First steps in DPLA-Europeana virtual exhibition

We at the DPLA have spent the past few weeks searching for materials that may help us develop a joint digital collection and virtual exhibition that we’re building with Europeana on the migration of Europeans to the United States and vice-versa (read the official press release). The pilot project will tell the human story of European immigration and emigration by way of freely available digital material: genealogical records, diaries, correspondence, oral histories, photographs, ship manifests, naturalization paperwork, and more. While we’ve just begun the exploration process, we aim to launch an initial version of the project by the end of 2012, with potential additions or new versions in the future as we continue our ongoing partnership with Europeana. Included below are just a few of the collections that we’ve been exploring in recent weeks.

1. Library of Congress, American Memory / Prints & Photographs Online Catalog

The seminal national digital library initiative, American Memory contains a wealth of images, texts, and audiovisual material from across the country on the topic of emigration and immigration to and from the United States/Europe. Educational materials and other supplementary texts help augment primary materials. The Library of Congress’ Prints and Photographs Online Catalog includes hundreds of digitized images of immigrants and their experiences. While time periods vary across the collections, American Memory and the Online Catalog’s strengths lie in the 19^th and 20^th century.

2. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

In addition to its popular Flickr photostream, NARA offers thousands of digitized items via its Online Public Catalog, as well as hundreds of thousands of data files containing the names, ages, and places of origin for European immigrants, all culled from ship manifests from the 19^th and 20^th century. NARA is the go-to source for digitized documentation from the Immigration and Naturalization Service and other government agencies through which immigrants and emigrants passed on the course of their journeys.

3. New York Public Library (NYPL) Digital Gallery

From one of the premiere public library digital collections, the NYPL Digital Gallery contains two collections in particular that document in stunning detail the arrival of European immigrants. Ellis Island Photographs from the Collection of William Williams, Commissioner of Immigration, 1902-1913, documents early-20^th century Ellis Island and immigration; while Lewis Wickes Hine: Documentary Photographs, 1905-1938, contains “more than 500 silver gelatin photographic prints depicting American social conditions and labor, including immigrants at Ellis Island and construction of the Empire State Building.”

4. New Jersey Digital Highway

From the Rutgers University Libraries, the New Jersey State Library, and other contributing institutions, New Jersey Digital Highway contains hundreds of declarations of intentions, naturalization records, and other relevant documentation pertaining to emigration and immigration, most notably for Italian-Americans.

5. Florida Memory

A digital library from the Florida Division of Library and Information Services, Florida Memory offers a number of digitized items in the Florida Folklife Collection and the Florida Photographic Collection pertaining to immigration.

6. Missouri Digital Heritage

Missouri Digital Heritage is a project of the Missouri State Archives. Collections of particular interest include “Lasting Impressions: German-Americans in St. Louis,” “Naturalization Records, 1816 – 1955,” and “Immigrant Community of Ilasco, Missouri – Cement Company Town 1901-1965,” in which users can find nicely digitized images of correspondences, photographs, and government records.

While we hope to include as much digitized public domain material as possible, we also want to incorporate more than what’s already available in digital formats. Which is why we’re actively seeking analog (i.e., undigitized) public domain material to scan and incorporate into this new digital collection. Our research thus far has brought us into contact with a wide variety of physical and digital materials on the topic—from the federally funded to homespun—but we need your help. If you or someone you know manages analog or digitized public domain materials* on the subject of European immigration/emigration for your local cultural heritage institution, let us know in the comment section below or via our contact form. We’d love to see your local library or historical society contribute to the DPLA’s very first virtual collection!

*works registered or first published before 1923.

Banner photo courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Collection.