Josephine Del Deo
{{Short description|American preservationist (1925–2016)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Josephine Del Deo
| image = JosephineDelDeo1946.png
| alt = A young white woman with dark hair, gaze cast downward
| caption = Josephine Couch, later Josephine Del Deo, in a 1946 newspaper photograph
| other_names = Josephine Couch Gallinger, Josephine Breen Del Deo
| birth_name = Josephine Alice Couch
| birth_date = October 24, 1925
| birth_place = Pierrepont, New York, USA
| death_date = August 25, 2016
| death_place = Provincetown, Massachusetts, USA
| occupation = Preservationist, writer, artist
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| mother = Osma Gallinger Tod
| relatives =
}}
Josephine Del Deo (October 24, 1925 – August 25, 2016), born Josephine Alice Couch, was an American artist, writer, and activist in preserving the Cape Cod National Seashore and the town of Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Early life
Josephine Alice Couch was born in Pierrepont, New York, the only child of artists Frank Byron Couch and Osma Gallinger Tod.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1945-08-25|title=Breaks Back in Fall Off Horse; Other Mishaps|pages=2|work=The Gettysburg Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68583493/breaks-back-in-fall-off-horse-other/|access-date=2021-01-26|via=Newspapers.com}} She was raised in Michigan, studied violin at the University of Michigan from 1938 to 1943,{{Cite web|last=Ward|first=Katy|title=Josephine Del Deo, Provincetown luminary, dies at 90|url=https://provincetown.wickedlocal.com/news/20160901/josephine-del-deo-provincetown-luminary-dies-at-90|access-date=2021-01-26|website=Wicked Local Provincetown|language=en}} and graduated from St. Lawrence University.{{Cite news|last=Dunlap|first=David W.|date=2016-08-27|title=Josephine Del Deo, Who Fought to Preserve Cape Cod Shoreline, Dies at 90|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/us/josephine-del-deo-who-fought-to-preserve-cape-cod-shoreline-dies-at-90.html|access-date=2021-01-26|issn=0362-4331}}
Career
Del Deo taught at the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, and assisted her mother with the activities of the National Conference of Hand Weavers.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1944-08-22|title=Holds Handicraft Show in New York|pages=2|work=The Gettysburg Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68583318/holds-handicraft-show-in-new-york/|access-date=2021-01-26|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1946-08-27|title=U. of M. Group Spans Art of Cloth Making|pages=21|work=The Evening Sun|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68583671/u-of-m-group-spans-art-of-cloth-making/|access-date=2021-01-26|via=Newspapers.com}} She also co-authored books about weaving with her mother, including Rug Weaving for Everyone (1957).Tod, O. G., & Del Deo, J. C. (1957). [https://books.google.com/books?id=4CZUAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions Rug weaving for everyone]. New York: Bramhall House.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1957-10-31|title=Experts Explain How to Weave Your Own Rugs|pages=23|work=The Journal Herald|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68585035/experts-explain-how-to-weave-your-own/|access-date=2021-01-26|via=Newspapers.com}}
Del Deo moved to Provincetown in 1951. With her husband, she ran two restaurants, Ciro & Sal's, and Sal's Place, and a gift shop selling her handwoven goods. In the 1960s, she joined artist Ross Moffett in successfully opposing development of the Province Lands on Cape Cod.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Provincetown History Preservation Project Archives|url=http://www.provincetownhistoryproject.com/browse/view?browseSubject=327|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-26|website=}} She testified before a Congressional committee on the matter in 1960.{{Cite book|last=Affairs|first=United States Congress House Committee on Interior and Insular|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBkCAAAAIAAJ&dq=Josephine+Del+Deo&pg=RA15-PA144|title=Hearings|date=1960|publisher=|isbn=|location=|pages=144|language=en}} She later wrote about that work in Figures in a Landscape: The Life and Times of the American Painter Ross Moffett, 1888-1971 (1994).{{Cite book|last1=Deo|first1=Josephine Couch Del|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cohLAQAAIAAJ|title=Figures in a Landscape: The Life and Times of the American Painter, Ross Moffett, 1888-1971|last2=Moffett|first2=Ross|date=1994|publisher=Donning Company|isbn=978-0-89865-901-6|language=en}} Other writings by Del Deo included Compass Grass Anthology (1983, with Salvatore Del Deo), and The Watch at Peaked Hill: Outer Cape Cod Dune Shack Life, 1953-2003 (2015).{{Cite book|last=Deo|first=Josephine Breen Del|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KOWFrgEACAAJ&q=Josephine+Del+Deo|title=The Watch at Peaked Hill: Outer Cape Cod Dune Shack Life, 1953-2003|date=2015|publisher=Schiffer Publishing, Limited|isbn=978-0-7643-4978-2|language=en}}
