Summary

Health certificate issued by the Orient Line Holme and Co. Napoli to Stanio Fancoff when he migrated from Bulgaria to Australia in 1929. It includes Stanio's photograph, and documents vaccinations and sanitory records.

Stanio Ivanoff Fancoff was born in 1908 in Bojentsi, a small village in Bulgaria. At age 11, Stanio left home to learn the shoemaking trade. In 1929, he immigrated to Melbourne, settled in Fitzroy and began to work for the V.G. Zemancheff & Sons basket shoe factory in South Melbourne. In 1936, he married Dorotea Georgi Touzou who had recently arrived in Australia. Around this time, Stanio set up his own shoemaking business from home, with Georgi, her cousin and sister weaving the shoes which he then assembled. Selected shoe samples were then taken to Sydney and Tasmania for sale. In 1942, Georgi and Stanio moved to Broken Hill for Georgi's health; daughter Nancy was born there and Stanio set up a shoe shop/factory. In 1945, Georgi died and by 1950 Stanio and Nancy had moved to Adelaide where he again opened a shoemaking business and shop. He passed away in 1978, having been in the shoemaking business for 59 years.

Physical Description

Certificate printed on cream paper with small photograph. Handwritten text and stamps.

Significance

This collection is significant in documenting a small migrant business as well as the fashion of a particular period. It is well provenanced and charts the application of trade skills in a new country. It also illustrates the stages of hand shoe manufacture from the 1930s, demonstrating the enduring nature of the tools and patterns that were used.

More Information

  • Collecting Areas

    Migration & Cultural Diversity, Working Life & Trades, Medicine & Health

  • Acquisition Information

    Donation from Nancy Vasileff, 21 Mar 2007

  • Issued To

    Mr Stanio Fancoff, Naples, Italy, 1929

  • Inscriptions

    Front, Printed, Black Ink,Text: ORIENT LINE/HOLME & Co./NAPOLI. Front, Stamped Purple Ink, Text: Dott. Pietro Mazzaccara Front, Printed Black Ink, Text: Il Sig./ in partenza col P.fo/ha espletate le operazioni sanitaire indicate, Napoli/Bollo della Societa Front, Handwritten, Pencil, Text: Haguo F. Fengoff Front, Purple Stamp Ink, Text: Holuele Naples (? Difficult to read) Back, Printed, Black Ink, Text: Disinfezione / Bagno/ Vaccinazione Back, Stamped, Purple Ink, Text: Fmualy/Franesco Marino/Dott. PIETRO MAZZACCARA Back, Printed Black Ink, Text: Il MEDICO DELLA COMPAGNIA Back, Stamped Purple Ink, Text: R. ISPETTORATO DELL EMIGRAZIONE/NEL DI NAPOLI/ ISPEZIONE SANITARIA/ Visto Al Controllo and an undetermined signature

  • Classification

    Migration, Processing - planning & departure, Identification

  • Category

    History & Technology

  • Discipline

    History

  • Type of item

    Document

  • Overall Dimensions

    139 mm (Width), 112 mm (Height)

  • References

    R.A. Salaman, 'Dictionary of Leather-working Tools c.1700-1950 and Tools of Allied Trades,' London: George Allen and Unwin (Publishers) Ltd, 1986 [Section 2: Boot and Shoe Maker pp18-185]. John Peacock. 'Shoes, The Complete Sourcebook,' London:Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2005. NAA holds file (online) on Vasil George Zemancheff, Fancoff's employer

  • Keywords

    Boot & Shoemaking, Bulgarian Communities, Bulgarian Immigration, Immigration, Small Businesses, Travel, Shipping Lines