New Book To Highlight Port Chester Mount Rushmore Carver

PORT CHESTER, N.Y. -- A new book coming out in May is set to highlight the life of Port Chester resident Luigi Del Bianco, who served as chief carver of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

A new book coming out in May is set to highlight the life of Port Chester resident Luigi Del Bianco, who served as chief carver of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
Photo Credit: *Courtesy Flickr User rachaelvoorhees*

by The Daily Voice

01/17/2014 4:00 a.m.

Author Douglas J. Gladstone penned "Carving A Niche for Himself: The Untold Story of Luigi Del Bianco and Mount Rushmore." The book "examines the selfless efforts of five time Parent's Choice award winner Lou Del Bianco, a children's performer and storyteller from Port Chester, New York, to honor his late grandfather," according to a release.

"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," representatives said.

Del Bianco, a native of Meduno in the Province of Pordenone, died on Jan. 20, 1969. "Carving a Niche for Himself" is Gladstone’s second book and is scheduled to be released in May.

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