CHC Home | History & Links | Finding Aids
Sawicz Family Collection Finding Aid (pdf version available)
Cambridge Historical Commission
831 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139
Tel. (617) 349-4683
Fax. (617) 349-3116
E-Mail. histcomm@cambridgema.gov
Prepared by: Molly Alexander, Maeve Strucker
Acquisition Date: September 2002
Languages: English, Lithuanian
Biographical Sketch
This collection relates to the Sawicz family that lived at 94-96 Pine St.
from c. 1930 to c. 2000. The parents, Andry (Andrew) and Joana (Jennie) Sawicz
were Lithuanian immigrants. Jennie Staponkiute was born on May 9, 1895 and
immigrated to the United States in 1929. Andrew Sawicz was born c. 1889,
and it is not known when he immigrated to the United States. They were married
on February 16, 1930. They had two daughters, Adele and Genevieve. Adele
was born May 25, 1934, it is not known when Genevieve was born. Andrew died
c. 1943, and it is not known when Jennie died. The sisters lived at 94-96
Pine St. until their deaths, Adele in the late 1970’s and Genevieve
until c. 2000. According to Ms. Abatt, who salvaged and then donated the
collection, Genevieve suffered from schizophrenia and after her sister Adele’s
death insisted on being called by her late sister’s name. Neither sister
married or had children.
Scope and Content
Lithuanian immigration to Cambridge began around 1901, mostly immigrants already in South Boston, but increasingly directly from Lithuania. They came to the United States to escape an oppressive Russian government and terrible economic conditions in Lithuania. Lithuanians settled in the Cambridgeport area of Cambridge. In 1910 there were approximately 1,200 Lithuanians living in Cambridge, and by 1920 there were 15,000 in the Boston area. They had industrial jobs at local packing, boiler, machine, and rubber shops. The children went to local and parochial schools, but often left school early to work in factories. Once Lithuanian couples married, it was common for the wife to run a boarding house if they had extra room. The Lithuanian community formed social organizations, churches, stores, mutual aid societies, political organizations, trade unions, and cultural institutions. An example of this is the American-Lithuanian Citizens Club, which was active in Cambridge from 1916 until 1971. It was into this already established immigrant community the Sawicz family moved in the late 1920’s, early 1930’s. This collection contains photographs; immigration and naturalization papers; bills and invoices; bankbooks; passports; letters and cards from Lithuania; and other related items. For the most part, the contents relate to Jennie, Andrew, Genevieve and Adele Sawicz. There are also nearly twenty photographs of unidentified individuals included in the collection. This collection is useful for research on immigrant families in Cambridge, and has some documents regarding rent control and landlord / tenant issues.
Folder I: Andrew and Jennie Sawicz
This folder contains US immigration and naturalization papers, Jennie’s
Lithuanian passport, their marriage certificate, bills, postcards, bills, photographs
and a few other items.
Folder II: Rent Control Documents
This folder contains four rent control documents for 94-96 Pine St., Cambridge, MA.
Folder III: Genevieve Sawicz
This folder contains Federal Withholding Statements (W-2), letter and booklet regarding Coty perfumes, photographs, a few other items, and a Certificate of Baptism for Eugenia Savicius dated May 24, 1928.
Folder IV: Adele Sawicz
This folder contains handwritten notes on first aid procedures, repair bills,
savings account passbooks, two passports, photographs and a few other items.
Folder V: Unidentified People
This folder contains nearly twenty photographs of unidentified people.
Additional Folder
This folder contains a baptismal record for Adele Sawicz, a Parenti Sisters business card, and thirty-seven letters and cards in Lithuanian.
Provenance
Cynthia Abatt and Karan Marsh, neighbors of 94-96 Pine St., found the items in this collection in a dumpster outside 94-96 Pine St. after Genevieve died c. 2000. They donated the collection to the Cambridge Historical Commission in September 2002.
Related Sources
Cambridge Historical Commission. “Lithuanians in Cambridge” folder, filed under “Groups”
Woods, Robert A. and Albert J. Kennedy. The zone of emergence: observations of the lower middle and upper working class communities of Boston, 1905-1914. Abridged and edited by Sam Bass Warner, Jr. Cambridge, Mass., M.I.T. Press [1969, c. 1962]
SEE ATTACHED INVENTORY