Cora Slocomb Savorgnan di Brazzà: An Artisan of Peace and Social Justice

Abstract

This chapter has to be read as a precious testimony written in the first person, both from its author (Idanna Pucci), and from her maternal great-grandmother Cora Slocomb Savorgnan di Brazzà (New Orleans 1862 - Rome 1944): the long quotes from the latter give the reader the impression of hearing her voice. This American woman, who in 1887 married count Detalmo Savorgnan di Brazzà, introduced the art of making lace in order to improve the peasant women’s conditions in the northern Italian region of Friuli. She founded various Cooperative Lace Schools which reached the highest level of quality, and succeeded in her struggle for the abolition of American tariffs on foreign lace. Designer and producer of dolls and toy animals, she transformed the fortunes of a small shop that produced biscuits, turning it into a big factory that is still in operation today; she also bred a new white violet that received important awards. As already said, Cora was the first president of the Italian Female Industries, the extraordinary organisation that we have just described. Through her rules of life, spread out in her schools and also applied in her own family, we understand her philosophy and the ideals to which she aspired. In 1895 she launched an American campaign against capital punishment, in order to help a young women immigrant to the USA from Southern Italy, and she succeeded. Two years later, she designed the peace flag, and actively contributed to the first international peace movement. Sadly, from 1906, for 37 years, Cora lived in isolation because of a mental illness.

Appendix: Timeline of the life of Cora Slocomb Savorgnan di Brazzà

1862

Born in New Orleans on January 7th at the height of the Civil War. Only daughter of the Confederate Captain, Cuthbert Harrison Slocomb and Abigail Day, a quakeress from a wealthy Connecticut family.

1873

Her father dies on January 1st at only 42 years of age during rescue operations in one of the many New Orleans floods. He was a prominent personality and esteemed philanthropist.

1881

Crowned New Orleans Queen of Carnival.

1883

Cora is admitted to the prestigious Munich Academy of Art where she studies under Frank Duvenek, the well-known American painter from Ohio.

1887

In Rome she meets Detalmo, one of the fifteen children of Ascanio Savorgnan di Brazzà and Giacinta Simonetti.

Marries Detalmo in New York on October 18th. Cora lives between Rome and the Castle of Brazzà in Friuli.

1888

Birth on December 18th of Idanna, Cora and Detalmo’s only child.

1891

She sets up the first lace school at the Castle of Brazzacco. Six more schools follow in surrounding towns.

Opening of the first toy workshop, supported by the Queen Mother (which will continue until 1918).

First local agricultural show, involving seven municipalities. First toy display. This would be repeated for fifteen years.

Elie Decommun from Switzerland founds the first movement for peace and disarmament (The Union of Universal Peace) with which Cora collaborated all her life.

1892

The Fagagna lace school becomes public, thanks to the support of Senator Gabriele Luigi Pecile.

Maria Barbella a young woman from Lucania disembarks in New York (one of the 247 Italians emigrating abroad that year). The girl would later become the first woman sentenced to death on the electric chair.

1893

The lace cooperatives are attended by 150 pupils (60 at Fagagna; 25 at Brazzacco; 25 at Martignacco and 20 at San Vito di Fagagna).

At the International Exposition of Chicago, the Brazzà lace is awarded the gold medal.

Publication of Cora’s book, A Guide to Old and New Lace in Italy (Slocomb 1893).

1895

Cora travels to New York to start the first campaign against the death penalty in an attempt to save young Maria Barbella, a victim of rape, domestic abuse and abandonment, from the electric chair. Cora provides defense lawyers for Maria who appeal against the death sentence. Cora launches the first campaign against capital punishment to raise awareness among the American public for the cause of the poor immigrant, a victim of domestic abuse who was seduced and abandoned.

1896

Maria Barbella is granted the right to appeal.

Publication of Cora’s play, A Literary Farce (Slocomb 1896)

1897

Publication of Ampharita: An American Idyll (Slocomb 1897b).

