazza had been an active member of the Universal Peace Union.[23] She developed seven rules of harmony, as guiding principles aimed at achieving personal and world unity, cooperation, justice, and mindfulness regarding the environment. She shared these principles with her students and worked to develop a peace movement in Italy.[24][25] As a delegate of the Universal Peace Union, she met with the International Council of Women in October 1897, and formed the Committee on Social Peace and International Arbitration. It was designed to establish arbitration committees throughout the world as a means of developing diplomatic channels for nations to work out their disputes. Slocomb di Brazza became chair of the committee with Hannah G. Solomon as vice chair.[26][27] Visiting other women's groups to promote peace, Slocomb di Brazza proposed adopting a peace flag which she had designed after visiting the International Red Cross offices in Geneva earlier that year.[28][29] The flag featured yellow, purple, and white stripes to represent respectively love, consistency, and youth. In its center was a crest with symbols of peace and the motto Pro Concorda Labor (For Peace I Work).[28] The flag was formally adopted by the International Council of Women in October,[27] and at the meeting of the National Council of Women of the United States held in Nashville, Tennessee, in November it was formally adopted by the organization as a symbol of universal brotherhood, cooperation, and peace.[30][31] The flag had already been shared with Élie Ducommun, founder of the International Peace Bureau, which adopted the flag in 1899,[32] the year in which it was also endorsed by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.[33]

 
A version of Slocomb di Brazza's peace flag

Concerned about high tariffs on imported lace, in 1897 Slocomb di Brazza published a ten-page booklet, which she sent to members of the United States Congress, arguing that the burden of high import duties was encouraging immigration. Her presentation was successful and resulted in a lowering of the tariff from sixty percent to fifteen percent for handcrafted items.[34] She was acutely aware of immigration issues, as two years before she had sailed to New York City to defend Maria Barbella, a young illiterate immigrant who was one of the first women sentenced to die in the electric chair in the United States.[35][36] Barbella had been raped by her boyfriend Domenico Cataldo, whom she murdered after he refused to restore her honor by marrying her.[37] An all-male jury had convicted her of murder. After reading about the case in The New York Times, Slocomb di Brazza organized efforts to secure Barbella a pardon and campaign against the death penalty.[35][38] She was acquitted in a second trial in 1896.[39][40] Slocomb di Brazza, accompanied her husband for his business affairs in the United States in 1897.[41] As a member of both the American and Italian Red Cross organizations, she spent her time in the United States, assisting humanitarian efforts for soldiers wounded in the Greco-Turkish War.[42] She made presentations throughout the country with Clara Barton, appealing for American activists to assist Greek women in their relief work. She founded the National American Greek Red Cross Association to gather clothing, material, medicine, and money for Greece.[41][42]

Slocomb di Brazza attended the International Council of Women's 1903 Congress in Dresden, Germany, and the 1904 Congress in Berlin, representing the Consiglio Nazionale delle Donne Italiane (CNDI, National Council of Italian Women), formed in 1903.[19][43] CNDI members, including Slocomb di Brazza, Etta de Viti de Marco, Antonia Ponti Suardi and Lavinia Boncompagni-Ludovisi Taverna established a standing committee, the Società Cooperativa delle Industrie Femminili Italiane (IFI, Italian Women's Industries Cooperative Society) both to promote Italian arts and crafts abroad, and remove middlemen, who exploited and took advantage of the craftswomen.[44][45] She became president of the society and her husband Detalmo served as secretary.[11][44] The society set about creating regional branches organized under various patronesses. By 1906 they had created twenty-four regional branches and established sister organizations in the United States which were designed to provide employment in various needlecrafts for Italian immigrants.[11] That year, Slocomb di Brazza traveled to the United States as a representative of the Italian government to meet with US officials and other people working with immigrants in an attempt to establish protocols for the treatment and processing of immigrants. Believing it would benefit both European and American governments, she suggested an indoctrination program in order to make immigrants aware of the culture and laws and to learn the language, accompanied by a facilitated settlement program so that immigrant labor could live where they were most needed.[46]

