Controversial author Douglas J. Gladstone, whose recently released book, Carving a Niche for Himself; The Untold Story of Luigi Del Bianco and Mount Rushmore, criticizes the United States Department of the Interior's
National Park Service for not recognizing the obscure Italian American immigrant who served as chief carver of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial from 1933 through 1940, will speak at the Black River Academy Museum in Ludlow on Thursday evening, August 7, 2014 at 7 p.m.

Though Rushmore sculptor and designer Gutzon Borglum’s own correspondence in the Library of Congress clearly indicates that Luigi Del Bianco was the glue that held the project together, Del Bianco for some inexplicable reason has never received the credit in scholarly publications or documentaries on the creation of the memorial that many individuals believe he is deserving of.
　
The book takes the National Park Service to task for its failure to recognize Del Bianco, despite the agency's long-standing commitment to practicing multiculturalism and pluralism. The Park Service's Midwestern Regional office is located in Omaha, Nebraska; Michael Reynolds is the Regional Director. 　

Del Bianco resided in boardinghouses in Barre, Vermont when he first came to America. He lived and worked in Barre from 1907 through 1915.
　
Among the work they did together prior to Mount Rushmore, Del Bianco assisted Borglum on the Wars of America Memorial in Newark, New Jersey. Del Bianco's studio was a fixture on Clinton Street, in Port Chester, New York for years following his work in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
　
A native of Meduno, in the Italian Province of Pordenone, Del Bianco died of accelerated silicosis that was brought on, in part, by his years of not wearing a mask while working at the monument.
　
Published by Bordighera Press, Carving A Niche for Himself was released on Tuesday, April 15, 2014. To order it, residents of Vermont can call Small Press Distribution toll free at 800-869-7553 or contact the Book Nook bookstore, which is co-sponsoring the event.

To speak with Gladstone directly, call 518-817-8253. Best known as the boyhood school of Calvin Coolidge, the Black River Academy Museum is located at 14 High Street; for more details about the event, call Book Nook owner Scott Stearns at 802-228-3238 or Museum Director Georgia Brehm at 802-228-5050.