Re: Ethnic Museums

Sometimes, regional history museums, though not exclusively ethnic in
mission, sponsor and house special ethnic programs.  My institution, the
Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, is a case in
point.  Our Italian American Program is dedicated to documenting the
Italian American experience in western Pennsylvania and involves active
collecting (artifacts, photographs, oral histories), public programming
(exhibits, lectures, culinary displays, music performances) and outreach
to area benevolent societies.

Our past exhibits and extant collections primarily reflect the New World
experiences of assimilation and ethnic perseverance.  Our audience is
primarily the area's Italian Americans although some of our programs
(oral history and genealogy workshops) attract non-Italian Americans.
Program volunteers and student interns are always descendents of Italian
Americans.  International partnerships, of course, are always a
possibility for immigration museums.  On of our proposed exhibit projects
involves contrasting the experiences of those who stayed behind with
those who emigrated.

For more information about this program, as well as links to fifteen or
so additional ethnic/immigrant museums, feel free to visit our website at
www.wpaitalians.com.

Best,

Nicholas P. Ciotola
Curator, Italian American Collection
Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center
1212 Smallman Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15217

___________________________________________________________________
Get the Internet just the way you want it.
Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month!
Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ museum-l.html. You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
[log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "Signoff
Museum-L" (without the quotes).