Illness Edit

Back in Italy, in 1906 Slocomb di Brazza was returning home from organizing earthquake relief in Calabria when she suffered a mental and physical breakdown in Bologna.[47][48] By the time her husband reached her, she did not recognize him or her surroundings.[49][48] She was diagnosed with a form of osteoporosis, known as Paget's disease of bone, which impacted her skull and caused severe and debilitating headaches.[49] She was placed under the care of Cesare Ferrari, a pioneering Italian physician who ran a psychiatric hospital in Imola.[48][50] As she was unable to continue their management, the schools were taken over in 1908 by Marcuzzi, who continued their operation to honor Slocomb di Brazza.[51] Her speech was often confused and she had difficulty understanding what was going on around her. Her husband visited her frequently until his death in 1922.[52] She appeared to have improved in 1927 and returned to the Castello di Brazzà [nl], but within six months relapsed and was sent to the Hospital Villa Giuseppina in Rome, where she remained in isolation until her death.[51]

Death and legacy Edit

Slocomb di Brazza died in Rome on August 24, 1944, and was buried in the family vault at the Verano Cemetery.[13][53] For many years, her history was obscured because of the stigmas surrounding mental illness.[17] Her defense of Barbella, which has been widely noted, along with her work in the IFI demonstrate that Slocomb di Brazza was aware of the exploitation and vulnerability garment craftswomen faced and that she was willing to use her privilege to assist them.[54] The Cooperative Lace Schools of Brazza continue to train girls between ages seven and fifteen in lace-making.[21] The peace flag she designed was in wide use until the end of World War I, before losing its priority. In 2013, it was chosen to celebrate Bertha von Suttner, a fellow peace activist and friend of Slocomb di Brazza, for the centennial celebrations of The Hague Peace Palace. Since then, it has been used in several commemorative ceremonies and celebrations throughout the world.[55] Her great-granddaughter, Idanna Pucci, an anthropologist and documentary film-maker, retold the story of Slocomb di Brazza's involvement in the case of Barbella in her books The Trials of Maria Barbella: The True Story of a 19th Century Crime of Passion (1993) and The Lady of Sing Sing (2020).[49][56][57]

Works Edit

  • Brazza, Cora A. Slocomb de (1893). A Guide to Old and New Lace in Italy: Exhibited at Chicago in 1893. Chicago, Illinois: W.B. Conkey Company. OCLC 609717966.
  • Brazza, Cora A. Slocomb de (1896). A Literary Farce. Boston, Massachusetts: The Arena Publishing Company. OCLC 557626026.
  • Brazza, Cora A. Slocomb de (1897). The Human and Urgent Side of the Tariff Question. New York, New York: Andrew H. Kellogg. OCLC 938013132.
  • Brazza, Cora A. Slocomb de (1897). Ampharita: An American Idyll (2nd ed.). New York, New York: Peace Bureau. OCLC 256854964.
  • Brazza, Cora A. Slocomb de (1906). Relief For Calabria Through Local Co-operative Production: Report And Project For Co-operative Work-rooms And Industrial Schools For The Necessitous Women And Children. Milan, Italy: Segretario di propaganda pel lavoro in Calabria. OCLC 893912874.

References Edit

Citations Edit

  1. ^ a b c d e Eagle 1895, p. 697.
  2. ^ Osborne 1893, p. 23.
  3. ^ Cooper 1922, p. 95.
  4. ^ a b Pucci 2020, p. 10.
  5. ^ Johnston 1897, p. 73.
  6. ^ a b Grosswirth 1976, p. 74.
  7. ^ Jewelers' Circular and Horological Review 1897, p. 34.
  8. ^ a b Kimball, Streeter & Comrie 2007, p. 35.
  9. ^ a b Pucci 2020, p. 11.
  10. ^ a b The New York Times 1887, p. 8.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Porpora 2019.
  12. ^ The Times-Picayune 1887, p. 8.
  13. ^ a b c di Brazzà 2018.
  14. ^ Pucci 2022, pp. 112, 124.
  15. ^ a b c d Pucci 2022, p. 95.
  16. ^ Cova 2022, p. 4.
  17. ^ a b Pucci 2022, p. 94.
  18. ^ Pucci 2022, pp. 96–97.
  19. ^ a b c Cova 2022, p. 3.
  20. ^ Eagle 1895, pp. 163, 697.
  21. ^ a b Pucci 2022, p. 97.
