source transcription
850 S HalstedMONro-4115
Source-backed archive pilot
Italian Chicago, 1930
A directory can make a neighborhood visible: names, trades, addresses, and the businesses that held a community together. This pilot begins with a reviewed transcription of the macaroni category in the 1930 Selected Directory of the Italians in Chicago.
14
reviewed directory listings
12
surnames ready to explore
Chicago
business addresses retained as printed
How to read this pilot
Every listed record is labeled source transcription and links back to its scan. A directory mention establishes only what the source prints; it does not, by itself, prove family relationships, ownership beyond the wording of the entry, or later events.
Pilot record set
Search directory mentions
This reviewed starting set transcribes fourteen listings from the macaroni category. Search a surname, business, street, or old telephone exchange.
1 of 14 records
Start with a surname
These names occur in the pilot transcription. Selecting one opens its matching directory mentions, a deliberate first step before connecting it to other records.
Research Casebook
The Alghini Macaroni record
Follow the public record from Richard Alghini's 1930 directory entry through the 1936 factory fire notice and the 1942 bankruptcy notice. The casebook separates documented facts from unanswered questions.
Read the Alghini storySource and method
This inaugural set is intentionally small. It is a reviewed transcription, not a complete re-publication of the directory. Ambiguous scan text is excluded rather than guessed, and the source page remains available for verification.
Read the source scan: Macaroni category, printed p. 21 (scan PDF p. 59).