August Velletri Papers
Collection
Identifier: GTM-GAMMS151
The August Velletri Papers include correspondence received by Mr. Velletri during his assignment as political officer to the U.S. Embassy in Rome (1955-1960). The primary correspondent is Archbishop Eugene (or Igino) Cardinale, chief of protocol to the Vatican secretary of state. Other correspondence is from various Italian officials, party members, and associates. These include Angelo dell'Aqua, secretary of state to the Vatican and Anselmo Crisafulli, a prominent lawyer and publicist. Other material relating to embassy concerns is arranged in the Subject Files series. This includes protocol in the event of the death of the pope, a report on the Sacred Hall of Cardinals in Rome, reports on diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the Vatican, including a typescript copy ofthe treaty of friendship and commerce between the U.S. and Italy in 1948. The bulk of this collection is composed of notes and printed information in the form of newspaper clippings collected by Mr. Velletri for a doctoral dissertation on the Italian Christian Democratic movement. The collection also contains other printed ephemera such as the guest list of special envoys attending the funeral of Pope Pius XII, and the protocol booklet for the visit of President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Vatican in 1959.
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August Velletri was born in Ithaca, New York, on July 15, 1916. At the age of four, after the death of his father, he moved to Italy with his mother. Mr. Velletri received his early education in Italy. He returned to Ithaca at age fifteen. After graduating from high school in 1934, he accepted a scholarship from the Rice Institute in Houston, Texas. In 1937, however, Mr. Velletri was compelled to leave college because of financial constraints. He subsequently took a clerical position at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. In 1940, he accepted a civilian position at the War Department and transferred to Dayton, Ohio, where he worked at Wright Field (U.S. Army). Late in 1943, Mr. Velletri left the government service to pursue a college degree. He earned a B.A. from Ohio State University in 1944 and an M.A. in 1946. At this time, he was also researching a doctoral dissertation on the Christian Democratic movement in Italy, although this was never completed. In 1949, Mr. Velletri joined the State Department as a foreign affairs analyst in the Intelligence and Research Bureau. He was inducted into the Foreign Service in 1955 and assigned to the political section of the U.S. Embassy in Rome. Mr. Velletri returned to Washington in 1960, and was assigned various positions in the State Department, including NATO Affairs, desk officer for Italy in the Department of International Relations, and personnel specialist. In 1964, he was again posted abroad, this time to Athens, Greece, as political officer at the U.S. Embassy. He then transferred to the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan as principal officer, in 1964. In 1974, Mr. Velletri retired from the Foreign Service. Following retirement, he bought a small business dealing in archival materials for hand bookbinders and the conservation of rare books and manuscripts, and for more than fifteen years was engaged in this work.
3 Linear Feet (2 boxes)
English
Part of the Georgetown University Manuscripts Repository