CARLO A. SPERATI FAMILY PAPERS (1860-1945)

BIOGRAPHY

Carlo Alberto Sperati was born to Italian Musician Paolo Agostino Sperati and Marie Nielsen on December 29, 1860; he was their eighth child. His mother died when he was five and his father then married Mathilde Bendixsen. Sperati started taking music lessons and performing at an early age. When Sperati was seventeen his father consented to let him go to sea; something Sperati had been yearning to do since he was a young boy.

After many years at sea, Carlo Sperati came to Luther College to study Theology in the summer of 1884. He found out about Luther through the Seaman’s Mission in Brooklyn, New York. Luther's first president, Laur. Larsen, had established the mission. While at Luther, Sperati was a member of the Orchestra and the Concert Band. In addition, he formed a singing group called Lorelei. During his second year, Sperati joined the faculty part-time as a singing instructor.

In 1887 Sperati was engaged to Emma Hoffoss. The following year Sperati graduated from Luther and Emma Hoffoss graduated from High School. Sperati then attended Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Sperati and Emma Hoffoss were married on August 25, 1891 at First Lutheran Church in Decorah, Iowa. Directly after the wedding they traveled to Whatcom County, Washington where Sperati served as pastor to the local Lutheran congregation. In the fall of 1894, Sperati and his wife both became faculty members at Pacific Lutheran University. Sperati taught music and voice and Mrs. Sperati taught at the Primary School. During this time Sperati also served as a Pastor in Tacoma, Washington.

In the spring of 1905 Sperati returned to Luther as a professor of music. The Sperati family, which now included seven children: Carsten Emmanuel, born 1893; Paolo Hoffoss, born 1894; Karen Marie, born 1896; Dagmar, born 1897; Angelo, born 1900; Vittorio, born 1901; and Camilla, born 1904, moved into a house at 501 High Street. Their home now serves as the Luther College Guest House. Sperati took over direction of the Concert Band and began teaching in the Christianity department. The eighth Sperati child, Sigvald Robert, was born in 1908 in Decorah.

Sperati retired from directing the Luther College Concert Band after thirty-eight years in 1943. Sperati died on September 12, 1945 at home in Decorah at the age of eighty-four years old. Mrs. Sperati continued living at 501 High Street until her failing health made it necessary for her to move to a nursing home were she died on February 5, 1952.

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

The collection is arranged into 6 series: Series I, Correspondence; Series II, As Faculty at Luther College; Series III, Awards, Honors and Memorials; Series IV, Scrapbooks; Series V, Emma Hoffoss Sperati; and Series VI, Realia.

The first series, Correspondence, comprises the great majority of the collection. The series is arranged starting with the correspondence between Carlo A. Sperati and his wife Emma Hoffoss Sperati. First in the series is correspondence to Emma Hoffoss Sperati from Carlo A. Sperati from 1887-1891. Next in the series is correspondence from Emma Hoffoss Sperati to Carlo A. Sperati from 1888-1891. Finishing out the series is correspondence to Carlo A. Sperati from friends and family dating from 1882-1939.

Series II covers Carlo A. Sperati’s time as faculty at Luther College. This series includes daybooks and expense accounts kept by Carlo A. Sperati from 1893-1917 and a daybook kept by Sigvald Sperati, son of Emma Hoffoss Sperati and Carlo A. Sperati, in 1936. Also included in this series are clippings collected from Luther College Concert Band tours from 1916-1942 while Carlo A. Sperati was the director of the Concert Band. Programs from concerts either given by or directed by Carlo A. Sperati from 1887-1936 are also included. A napkin saved by Emma Hoffoss Sperati from a picnic in 1904 is included as well. Several Luther faculty and alumni signed the napkin. Closing out the series is a collection of sermons given by Carlo A. Sperati during his tenure at Luther College.

Awards, Honors and Memorials make up series III. Included in this series are awards and honors received by Carlo A. Sperati by the Norwegian-American Lutheran Church. In 1891 Carlo A. Sperati graduated from Luther Seminary, and his diploma is part of this series. Also included are the wills of Carlo A. Sperati and Emma Hoffoss Sperati as well as memorials to them from friends and family from Carlo A. Sperati’s death in 1945 and Emma Hoffoss Sperati’s death in 1952.

The fourth series contains Scrapbooks. This series contains, first, one scrapbook put together for Carlo A. Sperati in honor of his 80th birthday in 1941. The scrapbook contains a collection of letters from students, alumni, faculty and governmental representatives. Next in this series are scrapbooks collected by Sonja Strom Scarseth, granddaughter of Carlo A. Sperati, while she was a student at Luther College from 1949-1953.

Series V includes the poetry of Emma Hoffoss Sperati. The series includes handwritten and typed copies of poems by Emma Hoffoss Sperati written between 1920 and 1940. Some of the poems were dedicated to children and grandchildren of Emma Hoffoss Sperati.

Series VI contains Realia. Included is a tin cookie box where most of the correspondence in Series I was stored by Carlo A. and Emma Hoffoss Sperati.

