Greek Community Museums in America: A case between homeland and diaspora?

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GREEK COMMUNITY MUSEUMS IN AMERICA: A CASE BETWEEN HOMELAND AND DIASPORA?

A THESIS BY

THEODOROS CHARITOGLOU

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master degree in Heritage Studies: Museum Studies

in the Humanities Department of the

University of Amsterdam at Amsterdam, 2016-2017

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Doctoral Committee: Dr. Mirjam Hoijtink

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ABSTRACT

Nowadays, more and more are the people who migrate in order to seek a better future or feel the experience of living in a different and distant from ‘home’ environment. Migratory reasons may vary per individual, but for most of the times the similarity is the uniqueness of the role of diaspora. Diasporas always represent a great fusion of the cultures, traditions and the customs that people inherited and will always carry with them. Up to this significant moment is when the relationship between homelands and diasporas starts to create a bond and a meaning. The case of the Greek Diaspora has always been in the center of attention, not only for the significant of the Greek history and Greece through the ages but also because of the important role that Greeks along with Romans played on the construction of a civilization history with the construction of new identities and the building of new nations, via their classical history, the archaeological achievements, education and migration especially from 19th_{century onwards. This thesis}

attempts to contribute to the study of this phenomenon by examining not just the Greek diasporic phenomenon but the nowadays achievements of these influences. The National Hellenic Museum of Chicago and the Greek Museum of New York are two institutions which have been the vivid example of today’s Greek-American achievements. There are not simple museums that only educate Greek-American about their ancestor’s history and culture but also strong community representors of the glorious past and the brightest future.

Focusing on the present and over the last years I want to examine their function within the society they represent, their educational aims and the notion of nostalgia as a single notion but also as a key element towards their function for them as institution and for the community they represent. Additionally, what is very important for my research is what Greek nowadays describe as Hellenic. What is Hellenic? And how can we observe Hellenism nowadays through the eyes of these institutions? In order to do so and find answers to these questions and to those that will emerge I will base my research on examining the collections of the museums, the exhibitions being created and all the side projects that have been realized, so Greek-Americans and any other visitor can

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experience and educate himself. Institutions like these also play an important role on today’s societies, because they can set the signifiers for new identity construction and building of nationalism. Both case studies have an aim to preserve the culture among the Greek-American communities and create a place where everybody is welcoming and willing to learn about the Greek Culture. Chicago and New York were two of the biggest cities in America, where Greeks settled and created their Greektowns. As someone would understand, topography played already a very important role for these people and it would be also nice to see how things changed in modern times and what do these institutions inherited from the previous generations. Additionally, to the topography,

Anthropos, the human being itself seems to have a very central role for these institutions.

Greeks or Hellenes, are in the center of attention just by observing the names of these institutions and their aims. What would the place of Greeks be within these institutions; and is there any connection to matters and events happening back in Greece? Are the exhibitions and themes strictly approach problems within the American society?

These are crucial questions that I hope to answer on this thesis and will not only provide me with important information for the construction of this paper but also, they will be the starting point of understanding the importance of the Greeks in connection to Museology and the Classical period. In the end, as most scholars say, history can repeat itself but we can learn from the past mistakes and achievements and become better people.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The idea for this Thesis evolved after the period I spent in Sarawak, Malaysia while doing my internship at the Sarawak Museum Campus and Heritage Trail in Kuching for the needs of my master degree in Museum Studies at the University of Amsterdam. There, I had the chance to understand the power of the community and the people that are part of it. It made me realize that each and every one of us carry its own heritage that is closely connected to our cultural path and that no matter where we are and how intrigued we feel about experiencing new paths and cultures, we will always carry the love for ‘home’ as a physical and emotional place. Community for me is not simply a word but is the vivid example of the heritage that tries to reconnect the new and old generations with their roots and their homelands. As a Greek, I was always inspired by all these groups of Greek people that left the homeland and found a settlement in different regions all around the world. And this is mainly for two reasons, firstly because they opposed against the classical norm that wants the Greeks living along with their families and attached at a certain Greek geographical district, and secondly because they never forgot about their culture and history but actively tried to keep it alive and promoted universally.

This community side was clearly introduced to me by Mrs. Louise Macul during my stay in Kuching, to whom I am deeply indebted to. She has been a great source of inspiration, knowledge and a great friend.

This research could not also have been conducted without the wise counsel and provocative questions posed by my supervisor, Dr. Mirjam Hoijtink. I also wish to thank Dr. Dos Elshout, the second reader of this paper and member of my committee for his insightful observations.

I am also deeply appreciative to Mrs. Dimitra Georgouses, Manager of the Public Programs and Head of the Education department at the National Hellenic Museum of Chicago for her willingness and precious help during my research.

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Last but not least, I would like to thank my family for their constant support during my academic studies and for all the enthusiasm, assistance, carriage and love throughout the years.

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INTRODUCTION

Το τραγούδι της Ξενιτειάς The Song of Xeniteia

Ο ξένος μες την ξενιτειά The foreigner while sojourning abroad

Σαν το πουλί γυρίζει Roams like a bird

Σαν τα τριαντάφυλλα ανθεί He blossoms like roses

Αλλ’ όμως δε μυρίζει But does not smell of them

Ανάθεμα σε ξενιτειά A curse upon Xeniteia

Και σύ και τα καλά σου And on you and your benefits Ούτε τα πλούτη σου ήθελα I wanted neither your riches

Ούτε τα βάσανά σου Nor your woes

Παρηγοριά έχει ο θάνατος Death has its antidote Κι’ όποια πληγή από πόνο And any wound from pain Μα ο ζωντανός ο χωρισμός But only living separation

Παρηγοριά δεν έχει μόνο Has no consolation

Ioulia Theokhari Fort William, Ontario [1924]

The Greek newspaper Kalifornia,1_{published in San Fransisco, using the above}

poem of Ioulia Theokhari, urges that Greek immigrants retain a love for the patrida, or homeland, and for its language and customs (Clogg 1999:2). Whether you are in a state of a diaspora, exile or migration the common idea of ‘home’ as a symbolic space rather than a physical space would always be the signifier. Given the centrality of xeniteia, a difficult word to translate but roughly meaning sojourning in foreign parts, the author 1 Kalifornia, (San Francisco) 9th_{February 1924. Dr. Peter Mackeidge has pointed out that this poem derives}

from a traditional folksong of xeniteia. Xeniteia has no direct English equivalent, and according to Richard Clogg it is a signifier of sojourning in foreign parts, with an exaggeration of longing for the homeland (Clogg 1939:17).