  22. ^ Pucci 2022, pp. 109–110.
  23. ^ The Advocate of Peace 1910, p. 27.
  24. ^ Friends' Intellegencer and Journal 1897, p. 166.
  25. ^ Pucci 2022, pp. 110–111.
  26. ^ Solomon 1899, p. 248.
  27. ^ a b Pucci 2022, p. 120.
  28. ^ a b Ball 1897, p. 6.
  29. ^ Pucci 2022, p. 117.
  30. ^ Cosio y Cisneros 1897, p. 1.
  31. ^ Robbins 1898, pp. 315–316.
  32. ^ Pucci 2022, pp. 117, 120.
  33. ^ Solomon 1899, p. 249.
  34. ^ Pucci 2022, p. 98.
  35. ^ a b Pucci 2022, p. 115.
  36. ^ Ferraro 2005, pp. 19–21.
  37. ^ Pucci 2020, p. 14.
  38. ^ The Boston Globe 1895, p. 4.
  39. ^ Ferraro 2005, p. 22.
  40. ^ The Salt Lake Herald 1896, p. 4.
  41. ^ a b The Pittsfield Sun 1897, p. 1.
  42. ^ a b The Boston Globe 1897, p. 3.
  43. ^ Sewall 1909, p. 129.
  44. ^ a b Cova 2022, p. 8.
  45. ^ Zampini-Salazar 1914, p. 257.
  46. ^ The Baltimore Sun 1906, p. 11.
  47. ^ The New York Times 1907, p. 23.
  48. ^ a b c Pucci 2020, p. 260.
  49. ^ a b c Pucci 2022, p. 116.
  50. ^ Le Travail Humain 1933, p. 67.
  51. ^ a b Pucci 2022, p. 127.
  52. ^ Pucci 2020, p. 261.
  53. ^ Pucci 2022, p. 128.
  54. ^ Masiola & Cittadini 2020, p. 44.
  55. ^ Pucci 2022, p. 123.
  56. ^ Ferraro 2005, p. 211.
  57. ^ Durante & Viscusi 2014, p. 102.

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cora, slocomb, brazza, january, 1862, august, 1944, american, heiress, italian, activist, businesswoman, philanthropist, born, into, wealthy, family, orleans, relocated, connecticut, after, father, death, raised, quaker, traditions, privately, tutored, studied. Cora Slocomb di Brazza January 7 1862 August 24 1944 was an American heiress and Italian activist businesswoman and philanthropist Born into a wealthy family in New Orleans she relocated to Connecticut after her father s death and was raised in Quaker traditions Privately tutored she studied in France Germany and the Isle of Wight taking painting lessons with Frank Duveneck In 1887 she went to Italy and married Detalmo Savorgnan di Brazza brother of explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza They settled in his family estate at the Castello di Brazza nl in Moruzzo in the Province of Udine wintering in Rome She created a lace making school and eventually opened seven Brazza Lace Cooperative Schools Besides promoting basic education the schools taught bobbin lace making and marketed the wares to help women rise above poverty Speaking four languages Slocomb di Brazza printed various language pamphlets to attract interest from abroad in their products She displayed the goods of the Lace Cooperative Schools at trade shows and world fairs She also was successful in a drive to reduce US import duties on handcrafted items in 1897 arguing that the tariffs would drive up immigration Cora Slocomb di BrazzaSlocomb di Brazza in Rome 1904BornCora Ann Slocomb 1862 01 07 January 7 1862New Orleans Louisiana USDiedAugust 24 1944 1944 08 24 aged 82 Rome ItalyOther namesCora A Slocomb de BrazzaCora Slocomb di Brazza SavorgnanCora Slocomb Savorgnan di BrazzaCountess di BrazzaCitizenshipUnited States until 1887 Kingdom of Italy from 1887 OccupationsEducatoractivistbusinesswomanphilanthropistYears active1887 1906Children1ParentAbby Day Slocomb mother RelativesIdanna Pucci great granddaughter SignatureInvolved in the peace movement from 1889 Slocomb di Brazza created the peace flag and was the founder of the International Council of Women s Committee on Social Peace and International Arbitration in 1897 The committee worked to create agreements for nations to solve conflicts diplomatically and avoid war Aligned with her peace work she undertook numerous humanitarian drives to assist immigrant communities reduce strife caused by cultural differences and improve Italian American relations Slocomb di Brazza campaigned against the death penalty fighting for a pardon and then assisting accused murderer Maria Barbella in gaining a second trial at which she was acquitted She attended the 1903 and 1904 Congresses of the International Council of Women representing the Consiglio Nazionale delle Donne Italiane CNDI National Council of Italian Women With activists from CNDI she founded the Societa Cooperativa delle Industrie Femminili Italiane IFI Italian Women s Industries Cooperative