Introduction to 'the Tirocchi Dressmakers' Shop'The Discovery |
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In 1989, curators from The RISD Museum were invited into this mansion at 514 Broadway by its owner, Dr. Louis J. Cella, Jr. The site of A. & L. Tirocchi, Gowns – the dressmakers' shop run by his mother, Laura Tirocchi Cella, and his aunt, Anna Tirocchi, between 1915 and 1947 – was a perfect time capsule. Dr. Cella offered the Museum its choice of the contents for its collection. The RISD Museum accepted more than 300 beautiful textiles and costumes from the 1920s and 1930s and all of the business records. Other fabrics and fashions were given to the Historic Costume and Textile Collection at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston. Early on, it became clear to the curators that there was a wonderful story behind this shop, revealed in the ledgers, time books, and correspondence and related to curators by surviving family members and workers. Laura and Anna Tirocchi came from Italy to the United States and trained in their craft in Rome. Their employees, all women, came from Italian immigrant families who lived in neighborhoods adjacent to 514 Broadway. The clientele included women from prominent Providence and Fall River families and even some from as far away as Florida.
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