A public historian, artist, and educator, whose work explores stories of migration, identity, collective memory, nostalgia, food and folklore as it relates to the Italian-Canadian experience, Cassandra Marsillo’s artful, joyous, and cutting-edge collaborative research with the members of her community embodies the ethos of “sharing authority” that forms the very bedrock of our work at COHDS.

Through her work and research, Cassandra’s connection to her community and passion for sharing stories has always been evident. Her MA research project “The Yellow Line: Italo-Canadian Oral Histories from Montreal’s Backyards and Schoolyards” which culminated in a pop-up archival photo installation and oral history exhibit, presented at Casa d’Italia in March 2019, poetically put into conversation the life stories of six Italo-Canadians, who grew up in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal) between 1950 and 1977, with Cassandra’s own memories of growing up and coming of age in the city’s Italian community. In turn, in her newsletter “Crivello,” Cassandra offers elegantly crafted reflections on feast days in her family’s home region Molise (Italy), the value of “hard work” that constituted the refrain of her childhood and youth, and her own practice as an oral historian.

In addition, earlier this year, Cassandra help shepherd to completion a collaborative project “Dalla valigia alla tavola: A journey through Molisan culinary heritage” – an oral history cookbook on the stories and recipes of Montrealers from Molise. This richly illustrated volume weaves together the stories and recipes from thirty first-, second-, and third-generation Molisan home cooks in Quebec who share traditional family recipes from their ancestral hometowns. As the oral historian-in-chief, researcher, and writer, Cassandra not only worked as a member of a five-person team, but also built and maintained relationships with seventeen participating associations in the process. In so doing, Cassandra not only worked on sharing important stories of foodways amongst Montrealers from Molise, but also participated in weaving together strands of community.

You can listen to Cassandra’s most recent interview on her work on CBC’s Let’s Go or even keep abreast of her most recent project which explores family stories of the iconic “Italian birthday cake” in North America.

Congratulations Cassandra!