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strongly addresses a situation in which populations feel disconnected from their homeland while at the same time they are attached to a new land. This dislocation can cause a physical as well as a mental experience. It can be a struggle with real and imaginary borders and only those who have experienced cultural displacement like this are capable of understanding this situation and their position in it (Kapplani 2006:150; Rushdie 1991:12) As a result, xeniteia, etymologically can be closely related to the status of diaspora. According to a professor of Modern Greek Dimitris Tziovas, diaspora, suggests the fertility of dispersion, dissemination and the scattering of seeds, while at the same time it denotes the dislocation of communities from their native homelands through migration or exile (Tziovas 2009: 5). Having this framework as my signifier for later investigation, I can argue that xeniteia, as a mental dislocated experience, is not only strongly connected to the notion of ‘Nostalgia’ but it can also be a status that diaspora experience daily. The word ‘nostalgia’ comes from the two Greek roots, nostos meaning “return home” and algia “longing”. It can be defined as a longing for a home that no longer exists or has never existed. As a result, nostalgia similarly to xeniteia is a sentiment of loss and displacement, but it’s also a romance with one’s own fantasy (Boym 2001). This longing or better described as ‘nostalgia’ is something that many diasporas all over the world experience at a certain point. In my case, and for this thesis I am focusing on the Greek Diaspora in the United States and more specific on what I like to describe as ‘Community Museums’. The National Hellenic Museum of Chicago and the Greek Museum of New York are not only considered to be Museums that showcase Greek artefacts, but also community homes for all Greek-Americans that maintain a sense of longing for the ‘home’.2_{Taking into account this double identity of the museum}

as an institution and the museum as a community representor the main challenge of this thesis is to examine their function in today’s epoch. Does Nostalgia play a role over these museums; and what conclusions can we draw about them? Before focusing on the present, we need to realize how the Greek diaspora in the United States formatted? And also, what was the status and the situation of Greece, that forced these populations to migrate?

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Likewise, the Jewish and the Armenian, the Greek diaspora has been considered one of the most historical diasporas. Even if some historians and researchers trace the origins of the Greek diaspora to ancient Greek colonies, Dimitris Tziovas, states that this phenomenon should be seen as a more modern one and its history can be divided into three broad phases (Tziovas 2009:1). The first phase should coincide with the period of Ottoman rule (mid-fifteenth century to the emergence of the Greek state in 1830); the second extends from the mid-nineteenth century until the beginning of World War II; and the third covers the period from the 1940s to the 1970s. In the second the main supplier of the migratory flow has mainly Peloponnese3_{roots and had very few women who}

emigrated, whereas on the third period northern Greece produced the bulk of the migrants and the proportion of women increased dramatically (Tziovas 2009:1; Hassiotis 2004: 96-8; Yannoulopoulos 1985). The history of Hellenism between 1821, the official date of the beginning of the war of independence, and 1922, the ‘Asia Minor disaster’, can be summarized as a dual process. And this, not only for the creation of a nation-state but also the space limitation of the Greek Diaspora which had experienced a spectacular expansion in the Ottoman Empire as well as Russia, Austria-Hungary, Egypt and elsewhere (Prevelakis 2000 :178). It is also worth mentioning that one of the main principal symbols of Greek nationalism was the Phoenix, a mythical bird that rises from its ashes. This symbol was used by the founder of the modern Greek state and its first governor, Kapodistria, as the emblem of the new state (Prevelakis 2000: 171). The same symbol was used again from 1967-74, by military junta and this time was a forced and less optimistic gesture.

The Greek immigration to the United States started on 1873 and since nowadays it had many waves all along the global history. As told, more than 800.000 Greek immigrants moved in America and two out of three made the United States their permanent home (Moskos 2013). But what forced them to leave Greece? Henry Pratt Fairchild, in 1911, cited as one catalyst for immigration at that time the difficulties of subsistence farming in Greece due to unfavorable governmental policies and 3 Peloponnesus and mainly southern Greece were the parts of Greece were most immigrants came from. And this is for the simple reason that at that time these were the only prosperous lands in Greece with indigenous populations. These people had the economic sources and the chance to migrate and seek a better future.

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overpopulation relative to the limited land available (Fairchild: 7). At the end of the 1800s the principal agricultural products of Greece were currants, wheat, olives, figs, hashish, tobacco and vegetables. Because of the lack of roads and transportation it made it very difficult to produce a market. Most of the railroads were privately owned and moving the products to urban areas ate up most of the profit (Fairchild: 60-63). Moreover, he noted that Greek peasants continued to employ traditional and not modern agricultural methods. According to Saloutos, many Greeks who were in this depressed state, proceeded to emigration (Saloutos:29).4_{The exodus was greatest from}

Peloponnesus, the area from where many Greeks immigrants came to central Illinois. Another significant impetus to immigration in the late 1800s was the Greco-Turkish War (1896-1897), which required forced military service (Scourby: 4). Yet another was an indifferent and elitist government, which invested public funds on servicing foreign debt while developing Athens instead of rural areas. According to Xenides, the desire to “escape” Turkish oppression or military enslavement” as a key element in the decision to immigrate (Xenides:30,38). In contrast to this situation, almost from the start, a significant portion of the early immigrants became proprietors of their own businesses, notably as bootblacks, peddlers and especially in food and drink service. The beginnings of a Greek-American middle class can be detected already by 1910, whereas on 1920s we can talk about a well-establishment of this class. There was a considerable number of Greeks who had become owners of small businesses or pretty rich that along with those who didn’t prosper most likely returned back to the old country. Smaller though waves of Greek immigrants came to America following the Second World War and during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The vast majority of these arrivals made up a service labour force but a large number again repeated the professions of the previous immigrants. A very small number of the newer immigrants came over as professionals or acquired professional education in America (Clogg 1999: 103). The most significant difference between the older and newer immigrants though, was in their sex ratio and familial status. The early immigrants were bachelors who went back in Greece in the 1920s and 1930s to find wives in order to resettle in America. While, on the other hand the new Greeks arrived in America as married couples with small children. This explains the slowly 4 Fairchild also points out the timelessness of this truth. “The traditional method of relief…. From the

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evolution of the diaspora and pre-narrates the evolution of the classes among the diaspora. To understand this social change within the Greek America is ultimately to grasp the trends in Greek- American demography as being portrayed in the following table:

Table 1 Greek immigration to the United States

Era Approximate total Approximate annual

average Early migration 1873 – 1899 15 000 500 Great wave 1900 – 1917 450 000 25 000 Last exodus 1918 – 1924 70 000 10 000 Closed door 1925 – 1945 30 000 1 300 Postwar migration 1945 – 1965 75 000 4 000 New wave 1966 – 1979 160 000 11 000

Declining migration 1980 – present 35 000 2 000

Source: C. Moskos, “The Greeks in the United States” in R. Clogg (ed.) The Greek Diaspora in the Twentieth Century, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1999, p. 105

Evaluating this table, we can notable see a sharp decline in Greek immigration to the United States as a result of several factors. In my opinion, the most important of these was the ‘push’ from Greece because of the great improvement in living conditions in the homeland (Clogg 1999: 105). Before explaining the construction of the Greek communities in Chicago and New York it is worth mentioning the two competitive Greek experiences in America. The one is that Greek-Americans are part of a omogeneia, a homeland extension, a diaspora.5_{The other is that Greek-Americans are entrants and}

then participants in American history (Saloutos 1980). But which one of these two is more accurate? There is no simple answer to this question, and each part has its own truth. Hopefully, all along this paper I can find evidence on the fact that immigrants in 5 Omogeneia, also known as Hellenic Diaspora or Greek Diaspora, refers to communities of Greek people living outside the traditional Greek homelands. Members of the diaspora can be identified as those who themselves, or those ancestors, migrated from the Greek homelands (Laliotou 2004).