Society in 1903 to remove middlemen who exploited craftswomen In 1906 Slocomb di Brazza developed a mental illness which kept her isolated and confined for the next thirty seven years The Brazza Cooperative Lace Schools which she initiated are still operational and the peace flag she designed has been widely used in international ceremonies and celebrations Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 3 Activism 4 Illness 5 Death and legacy 6 Works 7 References 7 1 Citations 7 2 BibliographyEarly life and education Edit nbsp Abigail Day Slocomb ca 1890 nbsp Cuthbert H Slocomb 1865Cora Ann Slocomb was born on January 7 1862 in New Orleans Louisiana to Abigail Hannah nee Day and Cuthbert Harrison Slocomb 1 2 At the time of her birth her father was a Confederate soldier serving in the Louisiana Washington Artillery during the American Civil War 1 After his war service he returned to his partnership in a hardware store which had been founded by his father successfully accumulating a fortune prior to his death in 1874 3 4 Her mother who worked professionally under the name Abby Day Slocomb was a Quaker and descendant of Elisha Hinman a soldier in the American Revolutionary War 4 5 6 She filed several patents designed the Connecticut State flag founded the Groton Connecticut chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and founded the preservation society and museum for Fort Griswold 6 7 8 Slocomb was educated in New Orleans until her father s death The family then relocated to Connecticut where she studied with private tutors 1 8 At thirteen she went abroad studying in Germany and France before completing her education on the Isle of Wight 1 In 1884 she became a student of Frank Duveneck studying painting at the Royal Academy in Munich Germany After completing her course Slocomb traveled to Rome in 1887 and met Detalmo Savorgnan di Brazza brother of Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza who explored Africa reaching the Congo River 9 10 11 Soon after their meeting Slocomb contracted typhoid fever and withdrew to Sorrento for several months to recover Immediately upon hearing of her recovery di Brazza went to see her and proposed marriage 9 The couple were married on October 18 1887 in New York City Because Slocomb was Protestant and di Brazza Catholic a civil service took place at 3 East Forty Fifth Street officiated by Italian consul General Giovanni Raffo followed by a religious ceremony performed by Father Ducey of St Leo Catholic Church 10 Part of her marriage contract required her to become an Italian national 12 Career Edit nbsp Slocomb di Brazza and her daughter Idanna around 1893After their marriage the couple lived at the Castello di Brazza in Moruzzo in the Province of Udine and wintered in Rome at the Palazzo Vaccari on Via del Tritore 1 13 Their only child Idanna was born in 1888 14 Concerned about the poverty of peasants in Friuli Slocomb di Brazza created a lace making cooperative to give the women a means of support during the seasons when they could not work on their farms 15 She also opened a toy making workshop in Fagagna which created dolls and operated until the onset of World War I 11 16 Teaching women the skill to make lace which she had learned in her childhood she created patterns which incorporated decorative motifs that were traditional in the region Slocomb di Brazza spoke English French German and Italian and printed pamphlets in each of the languages to attract consumers from abroad 15 In 1891 she opened the first lace making school in the hamlet of Santa Margherita del Gruagno 13 To promote the idea of a school she taught six girls how to make torchon lace by weaving sixty threads on bobbins and had them demonstrate their new skill at the agricultural show they had organized at the castle for September 8 11 15 The lace makers were the highlight of the show and generated around forty students for the school 11 Finding no qualified teacher Slocomb di Brazza taught basic education courses as well as the technical and artistic requirements of lace making training the best students to become teachers 11 15 nbsp Italian mother and daughter making lace at the Brazza Lace Cooperative Schools 1906Following this model in 1892 a second school