{"id":111,"date":"2021-05-06T09:51:29","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T13:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/angela-calomiris\/?p=111"},"modified":"2021-05-18T16:45:35","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T20:45:35","slug":"early-life-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/angela-calomiris\/2021\/05\/06\/early-life-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Childhood"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Angela Calomiris’ collection at the Lesbian Herstory Archives, there is very little written or saved pertaining to her childhood.1<\/a><\/sup> In her autobiography, Red Masquerade\u00a0<\/em>(1950), Calomiris describes aspects of her youth, though much of her adolescence would be indiscernible without census records and other legal documents.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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An Impoverished Childhood<\/h2>\n

Angela Calomiris was born in New York City on August 1st, 1916. Her parents were Greek immigrants, Gus and Maria Calomiris, and immigrated to the United States in 1912 and 1915, respectively.3<\/a><\/sup> Her father, Gus, was a furrier who struggled to keep a job.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

By 1930, Calomiris’ father was dead, leaving her mother a widow and the sole-provider of six children5<\/a><\/sup>. The year of Gus Calomiris\u2019 death and what happened to their family consequently is unclear. In Red Masquerade,\u00a0<\/em>Calomiris claims her father died when she was fifteen,6<\/a><\/sup> though author Lisa E. Davis has claimed that this was a lie, and that Calomiris’ father died when she was seven, resulting in her being sent to the Sevilla Home for Children.7<\/a><\/sup> Both claims are confused all the more by the fact Calomiris is documented twice on the 1930 census.8<\/a><\/sup> She is documented as living with her mother and her five siblings in Brooklyn, and also as living at the Sevilla Home for Children with her sister, “Vesilla” (possibly a misspelling of “Celia”). The 1930 census indicates Calomiris’ mother, Maria, gave birth in 1927, maybe indicating that Gus died between 1927 and 1930.9<\/a><\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

1930 Censuses<\/h5>\n