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America no matter in which generation grew up continue to maintain a nostalgic emotion about Greece and the connectivity with others, so called Hellenes.

But, according to Stephen Dyson, the United States was never a ‘classical land’. America owes its today’s formation to Greeks and Romans and this is because after the extinction of the native American populations and the arrival of the Europeans, the generation created was educated in the Classics (Dyson: 21). Along with the classical education, different towns were part of a new topography with places being named after towns or small villages from the migrant group home country. Moreover, more and more were the scholars that wanted to get involved to the classical education and archaeological schools and academies started to establish in major urban areas (Dyson: 25). As a result, the Greeks played a major role in the construction of a history of civilizations, not only because they helped in the creation of a ‘classic alike America’ if I may say, but also because archaeology and education showed the way for the communities and for the future generations. The National Hellenic Museum of Chicago uses archaeology as a medium of education along with classical studies, whereas the Greek Museum of Chicago is more focused on how to connect the community sense among the people, by using photographs from Greek-American achievements as the main artefacts for showcase. But, where does this difference has its roots? I believe that the answer is simple and has to do with the history of the two communities and the local area. The National Hellenic Museum of Chicago was the first Greek Museum established in America by the efforts of the whole community, whereas on the other hand, the Greek Museum of New York represents an individual effort for community representation and only showcases photographic material. Even if the community of New York, is without a doubt the larger of any other Greek community in America, it is less compact and localized, and holds a less prominent place in the organization of the city because of the amount of existed communities in the city. On the other hand, the community of Chicago, is representing the predominant class of settlements, where Greeks are mainly well established with the notion of ownership in independent businesses as the key fact (Fairchild 1911: 122).

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The first Greeks in the city of Chicago, can be identified in 1882, without the existence of an original community. The first created community was the “Graeco Slavic Brotherhood”, which was a unification attempt with the Slavs under a secured Greek priest and a common Orthodox church. 6_{Only in the late 19}th_{century and early 20}th

century we can talk about the creation of a Greek community on its own. After that we have the creation of various organizations that were funded under different political ideas or interests. Topography itself played a very important role for the Greeks in Chicago.

Greektown, as being called was the community area were the Greeks settled and arranged

their lives around it. Over the years, the topography changed and many residents left the neighborhood, spreading throughout Chicago and the suburbs. The most important element of Greek culture is there though and I will talk about it later on my thesis, The National Hellenic Museum. On the other hand, in New York, we had a different type of settlement. By 1895, hundreds of Greeks settled on the East Side, in Chelsea, and the South Bronx. Greeks competed with Italians and Jews in occupations such as the food business, hauling produce, and trucking. These three groups also were working as fruit, vegetables and flower sellers. Eventually they Greeks developed into a monopoly. They expanded their small business into restaurants and became a significant presence in the city. A Greek Orthodox church was established in 1892 in New York and Greek schools opened in 1911. Greeks in New York also formed their own regional societies and associations. Topography wasn’t that of a necessity because of the width of the area, where Greeks spread all over the place and they were even forced to work very far from home, just to provide the basics for their families and themselves. For two generations, Greeks were keep practicing the same professions and only until the late 1970s there was a turn towards education. Academics may have been produced but not in such a large amount around the last 50 years. This focus on education set the foundations of the two Community Museums I am examining in my thesis. The oldest of the two, the National Hellenic Museum of Chicago, established on 1983, is dedicated for the celebration of the cultural contributions of Greeks and Greek-Americans. Similarly, the Greek Museum and 6 For the next years, the community grew very slowly, and by the beginning of 20th_{century already they}

started creating their settlements. In the city of Chicago, the Greeks created their homes and the businesses in the district of the town where the Italian section already existed. The Blue Island Avenue and Polk and South Halsted Streets are today a more typically Greek section that reminds of Athens. Practically all the stores bear signs in both Greek and English, coffee-houses flourish as well as restaurants and grocery stores (Fairchild : 124).

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Center for Greek-American Heritage in New York, established in 1996 is interested in preserving the history of the immigrant group. My main goal in this thesis is to examine the functions of these two institutions in the recent years, in order to see the modern aspects of the communities they represent and their role within the society. The notion of nostalgia is a very important I want to focus on and examine within these institutions, so I can examine also if nostalgia plays a role among the community and has some sort of connection to their homeland.

More analytically, in the first chapter of my thesis I am focusing on the notion of Nostalgia itself, its historical journey, the socio-cultural aspects it has and can cause, the types of it and also the nostalgia as a notion within the Community Museums and the Greek-American Community.

On the second chapter of this thesis, I will focus on the Greek Museum of New York, the dream behind it and its founders. Additionally, I will introduce the term of ‘imaginary museum’ and its collection by mainly focusing on the photographic material that showcases as a form of social perception for the society it represents.

Last but not least, on the third chapter I will focus on the Greek community of Chicago and the National Hellenic Museum by identifying what can we call Hellenic; and what does the word Hellenic means? Moreover, I will examine the collections, exhibitions (past and current) and side projects in order to identify its role as an educational medium and promoter of the Greek culture and language.