Draws up, for her daughter’s tutor Inetta Stangher, Program for the education of Idanna, a true work of the art of pedagogy.

August: Cora is a delegate for the American Council of Women at the first peace convention at Mystic, Connecticut.

She designs the first peace flag.

The flag becomes the symbol of the International Universal Peace Union.

1899

The Peace Flag is adopted by The International Peace Bureau in Berne, Switzerland.

1900

The lace cooperatives win two gold medals at the Great Universal Exposition in Paris.

1903

Creation of the Italian Female Industries (IFI). Cora is elected President.

At the International Exposition in Udine, the work of the Friulian lacemakers is awarded two gold medals.

Points of sale for the lace open in America: in New York, St. Louis, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington and New Orleans.

1904

Wins an award at the International Exposition in London.

She travels to Germany with Idanna and Inetta Stangher to visit toy factories at Nuremberg and Sonnenberg.

1905

Calabria earthquake: she brings aid to the affected population.

At Montenapoleone Calabro she establishes the first cooperative in the south.

International Exposition of in Liege, Belgium.

Exposition in Udine of the toys created in the workshops founded by Cora.

Elie Decommun dies in Berne.

1906

Exposition of IFI products in Milan. The pavilion is destroyed by fire, and only the catalogue (Anonymous 1906) is saved. On that occasion, the toys were exhibited as well.

In Bologna, on her return journey from Calabria, Cora falls seriously ill. She becomes a patient of the avantgarde psychiatrist, Dr. Cesare Ferrari, with whom Detalmo forms a close friendship which will later continue with Idanna and family. From Bologna, Cora is taken first to Imola, then Forlì and finally to Villa Giuseppina in Rome, her final residence.

1907

Death of Giacinta Savorgnan di Brazzà, Cora’s mather-in-law.

1908

International Exposition in Copenhagen and Vicenza.

Closure of the lace schools. The schools become independent under the guidance of Angelica Marcuzzi, who continues them in Cora’s memory.

1914

August: Marriage of Idanna Savorgnan di Brazzà to the cavalry officer, Giuseppe Pirzio Biroli at the Castle of Brazzà.

1916

In Udine the first exhibition of Italian toys is held.

Zurich, 6 December: death of Cora’s mother, Abby Day Slocomb.

1917

In Venice, 75 toys manufactured at Fagagna are exhibited.

A fire destroys the villa in Brazzà, along with all the furnishings from the New Orleans house where Cora grew up. Also lost is the huge library, her diaries and her correspondence.

1920

December 13th, Detalmo dies at Brazzà.

1921

The Brazzà school, located at Santa Margherita del Gruagno, closes down after thirty years and all the materials and equipment are donated to Naomi Nigris, the head of the School of Fagagna, where she continues to teach until 1960.

1923

The Brazzà villa—inherited by Idanna—is rebuilt on a plan by Provino Valle, a well-known architect from Udine.

1927

Cora appears to have improved so it is decided that she can come back to Brazzà. She is well for six months but then worsens and she is brought back to Villa Giuseppina in Rome.

1940

January 31st: Cora’s daughter, Idanna, dies of myocarditis and is buried in the little cemetery of Santa Margherita near Brazzà.

1944

August 24th: Cora dies in Rome, and is buried in the family tomb in the Verano cemetery.

2017

Publication in Italy of the new edition of La Signora di Sing Sing written by Cora’s great-granddaughter, Idanna Pucci, with a preface by Edgar Morin (Pucci 2017).

2019

Creation of the Fondazione Cora di Brazzà under the auspices of the Central Michigan University and the Peace Palace Library in The Hague, Netherlands, thanks to Prof. Hope Elizabeth May.

2020

Publication in America of the new edition of The Lady of Sing Sing: An American Countess, an Italian Immigrant and their Epic Battle for Justice (Pucci 2020).