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March ~ Women's History Month

3/25/2021

~Remembering a Renissaince Woman~
My Grandmother

Frances Adamo Flandina

Recently, I received an email from a woman from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. She was doing some research on a hat that my grandmother had created and was in their possession. The museum had acquired the hat from a designer back in 2007. I was thrilled to hear of this news. Crazy as this may sound...The curators of the museum had contacted me through Dagger's website. Yes, they had found my Grandmother through a Painting Dog's website!!
How did this happen? Well, I've since learned that back in April of 2019,
I included my grandmother in my monthly blog. I wrote about how she always designed and created my Easter Bonnets every year when I was a child and how she owned and operated Frances Adams Hats on Fifth Avenue in NYC. My Blog back then just gave an overview about my grandmother, but didn't go into any real details about my grandmother, her life and journey to America. When the Smithsonian was doing its research they came across my April Blog on Dagger's website. They reached out to to me and requested some, if any, information about my Grandmother Frances, her business, her history and how she got started. Truth be told, I always admired my grandmother, however, I never really spent a great deal of time exploring her roots and how great she really was. You see, to me, she was just my Grandma Flandina...Funny, focused and kind of loud! You knew when she was around.🥰 She had a strong personality and presence that filled the room. I also knew that she was super-duper at everything she set her mind and nimble fingers to do. To me, she was a woman who had a laugh that was contagious and made a mean baked ziti/lasagna, eggplant caponata, and fried artichoke hearts among many other Sicilian delicacies. To be able to investigate who she was and what she did in her 79 years here on earth gave me pause. I thought, where do I begin?

Well, I began to reach out to other family members...my cousin Luisa who is the daughter of my dad's sister. Luisa had done some research a few years back on my grandmother for a book titled, "The Journey of Italians in America" written by Vincenza Scarpaci. The "book celebrates the contributions Italians made in the areas of agriculture, cuisine, industry, religion, sports, architecture, the arts, and politics, and how they preserved their culture while establishing their presence in America. *
When I think of my Grandma Flandina I think of the phrase "Renaissance Woman." What is a "Renaissance Woman?", you might ask. According to my Google search , by definition, a Renaissance Woman, "is a woman with many talents or areas of knowledge." My question was answered unequivocally...Yes, that was Grandma Flandina, for sure!! She was GREAT at everything! You might know of a "Renaissance Woman" in your life. Or you just might be a "Renaissance Woman" yourself.

Below is something I wrote about my grandmother I sent to the Smithsonian Museum:

A “Renaissance Woman” ~ My Grandmother: Frances Paula Adamo - Flandina
Frances Adams Hats
Written by Yvonne Paula Flandina - Dagger

Logo from a hat my grandmother designed and created

My Grandfather's Signature Stitching

If I could recollect one thing about my Grandma Frances it was that she was good at everything she set her mind and creative prowess to do. Very often I’d refer to her as a “Renaissance Woman.”  She sang Opera, sewed, designed hats, cooked, baked, crocheted, knitted, painted and was an excellent entrepreneur and businesswoman.

She was curious, learning and experimenting with many, many types of medium, creating a style all her own. Her fingers were never still. She was always exploring new avenues of creativity. And boy, oh, boy was she a risk-taker!!  It was unheard of back in the early 1920’s, 30’s and 40”s  to hear of a woman opening and operating a successful millinery business by herself. In fact, my Grandfather, Giovanni Flandina, actually worked for HER!! He was one of her seamstresses, making the hats she designed. His “Signature Stitching” Design (see photo of one of my Grandfather’s “Stitching Designs” on a Pill Box Hat) made him famous as well.  But it was my Grandmother’s thirst for learning new things and keeping innovative that was the driving force in all that she did. She had a deep desire and talent in designing hats. However, her talents did not stop there. She had a singing voice that was exceptional. Singing under Fucito, the teacher of the great Caruso, she was told to continue her singing career because she had the voice of an angel.  As a soprano, she sang very often at the Met. During those times of the Grand Opera to sing at the Met in NYC was a dream come true for many young girls. However, she had a thirst for learning more and experiencing new and other fields of creativity and business. Frances was an immigrant from Sicily, Italy and as an immigrant, America was the land of opportunity and making money. She learned early in her career that she wasn’t going to make the money she desired by singing so, she chose a career in the millinery business. Through her perseverance and self-discipline, she became a successful hat designer and businesswoman. But that wasn’t all she did…

            As a young child, I remember going over to my grandparents’ home in Rego Park, Oueens County, New York and sitting at her baby grand piano, learning and singing as she cooked delicious Sicilian delicacies in her kitchen. Very often she entertained her opera buddies, the greats of the time. Her home always smelled like the aromas of Italy. She was an excellent cook and baker. From fried artichoke hearts, rice balls, and caponata (eggplant appetizer) to a mouthwatering ricotta cheesecake topped with homemade whipped cream…our visits were not only filled with culture, but food as well. I often joke with my siblings that if she was still living today, she would most certainly have her own cooking show and several cookbooks chock full of her recipes from her homeland in Italy.