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CHAPTER 1: The Notion of “Nostalgia”

1.1 The Pathological Historical Journey

The utopia, or “dreamland” was always the destination that many diasporic populations seek throughout the years and along various settlements. According to Svetlana Boym, lately utopia became outmoded and for better, nostalgia became the contemporary notion that took its place (Boym 2001: 7). Nostalgia is defined in the Wordsworth dictionary as: “homesickness-: a sentimental longing for past times” (Davison: 659). Both Boym and Anne Friedberg, mention that nostalgia derives from the Greek language, and nostos means ‘return home’, while algia means ‘longing’. This feeling can be identified as a longing for a home that no longer exists, is long gone or never even existed (Boym 2001: 7; Freidberg 1994: 188). Despite its Greek roots, nostalgia did not originate in ancient Greece. An etymological history of the word nostalgia demonstrates that its first usage was in the late seventeenth century and most precisely on 1688, by the Swiss student Johannes Hofer. Around that time, nostalgia was considered to be a curable disease, akin to a severe common cold. Swiss doctors believed that opium, leeches, and a journey to Swiss Alps would take care of nostalgic symptoms. Nostalgia even took a form of epidemy, when various displaced people of the seventeenth century started to migrate in different areas for several reasons. The epidemic of nostalgia was accompanied by an even more dangerous epidemic of “feigned nostalgia,” particularly among soldiers tired of serving abroad (Boym 2001:8). This form of illness, which was the result of extended periods away from home put the lives of these people in danger.7_{David Lowenthal also researched the etymological roots of the word nostalgia,}

locating it primarily in medical history, as a disease with physical symptoms that were the result of homesickness. Moreover, he refers to the continuous vibration of animal spirits through the fibers of the middle brain in which the impressed traces of ideas of the Fatherland still cling (Lowenthal 1997:10). But, this study on the pathology of nostalgia from Lowenthal does not finish there. He suggests a degree of ambivalence about the 7 According to Hofer: “from the force of the sound, Nostalgia defined the sad mood originating from the desire for return to one’s native land” (Johannes Hofer, “Medical Dissertation on Nostalgia” (Anspach 1934 :381).

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social and cultural values of nostalgia which he describes as ‘memory with the pain removed’. For him, nostalgia might be symptomatic, but he approves the social and individual benefits it can have. The greatness of nostalgia for an individual can be shown by his present attitudes and actions in respect to the past. As a result, for Lowenthal the validation of the present in connection to the past can create new identities both in an individual and a group level (Lowenthal 1997:11).

1.2 Socio-Cultural Aspects of Nostalgia

Taking a lead from Lowenthal, I can argue that nostalgia informs social and cultural perceptions while adopts different forms. One of the most important aspects of nostalgia is the establishment of a link between two worlds. On the one hand, we have the real time, the exact moment that individuals live and perform and on the other hand we have an invisible land, a fantastic place that exists in our imagination and can be located wherever we want. Once Krzysztof Pomian mentioned that: ‘The invisible owes its existence to language, in the sense that it is language which allows individuals to communicate their separate fantasies to each other’ (Pomian 1990:26; Trotter 1999:21). The main argument here is that through the language we can make contact with invisible things and places. However, Pomian also points that objects play a really important role with our connection to the invisible world. Objects can refer to places, nations, past and futures. Homesickness might seem out of place and in a very modern environment but the links between nostalgia and home remain strong (Trotter 1999:21). Nostalgia, according to Davis, covers a broader sentimental perspective for home. It can be a powerful tool for maintaining connection for the dislocated, dispossessed and distanced from their origins (Davis 1979: 6; Trotter 1999: 21). And since nostalgia enables this dialogue between the past and the present, it is worth examining it. On our case, nostalgia in America, according to Robert Nisberg was a major topic especially around 1930s. The ‘30s as he

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mentions, represented a time when there was a general belief in social reformation, an active participation from the majority of people in daily life activities and people use their humor to express themselves. All these aspects, suggested the alienation and the social crises by 1970s (Nisbert, quoted in Davis:10). But is nostalgia only a notion that relates the past with the future?

There are a lot of scholars who argue that nostalgia also enables a dialogue between the past and the present. Even if it allows to cope with a painful past, it can reverse the situation by offering someone an escape to his reality, a small refuge that can be explanatory for the present. Thus, personal experiences can often, not only be seen as personal per se, but have the capacity to connect with a broader past; a nostalgic memory that can even be related to communities, nations and countries (Trotter 1999: 22). At this point we can argue that nostalgia can not only affect an individual identity but also the identities of groups or nations. Additionally, traditions and customs very well preserved, can inherit a nostalgic meaning and be a great force of nationalism, new identity creation and unity. This signifier can even be seen as a national nostalgia with recall of the glorious past and achievements. But beyond the nation’s boundaries, politics always play an important and crucial role. Politics shape the everyday life by creating two spheres, the public and the national. For me, the public sphere is what allows every individual to experience things, up to the point of creating a sense of security. National on the other hand, has to do more with a nostalgia that adapts elements based on political agendas and invokes a present of anxieties while creates promises for an unsure future (Wright 1985:20). So, can nostalgia be a tool of socio-cultural and political manipulations? Even if these tendencies can be accepted, every individual should allow a clear dialogue and an open negotiation with the past. By muting the painful past, every time we look back to it we cannot clearly face it, accept it and move on. Instead, we keep this feeling of a bitter-sweet pleasure to ourselves and this social exclusion that nostalgia’s invisible world offers to us.

The nostalgia that interests me and I would like to focus on though, it has nothing to do with a muted past, or an individual sickness as being described on the 17th_century.

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not “antimodern”, or opposed to modernity but it is a part of it. It does not only deal with a local longing, but it is a result of understanding the time and space, the division between ‘local’ and ‘universal’, ‘public’ from ‘national’ and ‘individual’ from ‘collective’. Some people even consider nostalgia as a rebellious idea of the modern times (Boym 2001: 8). A desire to revisit time like a space and create a mythological moment. Rebellious or not, nostalgia has a great impact on societies, and unlike melancholia, which can be hidden into people’s consciousness, nostalgia has a utopian dimension that confronts personal and collective memories. In order to understand more about the division between the categories we need to examine the faces that identity can have in connection the place attached to. Both Boym and Milligan, agree that conceptualization of identity can vary. Following Goffman’s distinctions though we can set three categories of identities, the social, the personal and the felt identities. Social identity is an identity completely constructed by the opinions and ideas we have for other individuals. Usually is an identity that someone can give to an individual without knowing him very well, more or less a stranger (Goffman 1963:2). While, personal identity is based on knowledge of an individual for someone believed to be special (Goffman 1963: 57). Last but not least the felt identity is closely connected to a subjective sense of our own situation and characteristics, an emotion that occurs to people by collecting the various social experiences or social identities (Goffman 1963: 105). A central feature for all these types of identities is the tendency towards continuity, or at least what we perceive as continuity (Milligan 2003: 384). Any sort of disruption of identity or loss can cause a change, a discontinuity of the identity. The sense of loss has a strong affect both on the personal and social sphere but most significantly on the individual’s role given from the society. Thus, identity continuity is a desirable element towards a painful experience and different perceptions of the society(Milligan). The division described previously can be closely connected to the social identity or what Milligan successfully describes as locational socialization (Milligan 2003: 384). Locational socialization or the meanings of locations is a learning experience that often shapes identities based on the environment we live in (Milligan 2003: 384). For instance, if nostalgia develops a specific individual identity based on a group experience and spatial disruption occurs, then nostalgia creates a sense of social loss that can create new

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identities (Davis 1979: 23). A starting hypothesis for my research on the Greek Community Museums in America is that they maintain nostalgia as a notion that has been institutionalized. Nostalgia as a historical emotion existed around the time of Romanticism and the birth of mass cultural production. In the mid-nineteenth century, we have the first institutionalized processes in national and provincial museums, heritage foundations and memorials (Boym 2001: 10). The Greek Community Museums in America might be more modern but I believe that they are a product of rapid changes and industrialization. But before moving on with the description of nostalgia within the community museums, it is worth mentioning the types of nostalgia that can be identified and are part of these museums.