ASSOCIATED COLLECTIONS

The researcher is encouraged to refer also to the papers of Camilla Sperati Strom, daughter of Carl A. and Emma Hoffoss Sperati. In this collection are notes collected about Carlo A. Sperati used by Camilla Sperati Strom to write Grand Old Maestro (a book about the life of Carlo A. Sperati published in 1988 by Luther College Press). This collection can be found in Record Group 15. More information on the Luther College Concert Band can be found in the music department records in RG07. For a general report on the Luther College Concert Band the researcher is encouraged to see David T. Nelson’s Luther College, 1861-1961 available in the main stacks of Preus Library.

PROVENANCE AND DONOR

Camilla Sperati Strom donated the collection to the Luther College Archives.

A Box Inventory is attached.

RG15

Sperati Family Papers

4.0 Cubic Feet

Box 1, 0.4 c.f.

Series I: Correspondence

Emma Hoffoss Sperati/Incoming

Folder 1: from Carlo A. Sperati, 1887.

Folder 2: from Carlo A. Sperati, folder 1, 1888.

Folder 3: from Carlo A. Sperati, folder 2, 1888.

Folder 4: from Carlo A. Sperati, folder 3, 1888.

Folder 5: from Carlo A. Sperati, folder 1, 1889.

Box 2, 0.4 c.f.

Series I: Correspondence

Emma Hoffoss Sperati/Incoming

Folder 1: from Carlo A. Sperati, folder 2, 1889.

Folder 2: from Carlo A. Sperati, folder 1, 1891.

Folder 3: from Carlo A. Sperati, folder 2, 1891.

Carlo A. Sperati/Incoming

Folder 4: from Emma Hoffoss Sperati, 1887.

Folder 5: from Emma Hoffoss Sperati, folder 1, 1888.

Folder 6: from Emma Hoffoss Sperati, folder 2, 1888.

Box 3, 0.4 c.f.

Series I: Correspondence

Carlo A. Sperati/Incoming

Folder 1: from Emma Hoffoss Sperati, folder 3, 1888.

Folder 2: from Emma Hoffoss Sperati, folder 1, 1889.

Folder 3: from Emma Hoffoss Sperati, folder 2, 1889.

Folder 4: from Emma Hoffoss Sperati, folder 3, 1889.

Folder 5: from Emma Hoffoss Sperati, folder 1, 1890.

Folder 6: from Emma Hoffoss Sperati, folder 2, 1890.

Box 4, 0.4 c.f.

Series I: Correspondence

Carlo A. Sperati/Incoming

Folder 1: from Emma Hoffoss Sperati, folder 3, 1890.

Folder 2: from Emma Hoffoss Sperati, folder 1, 1891.

Folder 3: from Emma Hoffoss Sperati, folder 2, 1891.

Folder 4: from Emanuel and Fanny Sperati, 1878-1884.

Folder 5: from Anna Jaeger and family, 1878-1939.

Folder 6: from Paolo and Mathilde Sperati, 1878-1886.

Folder 7: from Tante Thora, A. Bryn and H. Lee, n.d.

Folder 8: from Cecilie and Carl Aarberg, 1883-1887.

Folder 9: from Angelo, Robert and Pauline Sperati, 1878-1885.

Folder 10: from Thv. K. Björn, 1878-1886.

Folder 11: from other friends, 1882-1884.

Box 5, 0.4 c.f.

Series II: At Luther College

Carlo A. Sperati

Folder 1: Daybook, 1893-1894.

Folder 2: Daybook, 1897-1898.

Folder 3: Daybook, 1898-1899.

Folder 4: Daybook, 1899-1908.

Folder 5: Daybook, 1911-1912.

Folder 6: Daybook, 1917.

Folder 6: Daily expense record, 1917.

Sigvald Sperati

Folder 7: Daybook/diary, 1936.

Box 6, 0.2 c.f.

Series II: At Luther College

Carlo A. Sperati

Folder 1: Clippings from 1925 Concert Band tour, 1925.

Folder 2: Clippings about L.C. Concert Band, 1916-1942.

Folder 3: Concert Programs, 1887-1936.

Folder 4: Sermons, n.d.

Series III: Awards, Honors and Memorials

Folder 5: Awards for distinguished service, 1931.

Folder 6: Speech given by Th. Sigvalend, 1936.

Folder 7: Memorials and wills, 1945-1952.

Box 7, 0.2 c.f.

Series V: Emma Hoffoss Sperati

Folder 1: Poems, untyped and mounted, 1930-1940.

Folder 2: Poems, untyped, 1920-1940.

Folder 3: Poems, typed, 1930-1940.

Box 8, oversized, 0.4 c.f.

Series IV: Scrapbooks

OS Scrapbook of letters in honor of Carlo A. Sperati’s 80th birthday, 1940-1941.

Box 9, oversized, 0.4 c.f.

Series VI: Realia

OS Tin cookie box, n.d.

Box 10, oversized, 0.4 c.f.

Series II: At Luther College

OS Napkin, 1904.

Series III: Awards, Honors and Memorials

OS Degree Diploma from Luther Seminary, 1891.

Box 11, oversized, 0.4 c.f.

Series IV: Scrapbooks

OS Scrapbooks collected by Sonja Scarseth while she was a student at Luther from 1949- 1953.