Rudolph J. Vecoli papers

Rudolph J. Vecoli (b. 1927- d. June 17, 2008) was born and raised in Wallingford, Connecticut, the son of Italian immigrants. He received his PhD in history from the University of Wisconsin in 1963, studying under Merle Curti and producing a dissertation on Chicago’s Italians. This work led him to his influential critique of Oscar Handlin’s The Uprooted in 1964, often cited as a propelling force in the expansion of the immigration studies field. In 1967, Vecoli joined the University of Minnesota History Department and became director of the Immigration History Research Center, a post he held through July, 2005. His scholarship has concentrated most heavily on Italian American history, culture, and identity, emphasizing labor activism and the political left. He has also written extensively on ethnicity, the history of immigration law, and migration to the Midwest and has been regarded as one of the field’s pre-eminent historiographers. He has also been a consultant and adviser to many heritage-related projects on a national level, including serving as co-chair of the History Committee for the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island Foundation. In addition, he has been actively engaged in ethnic community life, particularly in Italian American cultural programs.