1.3 Restorative & Reflective Nostalgia

These two types of nostalgia, can often be seen as a mechanism of seduction and even manipulation. Restorative nostalgia focuses on nostos (home) and attempts to reconstruct the notion of lost home with every method and possible way. On the other hand, reflective nostalgia is clearly focusing on the longing itself (algia), and delays the homecoming. By specifically focusing on the longing we can identify that the main focus is the individual and all these emotions that can carry from home and about the contradictive modernity. Restorative nostalgia though is a type of nostalgia that we can accept it as a general truth, or even a tradition if you like. According to this type of nostalgia, home can have many meanings and in a broader perspective can mean communities or nations that are hosted under the same home. In my opinion these two types of nostalgias are elements that we can experience within the community museums since they inherit recognitions for the whole society that they represent. Moreover, in order to understand other notions that community museums represent, it is worth differentiating the two types of nostalgia. Restorative nostalgia has a core, a main path to return back to the roots. Whereas reflective nostalgia does not follow a single plot but it plays with the individual imagination and creates spaces within time zones (Boym 2001:11). This typology of nostalgia allows to distinguish two different types of

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memories, the national and the social memory. National memory is based on a single version of national identity, while social memory consists of collective frameworks that don’t define individual perspectives or memories (Boym 2001:12). By just trying to examine the two words of restoration and reflection on their own meaning we can get a lot of information about them. Restoration signifies a return to the original status. But, when we talk about restorative nostalgia we are not only talking about the return into the original status(homeland), but the reconstruction n of this moment and the recreation of it.

On the other hand, reflection means new flexibility. It focuses on the meditation on history and the passage of time. The two types of nostalgia might overlap in their frames but do not coincide in their narratives and identity description. And this is how we can realize that these two types of nostalgias can be identified in community museums and also the separation of individual and collective memory. In order to understand better these two types of nostalgias and memories I have related them with the two community museums I study, the National Hellenic Museum of Chicago and the Greek Museum of New York.

1.4 Nostalgia within the Greek Community Museums in America

If we claim that nostalgia has always been a key element among diasporic populations around the world that have experienced displacement, then I can argue that this displacement can lead to new identity categories that can be expressed by institution such as the two case studies I examine, the National Hellenic Museum of Chicago and the Greek Museum of New York. The main criteria that made me name these institutions community museums are not simple because of their mission statement or any other agenda they serve, but because community as a word can describe a whole, a unity with the same believes and origins. This community is a part of two broader communities, the host community, the United States, and the ‘motherland’ Greece. Greek populations that

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experienced displacement either via diaspora, exile, migration or any other type of dislocation, are affected by what is called as ‘identity discontinuity’. The results of this discontinuity can be expressed by nostalgia and the loss or longing for the return. This feeling of longing can affect populations with the disruption of attachment of a place and a new setting in older nostalgic experiences. As a result, new identity categories emerge, that can assist with the reestablishment of a new identity continuity (Milligan 2003: 385). According to Lowenthal, ‘if the past is a foreign country, nostalgia has made it a foreign country with the healthiest trade of all’.8_{This is where the role of tourism comes in the}

game. Heather Zeppel and Michael Hall, also link tourism and nostalgia when describe heritage tourism or a museum. A form of travel based on nostalgia for the past and the desire to experience diversities (Zeppel and Hall 1992: 474). In our case, I don’t fully adopt the influence of tourism for the construction of a nostalgic scene in these museums but, nostalgia can be a natural ally for tourism, especially when you broaden your audience as an institution. To understand a bit more the form of tourism within these cultural institutions we just have to consider the motivators of community museums. Historic enquiry, nostalgia, an interest for the roots, the homeland that pull theoretical perspectives towards destinations that visitors in general experience. As already indicated by their names both museums are named after the homeland, Greece. This historical remembrance is already a sign of a nostalgic path. Words can get sentimental meanings and distance can play a significant role in connection to that. The motherland, being very far from America seeks for representation and a clear connection to memory. But what makes these two museums, community museums? Even if these two institutions claim that they represent the Greek-American history in two major districts, they can be called historical, I tend to name them community museums. This is because a historical museum is obligatory at the community they represent. Without them, their role on the society would not have any meaning and would not even exist. Local residents are mostly appealed by these community museums because of their nostalgic responses. These museums, are organized around the values and ideals that share the same value system with their visitors. Even if they tend to claim that the museums are meant to showcase the 8 Lowenthal, op. cit., p.4. In this context, Lowenthal equates tourists of the past to other forms of tourism in that all forms ‘imperil the object of the quest’. This indication can be applied on heritage and culture sector as well as community museums and their mission statement in connection their quest and service in the society.

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Greek-American heritage to all type of visitors, in the next chapters I will present the Greekness that they express through their exhibitions and an overall function. What is really worth noting here and keeping in mind is that the community museums use all these forms of practices (interpretation, contextualization, experience) in order to organize a system of the same values. This system of values can create a place of memory that according to Pierre Norra can be described as a memorial site, or “lieux de memoire” (Nora 1989: 10). These sites of memory can be closely linked to nostalgia as an aspect of this memory. As Maurice Halbwachs indicated: “No memory is possible outside the frameworks used by people living in society to determine and retrieve their recollections” (Halbwachs 1992:47). But Ney York and Chicago have been two completely different societies with different lifestyle and living conditions. Over the next two chapters I will examine more aspects of these two community museums that indicate nostalgia and would also try to make a better understanding of their functions in the 21st

century. What it is worthy keeping from this chapter though is that nostalgia is legitimate to individual and group memory. It is a point of intersection for cultural heritage and the past. It is a valid point of remembering, a valid mode of recalling for the community, and Greek Community museums are a great representor of that.

