Monogrammed, “R.M” these towels belonged to Rosaria Mutolo. They were originally part of her trousseau, the linens and other items collected for and/or given to her on the occasion of her wedding in 1922. She carried these towels with her from Palermo, Sicily to New York City in 1925 to reunite with her husband Adolfo Baldizzi, who had arrived two years earlier, in 1923. Rosaria and Adolfo Baldizzi moved into 97 Orchard Street with their children, Josephine and Johny, in 1931, where the towels are believed to have hung in the kitchen of the families apartment, until the building was condemned in 1935 and they were forced to move.
These towels help provide an interesting lens on Rosaria’s immigration experience. As part of her trousseau, the towels were given to Rosaria as part of establishing a new home with her husband, Adolfo. Yet, transplanted to America, they served as an ever-present reminder of her old home, a physical manifestation of “having a foot in two worlds.”
The towels were donated to the Tenement Museum by her daughter, Josephine Baldizzi Esposito, in 1994. Only one towel currently hangs in the recreated Baldizzi Apartment, set to 1935, while the other towel remains in storage to help preserve it. The towels are switched annually, as part of the museum’s cyclical collections preservation program.