Kolë Kamsi was born in Shkodër, language and literature teacher, collector and researcher of the folklore of the Arbëresh settlements in Italy, Teacher of the People. He completed his studies in his hometown and later at the College of Saint Adrian in Saint-Mitra (Calabri). Served in education: in Vlora, teacher and school principal (1915–1916); in Shkodër, teacher in the city school of Franciscans (1921); in the State High School (1922-1923) and principal of the “Teuta” elementary school (1924); in Korça, director of the Pedagogical Course (1925). He was the initiator and first director of the Commercial School of “Uji i Ftohtë” in Vlora (1926-1927); director of the “Donika Kastrioti” Women’s Institute in Shkodër (1936), of the Tirana Women’s Institute (1939) and of the State High School in Shkodër (1942-1946). He participated in the 1st Congress of Teachers in Lushnja (1920) and in the 2nd Congress of Teachers in Tirana (1922). He was a regular member of the Institute of Albanian Studies (1940) and of the Albanian Institute for Studies and Arts (1944). He was a candidate of the Institute of Sciences (1948). In the years 1947-1957 he was a teacher in the high school and in the pedagogical school of Shkodra. With the establishment of the two-year High Pedagogical Institute of Shkodra, he started working there as a teacher (1957). For more than half a century (1907-1960) he gave his help with studies in the field of Albanian sciences. Wrote a series of articles about Italian Arbëresh, mainly in the magazine “Leka” in the years 1934-1944, which are summarized in the volume “Shqiptarët e Italisë“ (“Albanians of Italy”) (2008). He was a co-editor of the textbooks “Shkollë e jetë” (“School and life”) (1935): “Te praku i jetës“(“At the threshhold of life”) (1940), “Rreze Drite“ (“Ray of light”) (1941), “Bota shqiptare” (“Albanian world”) (1943), etc. He worked all his life for the “Fjalor arbërisht-shqip“ (“Albanian-Arbëresh dictionary”), which was published posthumously (2000). He passed away in 1960. He was decorated with the Order of the Flag. (In the photo: Kole Kamsi)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1103.
Graphic processing: AHCF