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CHAPTER 2: The Greek Museum of New York – “The center

for Greek American Heritage”

1.5 Making a Dream Become a Reality

My first case study really intrigued me before even starting my research. The small detail I noticed on the website for the contacting details made me think a lot about culture and intangible heritage. A Post Office box at the Grand Central Station of New York is the only way of contacting the center and the people behind it. This element made a big amount of thoughts to occur in my head about the current situation of the institution. Would it be financial matters? The limited space in New York? The public unawareness or even the easiness of this communication method that made the owners decide to have this contact approach? Established on 1996, The Greek Museum and center for Greek American Heritage in New York, has been constructed under the dream of two women that have always been interfered with the long history and life of Greeks in New York City. Coming from a totally different background than arts and culture, Ms. Anastasia Nicholas studied education and administration and Ms. Katherine R. Boulukos, studied business have been the founders of this institution. Both individuals are Greek Americans citizens, born and raised in the United States, with a history of not only longing of Greece but also belonging. Belonging of a Greek identity that always wanted to be showcased and be in the center of such a metropolis as the New York city. On the museums’ online platform, Ms. Katherine Boulukos explains that even if her profession is completely different she always felt the need to be involved with the Greek community and be really active. Herself, has been always working as an insurance agent and an owner of a yacht charter company. In her free-time she got involved with the Greek American Community and she has been an author of Greek food books, president of several organizations within the Orthodox Church of New York and chairman in art councils and Hellenic Studies. But, besides all these the most interesting aspect is that she has also been a

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collector of Greek antiques and artifacts. Additionally, Ms. Anastasia Nicholas has been an academic in several universities within the metropolitan area of New York, teaching a course on Greek Gastronomy, adult education and behavior. She has also been an editor for the Greek Orthodox Church newsletter. My first thoughts about these two women are that besides sharing a long-term friendship and a common identity is that their family roots and where they come from played a very important role for their lives. Both as second generation immigrants have already established a status in New York, but even if they both grew up in the United States they have been involved with the Greek history and culture for the most part of their lives.

The Greek Museum and Center for Greek American Heritage is one of my case studies for reasons that I found unique for a community museum and for modern museology. The only source of information about the Museum at the moment is its webpage: www.thegreekmuseum.com, since there is no building to host it. Still the co-founders Ms. Boulukos and Ms. Nicholas name their dream not only a Museum, but also a Center of Greek American Heritage. These two sides of this project alone are very significant for the present of this institution and for its aims. According to both co-founders, this dream has been inspired by another Greek Community Museum, which I will present to you on my next chapter of my thesis, The National Hellenic Museum of Chicago. Some years ago, both women attended a conference in Chicago and had the chance to visit the museum and experience in person the model that has been established in Chicago. For them impression and inspiration were the keywords that made them willing to create an equal institute in New York that will preserve and record the story of Greek immigration there. According to them, New York has always been a city with a huge migration history, and Greeks deserved a place there. But all along this project the challenges were numerous, since financial matters have always been a problem. The help of trustee’s members has not been enough and so far the Greek Museum hasn’t found a place to be hosted. (Boulukos 2012). These are some of the words that Ms. Boulukos said in Neo Magazine in 2012 when she has been asked to explain the process of her dream. But, is the Greek Museum only a dream of an individual that can speak for the whole community? What sort of a narrative can the museum tell; and what’s the role of the institutionalization for such a center? In order to examine these questions that can occur

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to anybody as a logical outcome of what has been presented, we need to examine its aspect carefully starting with the mission statement of the museum and its history.

1.6 The Museum’s history, aims and mission statement

The Greek Museum and Center for Greek American Heritage was founded in 1996 and it quickly became a magnet for individuals interested in preserving the history of the Greek immigrant group. The response from a vary diversified group of people was rewarding, since it gave credence to the importance of establishment, a location to exhibit, record and preserve the story of the Greeks. When this Museum project started, it had the following focus: the preservation and showcase of the contributes of the Greek immigrants to the American culture, to collect, care for, and interpret tangible objects that represent the life of Greeks in USA. Moreover, public awareness has always been on the spot and according to the general aims this would sufficient occur by the creation of an educational center that would include a library and study rooms for the public. Last but not least, rotating exhibitions based on the Greek American experience, that would engage the Greek American community would be the central narrative for the exhibitions. According to the co-founders Katherine Boulukos and Anastasia Nicholas, they wanted to create an institution that would include an exhibition space to showcase permanent and rotating exhibits. The institution would include a library that would contain documents, books, newspapers, magazines and manuscripts for researches and general public to use and study. Moreover, an oral history department of audio and video recordings for the documentation of the early immigrants is necessary to be created. Several other rooms, specially designed for different groups and types of early immigration involvement would be created to educate children and adults of all ages. A gift shop, a music room and a folklore hall are also part of the museums aims for a better understanding of the Greek impact and involvement. In conclusion, since Greeks are really well known for their dances and traditions, Ms. Boulukos stated that a concert hall is crucial in order to host these festivals, lectures, performances and receptions (www.thegreekmuseum.com). The mission statement of this community museum is to create an organization that would mainly focus on the preservation and documentation of

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the Greek American heritage in metropolitan New York area. Since the official date of the establishment and until nowadays the museum doesn’t have an actual space for the fulfillment of the aims of the two women. The main initiative for the realization of this project is the active engagement of the Greek American community and a basis of fundraising. As we do understand this may take many more years until a project like that can be institutionalized and have a real space for its function. But in the meantime, what it might occur from all being addressed is the question of which is the current situation of this institute since it doesn’t have a space but a double functional identity? Throughout the years, museology had different phases and different connotations. Someone can argue that a project like this can reach the essence of what Andre Malraux described many years ago as “The imaginary Museum”. This epistemological term fits very well in our case since the whole project and the permanent collections are completely based on archivization and documentation of the Greek American community, taking objects out of their original context and placing them into an ‘imaginary museum’ for aesthetic and public reasons (Eldredge 2012). I could argue on this point that, this form of an ‘imaginary’ museum can be also called an ‘intangible’ museum, an idea that has mentally occurred to the founders and has to do with their environment and nostalgic memories. But before examining the permanent collections of this ‘imaginary’ museum in order to investigate whether nostalgia plays a role within the institution it is worthy elaborating more the concept of the ‘imaginary’ museum, just to understand clearer the framework and the connection with aesthetics.