was opened by her student Angelica Marcuzzi in Fagagna 11 Later five other Brazza Lace Cooperative Schools were developed with facilities in Brazzacco Martignacco and San Vito di Fagagna 11 17 As there was no market for the lace products in Friuli Slocomb di Brazza used her contacts in Rome to gather antique lace samples Marrying those with samples provided by her mother and her students 18 she published a book A Guide to Old and New Lace in Italy Exhibited at Chicago in 1893 which accompanied an exhibit of the laces in The Woman s Building at the 1893 Chicago World s Fair 19 At the Congress of Women held during the exposition Slocomb di Brazza presented a talk The Italian Woman in the Country to familiarize the delegates with the work being done to improve women s economic situations in Italy 20 The exhibit won a gold medal 19 and after the exhibition the Philadelphia Museum of Art acquired the laces 21 Following that success the schools expanded and submitted works to other fairs winning two gold medals at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris and recognition at the 1905 Liege International in Belgium among others 11 For three decades after the first Brazza Lace Cooperative School opened in 1891 the main earnings of women in the region came from producing lace or growing violets She encouraged her brother in law Filippo Savorgnan di Brazza it to develop a marketable flower from a wild white violet Women were able to grow and sell this violet to earn money 22 Activism Edit nbsp Students at the Brazza Lace Cooperative School 1906From 1889 Slocomb di Brazza had been an active member of the Universal Peace Union 23 She developed seven rules of harmony as guiding principles aimed at achieving personal and world unity cooperation justice and mindfulness regarding the environment She shared these principles with her students and worked to develop a peace movement in Italy 24 25 As a delegate of the Universal Peace Union she met with the International Council of Women in October 1897 and formed the Committee on Social Peace and International Arbitration It was designed to establish arbitration committees throughout the world as a means of developing diplomatic channels for nations to work out their disputes Slocomb di Brazza became chair of the committee with Hannah G Solomon as vice chair 26 27 Visiting other women s groups to promote peace Slocomb di Brazza proposed adopting a peace flag which she had designed after visiting the International Red Cross offices in Geneva earlier that year 28 29 The flag featured yellow purple and white stripes to represent respectively love consistency and youth In its center was a crest with symbols of peace and the motto Pro Concorda Labor For Peace I Work 28 The flag was formally adopted by the International Council of Women in October 27 and at the meeting of the National Council of Women of the United States held in Nashville Tennessee in November it was formally adopted by the organization as a symbol of universal brotherhood cooperation and peace 30 31 The flag had already been shared with Elie Ducommun founder of the International Peace Bureau which adopted the flag in 1899 32 the year in which it was also endorsed by the Woman s Christian Temperance Union 33 nbsp A version of Slocomb di Brazza s peace flagConcerned about high tariffs on imported lace in 1897 Slocomb di Brazza published a ten page booklet which she sent to members of the United States Congress arguing that the burden of high import duties was encouraging immigration Her presentation was successful and resulted in a lowering of the tariff from sixty percent to fifteen percent for handcrafted items 34 She was acutely aware of immigration issues as two years before she had sailed to New York City to defend Maria Barbella a young illiterate immigrant who was one of the first women sentenced to die in the electric chair in the United States 35 36 Barbella had been raped by her boyfriend Domenico Cataldo whom she murdered after he refused to restore her honor by marrying her 37 An all male jury had convicted her of murder After reading about the case in The New York Times Slocomb di Brazza organized efforts to secure Barbella a pardon and campaign against the death penalty 35 