Then as a teenager, back in the late 1960’s, I remember my grandmother had slowed down a bit. However, it never stopped her from still creating and making my sisters and I our Easter and winter hats. She even created dolls for my sisters and me. Mine was a flower girl with a pink podesoir fabric dress and a beautiful flowered straw picture hat.

As time passed, my grandparents slowly closed their factory on Fifth Avenue and still worked out of their basement in their Rego Park, NY home.  I remember one day during the summer of 1967 while my twin sister, Yolande, and I were staying for the weekend at my grandparents’ home, we sat down with my grandmother at her kitchen table.  She told us all about her childhood and the days she spent on a ship traveling to America with her siblings at the age of fifteen. She spoke of the excitement she felt as she entered the port in New York and saw the Statue of Liberty. It was an intellectual, artistic and social journey for her. A new and unbelievable future awaited. A future of hope and dreams. A future of excellence. Now, looking back in retrospect to that day, I’ve come to realize how special and pivotal that day was in my life because less then a year later in January of 1968 she passed away at the age of 79.  I wish I would have taped what she had to say to my sister, Yolande, and me. But I have memories, wonderful memories, of a woman who inspired us to be the best we could be in all that we do. It was and still is an honor to be her granddaughter. She was truly a “Renaissance Woman” touching on every criterion that title possesses. She was curious, a risk-taker, creative, had a thirst for knowledge and new experiences and persevered in all that she did with self-discipline and excellence.

I am proud that one of my Grandmother Frances’ hats is a part of this wonderful Black Fashion Museum collection as part of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture.

My Grandmother designed and created hats for Eleanor Roosevelt

Giovani and Frances Flandina My Paternal Grandparents

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March Blog

3/1/2021

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Family Traditions
written by Yvonne Dagger

Happy St. PAWtrick's Day☘️□□☘️

Ever since I was a young girl, St. Patrick's Day was a super special holiday in our house. My mom would make us green apple sauce (apple sauce tinted with green food coloring) with our dinner. She would purchase Motts bottled apple sauce (she never made the apple sauce from scratch. I think this had to do with the fact that she had 6 kids to deal with all day long. My guess is that it was just a lot easier 😁). That tradition continued into my years as a young mother and now my kids continue this "Green Apple Sauce" Tradition on St. Patrick's Day. AND I might add we still use the bottled apple sauce. I saw recently that Motts is making green applesauce now. That's even easier for busy mom's. How great is that!?!

Family traditions are interesting. Very often I've contemplated on how they get started. Perhaps it's just a creative idea that makes a holiday more festive like our "green" apple sauce family tradition. Or maybe, it's a tradition that dates back to a country of origin. Whatever it happens to be, family traditions define who we are as individuals. I'm Italian by heritage (Scilian and Calabrase to be more specific). The Southern Italian's have many traditions. Many, many traditions!! 🥰

For instance, just to name one, on St. Joseph's Day (March 19th) we indulge in a pastry called Sfinge or Zeppola di San Giuseppe ~(Pastry of St. Joseph in Italian). St. Joseph was the stepfather of Jesus, husband to Mary, member of the holy family. Sfinge and zeppoli are eaten in southern Italy and in Italian American communities all year long, but it feels very special to eat them around this time of year. Basically the pastry consists of a cream puff filled with either custard or cannoli cream. Many sources indicate that sfinge and zeppoli are one in the same, but in my family they seem to be treated differently. The zeppola tends to be more or less round with powered sugar sprinkled on top and sometimes with custard sandwiched inside, whereas the sfinge is more open and has the cannoli or pastry cream placed atop the pastry itself and topped with candied fruit like cherries, citrus and even mini chocolate chips. My grandfather, Joseph Dominianni, we called him Poppy, would travel to the best Italian Bakery on St. Joseph's Day to get a few Sfinge for us. It was a real treat! You'd never even mention making them from scratch at home...it just wasn't the same as visiting a real authentic Southern Italian Bakery to purchase a few Sfinge on St. Joseph's Day. And he traveled!!! Boy, did he travel...He'd travel sometimes an hour to bring home some of those delectable treats. It ended up feeling like a journey that was sacred and special. I loved that family tradition. Poppy has since passed away, but the tradition lives on!

Sfince di Giuseppe

Do you have any Family Traditions?
Let me know in the comments below.

Whatever they are and whatever you do...
Have a Happy March filled with
good health, joy and as the Old Irish saying goes,
☘️ "May Love and Laughter Light Your Days" ☘️.

Happy Tales to you,
xoxo Yvonne
(An Italian-American married to an Irish-American)

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March ~ Women's History Month

~Remembering a Renissaince Woman~
My Grandmother

March Blog

A Place where I can Bark, Blog and Woof a Little

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March ~ Women's History Month

~Remembering a Renissaince Woman~​My Grandmother

March Blog

A Place where I can Bark, Blog and Woof a Little

Archives

Categories

HOME

SHOP

ABOUT US

~Remembering a Renissaince Woman~
My Grandmother