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Description

Unusual Italian language map, illustrating the location of numerous important official offices in America.

The title translates as follows:

North, Central and South America - Demonstration Map of Embassies, Legations, Consulates (with the respective territorial districts), Chambers of Commerce, Commercial Agencies, Wine Stations, Post Offices, Hospitals, Governmental and Subsidized Schools Abroad

The cities located on the map are often curious choices.  Several examples are noted below:

Thurber, Texas was then a coal mining town of some importance. By 1920, the town had a population of approximately 8,000 to 10,000, from more than a dozen nationalities, though Italians, Poles, and Mexicans predominated.  Established as a company town, the mining operations in Thurber were unionized in 1903 and Thurber became the first totally closed shop town in the country.

Dafne, Alabama.  In June 1895, land was purchased in Daphne for a Catholic church in what is now the center of Old Daphne to be built by the early Italian colonists. Father Angelo Chiariglione, a Scalbrini missionary from Torino, Italy, was the first resident pastor (1898–1909) of the church, known as the Church of the Assumption. This small-town church quickly gained the recognition of the Queen of Italy, Margherita of Savoy, who in 1898 sent a gift of rich vestments, an illuminated missal, a chalice, monstrance, candlesticks and other articles.

Tontitown, Arkansas.  Led by Catholic priest Pietro Bandini, who eventually became mayor of the city, Italian settlers working on Lakeport Plantation in the Arkansas delta moved to northwest Arkansas and formed Tontitown, which was settled in 1898 and named for Italian explorer Henri de Tonti.

Spading, Missouri (also known as Knobview and Rosati).  In 1898, a large group of Italian immigrants settled at Knobview and shortly afterwards started several vineyards in the area. Rosati is still known today for its grape growing and its wine industry. In 1931, residents of Knobview petitioned the Post Office to change the name of their community to Rosati, after Bishop Joseph Rosati, the first bishop of St. Louis and the first American bishop of Italian descent.  

Calumet, Michigan.  Calumet was a hub of European settlement in the late 19th Century, primarily around the copper mining industry, as well as dairy and truck farming.  It apparently had a very large Italian population, as "Italian Hall" was the scene of the "Italian Hall Disaster" (or Massacre), which occurred the labor strikes of 1913, when during a Christmas eve celebration, 73 miners, family and children were killed during a stampede when someone yelled fire.  The Woody Guthrie's song "1913 Massacre" is based on the Italian Hall Disaster / Massacre.