38 She was acquitted in a second trial in 1896 39 40 Slocomb di Brazza accompanied her husband for his business affairs in the United States in 1897 41 As a member of both the American and Italian Red Cross organizations she spent her time in the United States assisting humanitarian efforts for soldiers wounded in the Greco Turkish War 42 She made presentations throughout the country with Clara Barton appealing for American activists to assist Greek women in their relief work She founded the National American Greek Red Cross Association to gather clothing material medicine and money for Greece 41 42 Slocomb di Brazza attended the International Council of Women s 1903 Congress in Dresden Germany and the 1904 Congress in Berlin representing the Consiglio Nazionale delle Donne Italiane CNDI National Council of Italian Women formed in 1903 19 43 CNDI members including Slocomb di Brazza Etta de Viti de Marco Antonia Ponti Suardi and Lavinia Boncompagni Ludovisi Taverna established a standing committee the Societa Cooperativa delle Industrie Femminili Italiane IFI Italian Women s Industries Cooperative Society both to promote Italian arts and crafts abroad and remove middlemen who exploited and took advantage of the craftswomen 44 45 She became president of the society and her husband Detalmo served as secretary 11 44 The society set about creating regional branches organized under various patronesses By 1906 they had created twenty four regional branches and established sister organizations in the United States which were designed to provide employment in various needlecrafts for Italian immigrants 11 That year Slocomb di Brazza traveled to the United States as a representative of the Italian government to meet with US officials and other people working with immigrants in an attempt to establish protocols for the treatment and processing of immigrants Believing it would benefit both European and American governments she suggested an indoctrination program in order to make immigrants aware of the culture and laws and to learn the language accompanied by a facilitated settlement program so that immigrant labor could live where they were most needed 46 Illness EditBack in Italy in 1906 Slocomb di Brazza was returning home from organizing earthquake relief in Calabria when she suffered a mental and physical breakdown in Bologna 47 48 By the time her husband reached her she did not recognize him or her surroundings 49 48 She was diagnosed with a form of osteoporosis known as Paget s disease of bone which impacted her skull and caused severe and debilitating headaches 49 She was placed under the care of Cesare Ferrari a pioneering Italian physician who ran a psychiatric hospital in Imola 48 50 As she was unable to continue their management the schools were taken over in 1908 by Marcuzzi who continued their operation to honor Slocomb di Brazza 51 Her speech was often confused and she had difficulty understanding what was going on around her Her husband visited her frequently until his death in 1922 52 She appeared to have improved in 1927 and returned to the Castello di Brazza nl but within six months relapsed and was sent to the Hospital Villa Giuseppina in Rome where she remained in isolation until her death 51 Death and legacy EditSlocomb di Brazza died in Rome on August 24 1944 and was buried in the family vault at the Verano Cemetery 13 53 For many years her history was obscured because of the stigmas surrounding mental illness 17 Her defense of Barbella which has been widely noted along with her work in the IFI demonstrate that Slocomb di Brazza was aware of the exploitation and vulnerability garment craftswomen faced and that she was willing to use her privilege to assist them 54 The Cooperative Lace Schools of Brazza continue to train girls between ages seven and fifteen in lace making 21 The peace flag she designed was in wide use until the end of World War I before losing its priority In 2013 it was chosen to celebrate Bertha von Suttner a fellow peace activist and friend of Slocomb di Brazza for the centennial celebrations of The Hague Peace Palace Since then it has been used in several commemorative ceremonies and celebrations throughout the world 55 Her great granddaughter Idanna Pucci an