Collection of oral memories – Textile Industries in Perosa, Argentina

"The textile production arrived in Perosa at the onset of the industrial revolution, establishing the silk, and later cotton, threading mills: a world’s first was the creation in Perosa of silk waste processing, and another world’s record was the first case of industrial espionage to steal the secrets of this processing. Still in Perosa and until recent history, the cotton industry was going to experience the tragic event of the first fraudulent bankruptcy in Italian history, as well as the failure of Felice Riva’s cotton empire, when thousand of workers and their families lost everything.
Yet, the town industrial vocation endured, and its factories continued to manufacture silk and cotton threads. Now, in the new millennium, the industrial scenario is mutating, and with it goes the town’s destiny. But this story deserves to be preserved, safeguarded and appreciated…to preserve the past within the awareness of who we are in support of a thoughtful planning of the future.”

(Laura Balzani from: “Le industrie tessili di Perosa Argentina-Una valle per amica (Textile Industries of Perosa Argentina – A valley as a friend)”, n°8)

The project focuses on the process of collecting, cataloguing and preserving the oral sources relating the reconstruction of the manufacturing activity and of the district that contributed to its success.

This work aims to be the foundation of a visual and sound archive based on the oral testimonials of men and women workers and of those who interacted with the manufacturing activity in Perosa, Argentina, at the beginning of 1900s to-date.