1.7 Between a community and an imaginary museum

The notion of the ‘imaginary’ museum first proposed by Andre Malraux in the late 1940s and early 1950s assists with establishing the terms of our research. Malraux argued that photographs or art are not bound by the limitations of physical display. By exhibiting pictures of artworks than artworks themselves you reach an easier access or a juxtaposition if you like (Eldredge 2012). From our perspective, the notion of the imaginary museum fits very well since the permanent collection of the Greek Museum is

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photographs of events or people that marked the Greek American history in the area. Meanwhile, it makes us question, what the imaginary museums imagine; and what this can tell about the collection, the curation, the documentation and the cultural content (Berry 2013:5). However, previous attempts tried to think of the ‘imaginary’ museum through the notion of an ‘instant’ museum. This idea came from Harold McWhinnie in the 1980s, who created three such ‘museums’ on floppy disks so works of art could be stored in an information retrieval system and could be used by the museums if future spaces would be created (cited in Prince 1988:88). As a result, electronic ‘imaginary’ museums are no longer hypothetical propositions, but fully enabled through a database of technology that forms computationality (Berry 2013: 5). Taking this into account we can draw a link with the function of imaginary linked to the notion of imagined community, as has been theorized by Benedict Anderson or Wendy Hui Kyong Chun in imaginary networks. According to Darzins, the ‘imaginary’ museum is an essentially modern thing who has been brought by the improvements in methods of reproduction and development of color photography, and the familiarity with the modern public because of it. Different periods and cultures have been portrayed and exhibited under many exhibitions all over the world. Even some of the works and techniques have been integrated within communities for the reasons of practice. As a result, paintings, photographs, sculptures and any kind of artefact are detaching from their surroundings and thrust into a realm where they exist unhampered by laws, time or space (Darzins 1957:107).

Malraux wrote at a time when photography was conceived as a revolutionary technology of reproduction that enabled high definition images to be take of works of art. These photographic reproductions flattened the images and the dimensions of the photograph paper. But for Malraux this transformation opened new possibilities for viewing, curating and exhibiting. By contrast, he perceived the ‘imaginary’ museum as capable of containing all sizes, perspectives and shapes of all the photographs being exhibited. We can clearly state that for him an ‘imaginary’ museum was the first stage of an online platform or a project that can maintain a museum on a webpage without a material space (Berry 2013:8). Our case study the Greek Museum and Center for Greek American Heritage is a perfect example of such an ‘imaginary’ museum. The museum offers an extensive collection of artifacts, books, records, and memorabilia pertinent to

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the Greek American experience. These artefacts have been digitalized into a collection of photographs that visitors can view online for the majority of time, while forms of presentations occur many times per year and under different occasions. Despite being widely referred as the ‘imaginary’ museum, muse imaginaire was first translated into English as the ‘Museum without Walls’. For Rosalind Krauss, this translation signals the English language’s appetite for demonstration, for the ‘image’ (Krauss 2005:241). The replacement unfortunately eliminates the original conceptual of musee imaginaire and as Krauss argues, Malraux’s addresses in French the conceptual space of the human faculties: imagination, cognition, judgement. Whereas in English, the concept speaks instead to a place rendered as physical, something quite paradoxical for a museum without walls (Krauss 2005:241). From another point of view and considering a more spatial translation of musee imaginaire as the Museum without walls, it really stresses Malraux’s concept. Devices for him and especially photographs were very important tools. He didn’t really focus on the ‘aura’ of the items and its decay but rather studied photographs as a form of the auratic of other products of human creativity and a way of individual understanding of the world art (Didi-Huberman 2012). Krauss also very argumentative argued that ‘imaginary’ museums recycle the past and reproduce similar images and feelings that have been explored all over the years (Krauss 2005: 244-245). This argument that Krauss produced fits very well along with the concept of nostalgia that I examined on the first chapter of my thesis. In many ways, Krauss recalls theories from Benjamin and Adorno that intertwine and complement each other. Even if Benjamin ignored the capitalist function in his ideas along with the exchange of value, romanticism, nostalgia and the element of marginalization are active for both scholars (Adorno 1973:71). Of course, the promise of unlimited access to a universe of images through digital and networked technologies can often be very poor, since it is opposite to the traditional museology and destroys the role of the museums as an institution. This new imaginary museum is claimed to blur the borders between art as institution and visual culture as a whole, by changing the role and the function of the society while ignoring crucial questions considering the role and the narrative of a museum. Such an outcome can be reached through the collections of the Greek Museum and Center for Greek American heritage.

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1.8 Permanent Collection and the ‘imaginary’ nostalgia

The Greek Museum has an extensive collection of artefacts, photographs, records, documents and books with a focus on New York. The history of the Greek immigrant provides an amazing cross section of material that is both local and global in scope. The early Greek immigrants came from the mainland of Greece, the islands of Greece, and Turkey, where there was a large Greek community. In addition, many came from Egypt and other parts of Europe, carrying the Greek roots with the to the new land. The Museum committee maintains the collection with care, and new items are added regularly, thanks to donations from people of the community. In addition to these artefacts the collection includes over of 2,000 photographs that are included in a variety of programs used the presentations or lectures. These are the main source of information and visitors can see the on the museum website. These photographs, visualize various aspects and occasions of daily Greek American life and picture religion, education, ethnic celebrations, businesses, artists and scholars. At this point, it is worth mentioning some things about the history of photography in America and the social perceptions behind it so the reader can understand more about the collection being demonstrated at the center. Photography, came to the United States in the fall of 1839 and ever since it started growing and growing. Photography captured many of the signal scenes of American life beginning in 1840, such as the Gold Rush, the construction of railroads, plantations and Civil War. Photography undergoes extraordinary changes in the early part of the twentieth century. This can be said of every other type of visual representation, to the transformation of the perception of the medium. Already from the later nineteenth century, photography spread in its popularity and inventions like the Kodak camera on 1888 made it accessible to the upper-middle class consumer. Photographs gained credibility as objective evidence because they could document people, places, and events.

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In the arts, the medium was valued for its replication of exact details, and for its reproduction of artworks for publication. By the early 1920s, technology becomes a vehicle of progressions and change, and instills hope after the World War I. For avant-garde artists, photography becomes appealing for its association with technology, the everyday and science. Photography then, seemed to offer more than a new method of image making, it was more of a change of the paradigms of vision and representation. Every-day habits and individuals were the central topics A few years after photography and artists attempted to document systematically the “modern” people. By 1935 different types of modern people were introduced by several artists who wanted to showcase and present the changing notions of class, race, profession, ethnicity and even identity construction (Marien 2006). Pictures around the same age, showcasing similar identity and class notions are showcased in the Museum’s collection.