anthropologist and documentary film maker retold the story of Slocomb di Brazza s involvement in the case of Barbella in her books The Trials of Maria Barbella The True Story of a 19th Century Crime of Passion 1993 and The Lady of Sing Sing 2020 49 56 57 Works EditBrazza Cora A Slocomb de 1893 A Guide to Old and New Lace in Italy Exhibited at Chicago in 1893 Chicago Illinois W B Conkey Company OCLC 609717966 Brazza Cora A Slocomb de 1896 A Literary Farce Boston Massachusetts The Arena Publishing Company OCLC 557626026 Brazza Cora A Slocomb de 1897 The Human and Urgent Side of the Tariff Question New York New York Andrew H Kellogg OCLC 938013132 Brazza Cora A Slocomb de 1897 Ampharita An American Idyll 2nd ed New York New York Peace Bureau OCLC 256854964 Brazza Cora A Slocomb de 1906 Relief For Calabria Through Local Co operative Production Report And Project For Co operative Work rooms And Industrial Schools For The Necessitous Women And Children Milan Italy Segretario di propaganda pel lavoro in Calabria OCLC 893912874 References EditCitations Edit a b c d e Eagle 1895 p 697 Osborne 1893 p 23 Cooper 1922 p 95 a b Pucci 2020 p 10 Johnston 1897 p 73 a b Grosswirth 1976 p 74 Jewelers Circular and Horological Review 1897 p 34 a b Kimball Streeter amp Comrie 2007 p 35 a b Pucci 2020 p 11 a b The New York Times 1887 p 8 a b c d e f g h i j Porpora 2019 The Times Picayune 1887 p 8 a b c di Brazza 2018 Pucci 2022 pp 112 124 a b c d Pucci 2022 p 95 Cova 2022 p 4 a b Pucci 2022 p 94 Pucci 2022 pp 96 97 a b c Cova 2022 p 3 Eagle 1895 pp 163 697 a b Pucci 2022 p 97 Pucci 2022 pp 109 110 The Advocate of Peace 1910 p 27 Friends Intellegencer and Journal 1897 p 166 Pucci 2022 pp 110 111 Solomon 1899 p 248 a b Pucci 2022 p 120 a b Ball 1897 p 6 Pucci 2022 p 117 Cosio y Cisneros 1897 p 1 Robbins 1898 pp 315 316 Pucci 2022 pp 117 120 Solomon 1899 p 249 Pucci 2022 p 98 a b Pucci 2022 p 115 Ferraro 2005 pp 19 21 Pucci 2020 p 14 The Boston Globe 1895 p 4 Ferraro 2005 p 22 The Salt Lake Herald 1896 p 4 a b The Pittsfield Sun 1897 p 1 a b The Boston Globe 1897 p 3 Sewall 1909 p 129 a b Cova 2022 p 8 Zampini Salazar 1914 p 257 The Baltimore Sun 1906 p 11 The New York Times 1907 p 23 a b c Pucci 2020 p 260 a b c Pucci 2022 p 116 Le Travail Humain 1933 p 67 a b Pucci 2022 p 127 Pucci 2020 p 261 Pucci 2022 p 128 Masiola amp Cittadini 2020 p 44 Pucci 2022 p 123 Ferraro 2005 p 211 Durante amp Viscusi 2014 p 102 Bibliography Edit Ball Mrs George C November 17 1897 World Birmingham Post Herald Birmingham Alabama p 6 Retrieved January 31 2023 via Newspapers com Cooper Clay C ed June 1922 A Baldwin amp Co One Hundred Years in Business Mill Supplies Chicago Illinois The Crawford Publishing Company 12 6 95 Retrieved January 29 2023 Cosio y Cisneros Angelina November 6 1897 The Exposition and National Council of Women The Woman s Tribune Beatrice Nebraska p 1 Retrieved January 31 2023 via Newspapers com Cova Anne 2022 Women Religion and Associativism The Aristocratic Origins of the National Council of Italian Women 1903 1908 Women s History Review London UK Taylor amp Francis 32 2 209 227 doi 10 1080 09612025 2022 2100567 hdl 10451 55219 ISSN 0961 2025 S2CID 253198669 Retrieved January 30 2023 di Brazza Fabiana 2018 Slocomb Di Brazza Cora 1862 1944 Dizionario Biografico dei Friulani in Italian Udine Italy Istituto Pio Paschini per la Storia della Chiesa in Friuli Archived from the original on January 29 2023 Retrieved January 30 2023 Durante Francesco Viscusi Robert 2014 Part II Colonial Chronicles Introduction In Durante Francesco Viscusi Robert eds Italoamericana The Literature of the Great Migration 1880 1943 Translated by Boelhower Franca Boelhower Bill New York New York Fordham University Press pp 81 102 ISBN 978 0 8232 6064 5 Eagle Mary Kavanaugh Oldham ed 1895 The Congress of Women Held in the Woman s Building World s Columbian Exposition Chicago U S A 1893 Official ed Chicago Illinois International Publishing Company OCLC 1215981 Ferraro Thomas J 2005 Feeling Italian The Art of Ethnicity in America New York New York New York University Press ISBN 978 0 8147 2730 0 Grosswirth Marvin March 1976 The Wonders of NaHCO3 Baking Soda Science Digest Des Moines Iowa Hearst Corporation 79 3 70 75 ISSN 0036 8296 Johnston Elizabeth