The seamstresses could easily have become resentful because of the obvious economic gulf between themselves and the clients, but this seems not to have been the case. While a few customers were notorious for their high-handed behavior, such as the one who "just wanted to show her power...because of her husband's power," the workers did not tar them all with the same brush. Basilico remembered his wife's judgment that some clients "were nice and some of them were cranky old ladies," but that she had no hostility toward them as a group. The interviews indicate that Tirocchi seamstresses took enormous pride in their skills, in creating beautiful clothing, and in working in a fine mansion. Emily Valcarenghi Martinelli, while telling interviewers about restoring a customer's piece of fine lace, sighed, "That was a place to work. So beautiful." Even more importantly, and in sharp contrast to most workers who made luxury goods, Tirocchi seamstresses were able to share in what they made. Each worker who married received as a gift from Anna and Laura a wedding gown that was the equal of any created for the paying customers [fig. 53]. Making these gowns, of course, would have been another practice that bonded the workers together.

The skills and experience gained in the Tirocchi shop served many of the workers well after they left 514 Broadway. The later occupations of thirteen of them are known: eleven remained in the needle trades, all in small-shop settings. Lino Picolo married a tailor in 1929, the same year that she worked for the Tirocchi sisters. In all likelihood, she would have plied her craft alongside him in his shop. Anna del Matto, who never married, went on to sew for Topal-Carlson and Jean's Inc. At these exclusive Providence shops, she would have altered ready-to-wear garments rather than making custom clothing, but she would have been sewing on quality garments as well as serving a clientele very like that of the Tirocchis. Mary Rosa Traverso became a free-lance seamstress after leaving A. & L. Tirocchi, but then worked for Mrs. Bernstein, a downtown Providence dressmaker, for about twelve years. Sometime before 1935, Patricia Scalera opened her own custom dress shop on a side street not far from the Tirocchis; apparently the Tirocchis did not regard this move with disfavor, because Dr. Louis J. Cella, Jr., reported that she was "of great assistance" in taking on some of the Tirocchi clients after the shop at 514 Broadway closed.(36)

Sewing was not just the center of the workers' wage-earning lives, but an important part of their family and social lives as well. Mary Riccitelli Basilico, her husband reported, "went on sewing...because she loved it, she loved to create, she loved...making things." She had, he recalled, the same ability as Anna Tirocchi to design apparel without patterns and made beautiful clothes for their daughter. Mary Rosa Traverso also sewed "tailor-made" garments for her daughter and continued to make wedding gowns, having somewhere picked up the art of beading, one of the skills she had not learned in the Tirocchi workshop. Emily Valcarenghi Martinelli spoke lovingly of the finely finished snowsuits she made for her daughters. Even so, the evidence of written documents and interviews undoubtedly captures only a small part of the role that sewing played in the lives of these women. Mary Riccitelli Basilico continued to make wedding gowns in her home, assisted by Mary Rosa Traverso and Grace Venagro during the evenings, and Panfilo Basilico would drive the two home afterwards. This activity is not recorded in the 1935 census report, which lists Mary Basilico as neither working at a gainful occupation nor seeking work. Even more telling is the fact that Panfilo Basilico mentioned Mary's continued dedication to sewing, but neither its collective nor money-making functions. Like much of the workers' lives, their sewing remains partly invisible in the historical record, but there is enough evidence to conclude with certainty that their skills were an enduring source of support, pride, and community. Mary Rosa Traverso reported that the career workers with whom she remained friendly were close "until they all died." One may indeed wonder if these seamstresses did not garner more satisfaction from their work than the clients experienced in wearing the fine apparel constructed at 514 Broadway.

Insert Chart of Tirocchi Clients Resident on the East Side

Many thanks to Edward Benson, Katherine Benson, and Sharon Hartman Strom for their very helpful comments on an earlier version of this essay.

The interviews referred to and quoted in this essay are to be found in the A. & L. Tirocchi Archive, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. Such references have not been footnoted. All letters sent or received by Anna or Laura Tirocchi are understood to be found in the Tirocchi Archive. See "Note on the A. & L. Tirocchi Archive, Collection, and Catalogue," p. 23.