The Greek Museum, Center for Greek American Heritage, on 2011 was invited to present these photographs under an exhibition for the immigrant story at a reception held by the Greek School of Plato, in Brooklyn, New York. The exhibition had the same name as the one demonstrated online: “The Greeks of New York City: Photo Exhibit about the Greek immigrants in Brooklyn”. It included thirty photographs about the immigrants, taken from the museum’s vast collection. Informative information and a newsletter were distributed for the public, who actively participated. This was one of the biggest occasion that the institute transformed from imaginary museum into a community museum and showcased part of the collection to the public. A collection, that I could say on the one hand is very unique because of the variety of the photographs and the period it covers, but on the other side it can also create a status of nostalgia for the homeland and the Greek achievements. The story of the permanent collection ‘The Greeks of New York City’. Can be seen as the fulfillment of a dream, the coming to America with the mission to make a successful life for one’s self and their family. Today, and according to Ms. Boulukos, in New York, the fulfillment and the celebration of the ancestors’ arrival in New York can be experienced on every aspect of the city’s life. From 1820 to 1870, approximately 400 Greeks arrived in the United States. During that time, the immigration center was in Castle Gardens in Battery Park. It was opened from 1820 to 1892, and the

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Greeks referred to it as the “Kastelgari”.9_{The collection states series of important}

achievements and events through a chronological order that demonstrate the achievements of the ancestors. Following I present some of the most significant historical photographs that are been on showcase:

Figure 1 Ioannis Celivergos Zachos, a Turkish born scholar, Curator of Institutes at the Cooper Union University, 1870, source: http://www.thegreekmuseum.com/museum/

Dr. Ioannis Zachos, was born in Constantinople in 1820. At a very young age he came to America to study medicine. However, his love for literature was so big that made him choose it as a profession, and he joined Horace Mann as an instructor in Antioch College, Ohio. His time was fully given to rhetoric, oratory and literature. He gave Shakespearian readings and courses of lectures on the English poets. He founded a Shakespearian society, and also wrote and published numbers of books. Later on, when civil war broke out, he served for some time as a surgeon in the army, and also as

9 Kastelgari doesn’t has a specific definition as a word. It can be closely related to a slung that Greeks used around that time to describe the location or even the shape, architecture or style of the place. Here it can also have a nostalgic tone since Kastelgari could also derive from the word Kastela, which is the name of the Piraeus port in Athens, Greece.

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educational agent. In 1872, he became the curator of Cooper Union. During his life, he wrote many books about economics, theology, education and culture. His death came as a shock to the many he inspired on 1893.

Figure 2The Faculty of the Greek American Institute of New York (1916), : http://www.thegreekmuseum.com/museum/

The upper picture has been take on 1916 and shows the staff members of the Greek-American Institute (GAI) in Bronx, New York. GAI was founded in 1912, and is the oldest continuously run Greek Orthodox School in the United States. GAI is a Pre-Kindergarten through Eighth grade school dedicated to the principles of Hellenism. It’s mission statement as it is nowadays, declares its dedication to provide children with a well-round education and promote the intellectual development and social responsibility. Remarkable though in this picture is that the school had eight members and the seven of them were women. This tells a lot about the social structure of the period with women being active as teachers and educators, while men were mainly focused on technical jobs or businesses.

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Figure 3Traditional Greek Costumes, probably this is a picture taken from a celebration of a national holiday, source: http://www.thegreekmuseum.com/museum/

This picture was most likely being take in the early twentieth century at the house of an upper-class Greek-American family. It shows two children, probably siblings, the boy being dressed up with the Greek traditional fustanella10_{, as evzonas or tsolias}11_while 10 Fustanella, is a traditional pleated skirt-like garment that is also referred to as a kilt worn by men of many nations in the Balkans. During the Ottoman period, the fustanella was worn by the majority of the Greek populations. Different regions and districts had their own design, patterns and style. The fustanella worn by the Roumeliotes(Greeks of the mountainous interior), was the version chosen as the national costume of Greece in the early 19th_{century. By the late 19}th_{century, the popularity of the fustanella in}

Greece began to fade when western-style clothing was introduced. In modern Greece, the garment is seen a relic of a past era with which most members of the younger generations do not identify (Alexopoulos 2012: 267).

11 The evzones or tsolias, is the name of several historical elite light infantry and mountain units of the Greek Army. The word itself is first attested in Homer’s Iliad and is meaning “well-girt”. Today, in modern Greece it refers to the members of the Presidential Guard, an elite ceremonial unit that guards the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Presidential Mansion and the gate of Evzones camp in Athens.

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the girl wears a traditional women costume from a Greek region during the celebration of a national holiday. It is worth mentioning that its Greek territory had a different design for women clothing at that time so it’s hard to identify it. In any case this information can tell us also a lot about the family’s identity and their Greek roots.

Figure 4 Greek Independence Day Parade on Fifth Avenue, NYC, 1950's, source: http://www.thegreekmuseum.com/museum/

The Greek Independence Day, is a national holiday celebrated annually in Greece on March 25, commemorating the start of the War of Independence in 1821. It coincides with the Greek Orthodox Church’s celebration of the Annunciation to the Theotokos, when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would bear the son fo God. Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire since 1453. The Greek revolt was precipitated on March 25, 1821, when Bishop Germanos of Patras raised the flag of revolution over the Monastery of Agia Lavara in the Peloponnese. The Greeks experienced early successes on the battlefield, including the capture of Athens in June 1822, but infighting ensued. By 1827 Athens and most of the Greek isles had been recaptured by the Turks. Just as the revolution appeared to be on the verge of failure,

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Great Britain, France and Russia intervened in the conflict. At the naval Battle of Navarino the Russian forces destroyed an Ottoman-Egyptian fleet. The revolution ended in 1829 when the treaty of Edirne established an Independent Greek State (Clogg 2002). In celebrations of Greek Independence Day, towns and villages throughout Greece and the globe march in traditional Greek costumes and carry Greek flags similar to the above picture from the streets of New York.

Figure 5 Greek American singer Maria Callas, musical inspiration for the Greeks, source: http://www.thegreekmuseum.com/museum/

Undoubtedly, the woman portrayed on the above picture had been one of the biggest Greek American artists of the previous century. The internationally renowned Maria Callas was born in New York City in 1923. She made her professional debut with the Royal Opera of Athens in Bocaccio, and soon won her first major role with Tosca. Eventually garnering international acclaim, Callas made her Italian opera debut at the Verona Arena in 1947, later followed by her 1954 American debut in Norma. During the

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1960s, the quality and frequency of her performances waned. On September 16, 1977, Callas died in Paris of a heart attack (Edwards 2001). In this picture, we can see a very delicate portrait of Callas around 1950. It is quite clear the high-class society she was part of and also the diva style identity the photographer wanted to establish. After all those were the key elements of artistic photography of that century.

Figure 6 Flower Shop in the Bronx, 20.000 Greeks around the 1920s ran their own businesses and flower shops were one of the many, source: http://www.thegreekmuseum.com/museum/

This last picture taken around the 1920’s pictures the social reformation as Richard Clogg described. In his book, The Greek Diaspora in the Twentieth Century, he mentions that already by the beginnings of the 1910, a Greek-American middle class can be detected. Most certainly by the 1920s a remarkable amount of Greeks as also described on the picture (appr. 20.000), had become owners of small businesses and many among them florists (Clogg 2001: 104). Another element worth mentioning on the above picture is that the element of middle-upper-class can be identified on the clothing of the people presented and their image, as well as by the name of the store “Kingsbridge Florist”, which reveals the name of the district along New York City and not another common Greek immigrant stereotypical name in remembrance of the homeland. Those