Bryant 1897 Mrs Abby H Day Slocomb 2205 Lineage Book Vol 3 2001 3000 1893 Washington D C The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution p 73 OCLC 1565972 Kimball Carol W Streeter James L Comrie Marilyn J 2007 Groton Revisited Charleston South Carolina Arcadia Publishing ISBN 978 0 7385 5490 7 Masiola Rosanna Cittadini Sabrina 2020 The Golden Dawn of Italian Fashion A Cross Cultural Perspective on Maria Monaci Gallenga Newcastle upon Tyne UK Cambridge Scholars Publishing ISBN 978 1 5275 5575 4 Osborne Arthur Dimon 1893 A Few Facts Relating to the Origin and History of John Dolbeare of Boston And Some of His Descendants New Haven Connecticut n s OCLC 8090421 Porpora Genevieve 2019 Cora Slocomb Enciclopedia delle donne in Italian Milan Italy Societa per l enciclopedia delle donne Archived from the original on January 29 2023 Retrieved January 30 2023 Pucci Idanna 2022 Cora Slocomb Savorgnan di Brazza An Artisan of Peace and Social Justice In Laurenzi Elena Mosca Manuela eds A Female Activist Elite in Italy 1890 1920 Its International Network and Legacy Cham Switzerland Palgrave Macmillan pp 93 129 doi 10 1007 978 3 030 87159 8 ISBN 978 3 030 87159 8 Pucci Idanna 2020 The Lady of Sing Sing An American Countess An Italian Immigrant and Their Epic Battle for Justice in New York s Gilded Age New York New York Simon amp Schuster ISBN 978 1 982139 31 5 Robbins Louise Barnum ed 1898 The Universal International Symbol of Peace History and Minutes of the National Council of Women of the United States Organized in Washington D C March 31 1888 Report Boston Massachusetts E B Stillings pp 315 316 OCLC 320821710 Sewall May Wright ed 1909 The Able Address of the Countess di Brazza Representative of the National Council of Italy Reports and Addresses Given at the Third Quinquennial Reunion Held in Berlin June 1904 Vol 2 Boston Massachusetts International Council of Women pp 129 131 OCLC 77190929 Solomon Hannah G 1899 Report of the Committee on Social Peace and International Arbitration In Sewall May Wright ed National Council of Women of the United States Report of Its Tenth Annual Executive and Its Third Triennial Sessions Report Indianapolis Indiana Hollenbeck Press pp 248 250 OCLC 50550243 Retrieved January 31 2023 Zampini Salazar Fanny 1914 Margherita of Savoy First Queen of Italy Her Life and Times London UK Mills and Boon OCLC 459219689 Bachelor Days Ended The New York Times No Fifth Supplement New York New York October 19 1887 p 8 Retrieved January 29 2023 Countess di Brazzo Better The New York Times New York New York December 29 1907 p 23 Retrieved January 31 2023 via Newspaperarchive com Le Dr Giulio Cesare Ferrari Oct 1868 Oct 1932 Dr Giulio Cesare Ferrari Oct 1868 Oct 1932 Le Travail Humain in French Paris France Presses Universitaires de France 1 1 66 68 1933 ISSN 0041 1868 JSTOR 40658502 OCLC 5547688956 Retrieved January 31 2023 Making Places for Aliens The Baltimore Sun Baltimore Maryland May 7 1906 p 11 Retrieved January 31 2023 via Newspapers com Maria Barberi s Case The Salt Lake Herald Salt Lake City Utah December 16 1896 p 4 Retrieved January 30 2023 via Newspapers com No Money Needed for Pardon The Boston Globe Boston Massachusetts July 30 1895 p 4 Retrieved January 30 2023 via Newspapers com Rules of Action by Countess di Brazza Friends Intellegencer and Journal Philadelphia Pennsylvania Friends Publishing Corporation 54 10 166 March 6 1897 ISSN 0016 1322 OCLC 1774939 Slocomb di Brazza The Times Picayune New Orleans Louisiana November 8 1887 p 8 column 3 column 4 Retrieved March 9 2023 via Newspapers com The Interesting Work of an American Countess The Pittsfield Sun Pittsfield Massachusetts June 3 1897 p 1 Retrieved January 31 2023 via Newspapers com The Latest Patents Jewelers Circular and Horological Review New York New York Jewelers Circular Publishing Co 34 1 34 February 24 1897 OCLC 656553511 Women Aiding The Boston Globe Boston Massachusetts April 30 1897 p 3 Retrieved January 30 2023 via Newspapers com Women in the Peace Movement The Advocate of Peace Boston Massachusetts American Peace Society 72 1 26 28 January 1910 ISSN 0043 8200 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Cora Slocomb di Brazza amp 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