Call Number:

Ms. Codex 2230

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

1 volume(s)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Sylvia DeGiorgio laboratory notebook, 1903-1906, Ms. Codex 2230, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1903-1906 (inclusive)

Creator:

DeGiorgio, Sylvia, 1886-

Form:

Laboratory notebooks and Codices (bound manuscripts)

Abstract:

This volume contains notes on 38 laboratory experiments conducted in 1903 by Sylvia DeGiorgio while she was a student at Wadleigh High School for Girls in New York, NY.

Sylvia DeGiorgio was an Italian citizen born in Alexandria, Egypt to Geremia and Carmela DeGiorgio on May 24, 1886. She had five siblings, Angelina (b. 1877), Antonio (1879-1902), Elia (b. 1893), Josephine (b. 1898), and Constantine (b. 1900). The family emigrated from Egypt to New York, NY on a ship that launched from Naples, Italy in 1895.

DeGiorgio attended the Wadleigh High School for Girls, and, by the 1910 census, she was a public-school teacher and the head of her household caring for her sister, Josephine. Carmela DeGiorgio died in 1807, and Antonio DeGiorgio died in 1902, but it is unclear what happened to the rest of the family by 1910.

By the 1920 census, DeGiorgio married film developer Michael Scelsi, and, in 1917, they had a son, Michael Scelsi, Jr. (1917-2003). By the 1930 census, they had six sons, Michael, Daniel, Gabriel, Joel, Peter, and James; and Michael, Sr. had begun work as a Christian Minister while DeGiorgio was a substitute teacher. By 1940, the couple's six sons still lived in their household, Michael, Sr. was a pastor, and DiGiorgio had stopped working.

The Wadleigh High School for Girls in Harlem, New York opened in 1897 as the first public high school for girls in New York City. It was named after Lydia F. Wadleigh in 1900. It closed in 1954 due to poor academic performance and declining enrollment, but it reopened in 1956 as a co-ed school.

Sources:

The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897; Microfilm Serial or NAID: M237; RG Title: Records of the U.S. Customs Service; RG: 36

United States Federal Census. Year: 1910; Census Place: Manhattan Ward 12, New York, New York; Roll: T624_1025; Page: 19b; Enumeration District: 0667; FHL microfilm: 1375038

United States Federal Census. Year: 1920; Census Place: Manhattan Assembly District 23, New York, New York; Roll: T625_1226; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 1489

United States Federal Census. Year: 1930; Census Place: Union, Broome, New York; Page: 24B; Enumeration District: 0099; FHL microfilm: 2341143

United States Federal Census. Year: 1940; Census Place: Union, Broome, New York; Roll: m-t0627-02504; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 4-139B

"Wadleigh High School for Girls." Writ Large NYC, Columbia University Center for Teaching & Learning, writlarge.ctl.columbia.edu/view/394/. Accessed 22 Oct. 2024.

This volume contains notes on 38 laboratory experiments done in 1903 by Sylvia DeGiorgio while she was a student at Wadleigh High School for Girls in New York, NY.

The volume is bound in half leather on red fabric covered boards. There is a label pasted on the front cover that records the creator, school, date, and teacher (Florence Heermaes). There is an index (p. i-vi) and the latter portion of the volume is blank (p. 98-145).

The volume includes the narrative and either measures and calculations or observations for 38 laboratory experiments that appear to be from a physics class. Examples of experiments include, experiment to find the density of a substance (p. 1-2); experiment to find the relation between the moments of the forces acting upon a lever (p. 25-26); experiment to find how the length of the simple pendulum affects the time of one vibration (p. 41-42); experiment to trace the path of a ray of light through a prism (p. 63-64); and experiment to determine resistances of several wires (p. 93-94).

Many of the experiments are accompanied by sketches and diagrams (p. 4, 19, 27, 31, 35, 39, 45, 48, 66, 70, 76, 82, 84, 86, 88, 94, 96).

There are two pages laid in to the volume (p. 1-2) that detail the creator's family as of May 1, 1906. This includes the birth date and location of Sylvia's parents and four siblings in addition to the death dates of Sylvia's mother and brother and a diary entry from the date of her mother's death.