Letizia Vatalaro Memorial Collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MSS 2022.0009

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection comprises a selection of documents collected and retained by Letizia Vatalaro over the course of her life reflecting aspects of both her professional and personal life. Of particular note are snapshots in her photographic colleciton showing Reed Street and the riverfront at Coxsackie during the interwar period, as well as a selection of ephemera related to Coxsackie High School and her subsequent work in Civil Defense during World War Two.

Dates

1925 - 2017

Biographical / Historical

Letizia Vatalaro [1911-2017] was the daughter of italian immigrants Costantino and Rose Vatalaro and was born and raised on Reed Street in a building later replaced by the Post Office. Letizia graduated with the class of 1928 from Coxsackie High School and was subsequently employed as the bookkeeper at Jackson and Boone Car Dealership where she worked until moving to a similar position at Albany Garage on the eve of World War Two.

During the Second World War Letizia was employed with the United States War Production Board in albany as a secretary and spent evenings as a telephone operator at the local Civil Defense Office. Following the war she became the office manager of another Albany car dealership while also finding time to remain active with the Catholic Church and various social and community organizations in Coxsackie and Delmar where she lived in her later years. Letizia notably was able to attend the 150th anniversary celebrations at Coxsackie in September 2017 less than a month prior to her passing at the age of 105.

Extent

.6 Cubic Feet (One Legal Size Document Box, One three-ring photo binder box.) : Photographic prints, handwritten letters, ephemera, and news clippings.