Our History: 1918-1928

H. Nelson Gay was among the active members of the Anglo-American community in Rome in the first three decades of the twentieth century, as well as a passionate scholar of the history of the Risorgimento and of the relations between Italy and the United States.

The body of books he collected during his studies was largely donated to the Harvard University library in 1930 (H. Nelson Gay Risorgimento Collection) and partly acquired by the Italian State for the Institute for the History of the Risorgimento (1935).

In June, the Library for American Studies in Italy association was founded in Rome at Palazzo Orsini, Nelson Gay's residence, with the aim of establishing a library on the United States for the Italian public; the founding members and first financiers were, in addition to H. Nelson Gay, the American ambassador at the time, Thomas Nelson Page, Colonel Robert Perkins, Commissioner for Italy of the American Red Cross, and his deputy, James Byrne.

Regarding this initiative, on July 25, 1918 Nelson Gay wrote to one of his American correspondents, the historian William Roscoe Thayer: "The enclosed circular will inform you of a new, and I believe a very important institution which has just been born". The letter is kept at the New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division ("H. Nelson Gay letters to William Roscoe Thayer 1907-1923"). The letter, taken from our archives and dated October 6, 1919, contains some important statements by Nelson Gay about the Library.

In the same year (1918), in Rome (Via del Parlamento, 28), the Unione Italo-Americana (Italian-American Union) was founded, presided over by Senator Prof. Francesco Ruffini.

Senator Francesco Ruffini, president of the Italian-American Union, and Eng. Dante Ferraris, president of the Roman Italian-American Committee, entered into a lease agreement with the Banco di Sicilia to rent the first floor of Palazzo Salviati, in Corso Umberto I in Rome, to establish the headquarters of the American House, which is still being set up.

The association thus formed will end up having the name Associazione Italo-Americana (AIA) and the two founders will avail themselves of the collaboration of the lawyer Giovanni Selvaggi and the delegated commissioner Omero Ranelletti. The activity of the Association is aimed aimed at organizing courses, events and conferences to promote relations between Italy and the United States.

Part of AIA's headquarters is rented to the Library for American Studies in Italy; the two associations collaborate, but are independent from the financial and administrative points of view.

In September, after two years of preparation, the Library is officially opened to the public, in Palazzo Salviati.Also at Palazzo Salviati, on December 29, the inauguration ceremony of the AIA takes place, before the new American Ambassador to Italy, Robert Underwood Johnson, and the Italian Ambassador to the United States, Senator Vittorio Rolando Ricci.

Lieutenant William Halsall Cheney (1897-1918) served in Italy during World War I with the American Air Service. He died in a plane crash at Foggia, during an exercise, on January 20 1918. In his memory, the young pilot's mother, Mrs. William H. Schofield, donated a plaque and the furniture of the room that was named after him to the Library for American Studies in Italy.

Another fundamental activity of the Association was the Free Course on Italian-American Trade, directed by MP Giacomo Acerbo, in agreement with the Institute of Economic and Commercial Sciences and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Labor (Royal Decree of June 23, 1923). The course gave official value to the relevant diploma which made it possible to partecipate in competitions in public administrations.