In 1968, the Del Deos were founders of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2016-08-26|title=Josephine Del Deo Memorial|url=https://web.fawc.org/events/josephine-del-deo-memorial|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-26|website=Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Del Deo|first=Josephine C.|date=1986|title=Beginnings : the history of the Fine Arts Work Center, 1964-1969|url=https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/beginnings--history-fine-arts-work-center-19641969--manuscript-josephine-c-del-deo-7223|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-26|website=Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution|language=en}} Josephine Del Deo was part of the efforts to create the Provincetown Heritage Museum in 1976,{{Cite news|last=Marlin|first=William|date=1976-10-24|title=Fall in Provincetown Has a Quiet Dignity|pages=69|work=The Honolulu Advertiser|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68584124/fall-in-provincetown-has-a-quiet/|access-date=2021-01-26|via=Newspapers.com}} the Provincetown National Register District in 1989,{{Cite web|last=Bragg|first=Mary Ann|date=|title=Josephine Del Deo recalled as 'muse' of history|url=https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20160825/josephine-del-deo-recalled-as-muse-of-history|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161102224302/http://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20160825/josephine-del-deo-recalled-as-muse-of-history|archive-date=2016-11-02|access-date=2021-01-26|website=Cape Cod Times|language=en|url-status=dead}} and the Dune Shacks of Peaked Hill Bars Historic District in 2012. She was president of the Provincetown Symphony Orchestra, founded the local chapter of the ACLU, and raised funds for civil rights and anti-nuclear causes.
Personal life and legacy
Josephine Couch married artist Salvatore Del Deo in 1953.{{Cite web|last=Hay|first=Elspeth|date=2019-12-25|title=Sal Del Deo's Garden and Its Bountiful Memories|url=https://provincetownindependent.org/farm-garden/2019/12/25/sal-del-deos-garden-and-its-bountiful-memories/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-26|website=The Provincetown Independent|language=en-US}} They had a son, Romolo, and a daughter, Giovanna.{{Cite news|last=|first=|date=1959-11-17|title=Social Happenings|pages=2|work=The Gettysburg Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68584772/social-happenings/|access-date=2021-01-26|via=Newspapers.com}} Both children became artists. The Del Deos were married 63 years when she died after a stroke in 2016, aged 90 years, in Provincetown.{{Cite news|last=Cook|first=Gareth|date=2016-12-21|title=What Josephine Del Deo Saved for Us|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/21/magazine/the-lives-they-lived-josephine-del-deo.html,%20https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/21/magazine/the-lives-they-lived-josephine-del-deo.html|access-date=2021-01-26|issn=0362-4331}} "She fought with every fiber of her being to preserve the beauty and character of her adopted hometown", noted a former town official in a eulogy at her funeral. She was posthumously awarded the Rose Dorothea Award by the Provincetown Public Library's board of trustees, as "an internationally recognized writer" and "a passionate advocate of Provincetown's culture heart."
In 2018, the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum hosted an exhibit, "Creating a Difference: The Del Deo Family of Provincetown: Art and Activism on the Outer Cape", and a performance "Daughter of the Dunes: The Literary Life of Josephine Del Deo", featuring her works.{{Cite web|date=2018-07-21|title="Daughter of the Dunes: The Literary Life of Josephine Del Deo" Comes to Provincetown|url=https://www.capecod.com/newscenter/daughter-of-the-dunes-the-literary-life-of-josephine-del-deo-comes-to-provincetown/|access-date=2021-01-26|website=CapeCod.com|language=en-US}} The Del Deo Foundation for the Arts was founded by her husband, son, and daughter-in-law in 2020.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=The Del Deo Foundation for the Arts, official website|url=http://www.deldeofoundation.org/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-26|website=}}
References
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External links
- [https://www.20summers.org/events/videos/tag/josephine+del+deo The Hawthorne Barn: A Century of Art], video of a 2014 presentation by Josephine Del Deo, by Twenty Summers (video)
- [https://womr.org/podcast/josephine-del-deo-part-1/ Josephine Del Deo interviewed by Joyce Johnson] on The Sands of Time, WOMR radio (audio file)
- Joe Mathieu, [https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2019/08/29/small-shacks-big-history-the-story-behind-provincetowns-dune-shacks "Small Shacks, Big History: The Story Behind Provincetown's Dune Shacks"] WGBH (August 29, 2019) (audio, with transcript)
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Category:People from Provincetown, Massachusetts
Category:Historic preservation
Category:Activists from Massachusetts
Category:American women writers