‘Migration’ is a topical issue with many dimensions in the present and the past. Throughout 2018, the European Year of Cultural Heritage, Europeana will be running a new community collection initiative around the theme of ‘migration’. The Europeana Migration collection will contain material contributed by the general public, either online or at a community collection event, as well as items from museums, libraries, galleries, and archives across Europe.
We’re looking for documentary evidence, material culture and personal stories reflecting migration movements in Europe over many centuries, as well as how these have affected the arts and sciences. (from the Europeana Migration website)
The collection will be featured on the Europeana Migration website. On the site, you can already find over 200,000 items from across Europe, giving a broad and diverse illustration of some of the many facets of migration. The site also features exhibitions and galleries, such as ‘Leaving Europe’ which explores European migration to the US in the 19th century, looking both at the homelands of the migrants and their lives in their new country. The ‘Famous Migrants’ gallery highlights a selection of well-known people from across Europe who were migrants or refugees and worked in the arts and sciences. All the material in the collection is free to explore, and many items can also be reused.
A family with 10 children are going to emigrate, CC BY-SA Gooi en Vecht Historisch
Anyone with a story, letter, photograph or other objects can add this to the collection through the website. Special events will also be held where people are invited to share their personal migration stories and material (for dates and venues, see the listing on the website)
Sharing your migration history can help us to tell a really big story – the story of Europe and the people who live here. Your story is part of Europe’s rich and shared history of migration, and now it can be recorded for the future. (from the Europeana Migration website)
Europeana Migration uses the Oxford Community Collection Model, creating an archive through a combination of online contributions and material collected at interactive events.