Anna Cipolla missionary and teaching in Colòmbia photograph albums, 1964-1974 (bulk: 1965-1967).

Format:

Other

Author/Creator:

Cipolla, Anna, creator.

Language:

English

Spanish

Subjects (All):

Women in missionary work.

Women missionaries.

Lay missionaries--Catholic Church.

Lay missionaries.

Colombia--Social life and customs.

Colombia.

Genre:

photograph albums

Penn Provenance:

Sold by McBride Rare Books, 2025.

Physical Description:

2 boxes (.6 linear foot)

Place of Publication:

1964-1974

Language Note:

Most items are in Spanish but captions are in English.

Biography/History:

Anna Cipolla spent 1965-1967 in Colòmbia, where she taught Catholic school to indigenous South American children as part of her missionary work.

Summary:

The two photograph albums contain 288 original photographs plus numerous postcards, greeting cards, newspaper clippings, and other ephemeral items. One album contains a wooden red, black and gold decorative cover with a spine bound by two screws. The other album has a padded vinyl cover. These albums chronicle the teaching and missionary activities of Anna Cipolla during her time in South America in the 1960s. Cipolla spent a few years in Colombia, where she taught Catholic school to indigenous South American children. The album with the red, black and gold decorative covers contains photographs from Cipolla's time in Peru before arriving in Colòmbia. In this album, she captures images along the Amazon River in Porto Nariño, several shots of a leper colony and the sisters of Saint Joseph in San Pablo, images of locals making "chicharon" and a coffee plant in La Esperanza, before arriving at her school at Usaquén, near Bogota, Colòmbia. This album also includes campus views, group photos of faculty, nuns, and other staff members of the school, local trips to Ciudad Kennedy, Lenguazaque, Barrio San Isidro, and Medellín, and photos of her 1965 classes, which included second grade homeroom and a catechism class. A napkin laid into the album contains the signatures of the students ("La ninas") in her second-grade class. The album with the vinyl cover contains photographs, cards, newspaper clippings, a map and menu. This album includes photographs of indigenous peoples in San Agustin, a "Careguaje Tribe" along the Rio Orteguaza, indigenous families in Agua Negra, street scenes in Barrio La Loma and Florencia, shots of a "Feria Agropecuaria" (Agricultural Fair), numerous images of indigenous people in Maticuru, and more. Cipolla also includes several class photographs of various grade school groups as well as some staff members in Migani in 1966 and 1967, where she either visited or moved to teach. Throughout the albums, Cipolla captures numerous interactions between Catholic officials and local people, with images of nuns working in the San Pablo leper colony (mostly with the "Children of Lepers"), a baptism in Maticuru, priests walking through crowds of locals in various towns, priests and nuns posed with locals, and more. The ephemeral items are largely religious in nature, though some of the newspaper clippings record local events.

OCLC:

1592729023