Physical description: Barra family picnic, c. 1925. Back row, left to right: Frances DeCunto, William Buck, Mary K. Barra, Frank DeCunto, Rocco L. Barra, Mary DeCunto, and Kathleen Decunto. Front row, left to right: Robert Louis Barra, Christina Page, John L. Barra holding Minnie Louise Barra, and William R. Barra. Women in front is unnamed.
This photograph is a digital scan of an original photograph lent for copying during the Italians of Colorado project. The original photograph is not owned by History Colorado. The digital scan was donated with permissions (see permissions in Registrar's file) and accessioned into the History Colorado collection.
Project description:
In 2002, the Colorado Historical Society (now known as History Colorado) founded the Colorado Italian American Preservation Association (CIAPA). A volunteer organization, CIAPA’s mission is to work collaboratively with the Society and other organizations to develop, support and coordinate projects that preserve, promote and celebrate Italian American culture and heritage. Since 2002, CIAPA has carried out its mission by meeting with people from the Colorado Italian American community, recording their stories and creating an archive of research materials that includes oral histories, photographs, moving images, sound recordings and artifacts. To date, CIAPA has helped the Society acquire over 200 oral histories, 600 artifacts and nearly 6,000 photographs. Since 2002, CIAPA has developed over 4,000 research files, all of which document the history, culture and traditions of Italian American families in Colorado.
Notes:
See Jan Goodwin, Rocco Luigi Barra and Frank DeCunto MSS.02595 files for additional information and images.
From the book Italy in Colorado
Barra
Rocco Luigi Barra
Born in 1853 in Anzi, near Naples in southern Italy, Rocco Luigi Barra left home as a young man. A self-described troubadour who played the violin, he first traveled to the Canary Islands and then to New Orleans. After hearing about the silver boom in Leadville, Barra came to Colorado in 1879. In 1881, he went to work as a barkeeper for Joseph Turre at the Turre saloon on Second Street in Leadville.
In 1882, Rocco Luigi married Mary Katherine Brichetto/Brichett, the daughter of Italian immigrants from Geno, Italy. In 1883, the couple’s first child, William Robert Barra was born, followed by John Louis and Josephine.
Around 1886, the Barra family moved to Denver where Rocco Luigi opened a saloon downtown. In the years that followed, Barra owned several businesses in Denver. According to the Denver City Directories, his businesses included a saloon with Henry Martinazzi (1887), the L. Barra and F. Guerrieri Cigar Company with Frank Guerrieri (1888), and DeCunto and Barra, a wholesale liquor and cigar business, with Frank DeCunto (1890). Rocco Luigi Barra died in Denver in 1936 at the age of eighty-two, followed by Mary who died in 1959.