The Minnesota Digital Library is excited to announce the addition of a new collection called Minnesota Immigrants. Minnesota Immigrants began as an exhibit on a separate website; but due to technological changes and a desire to better integrate this collection, you can now find this content in MDL.
The Minnesota Immigrants collection is a product of MDL's collaboration with the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and our combined efforts to capture and share the myriad stories of Minnesota's citizens. Minnesota has a long tradition of immigration. In the early and mid-nineteenth century, Minnesota's Ojibwe and Dakota people were joined by an influx of European émigrés who settled in Minnesota. Immigration continues today, more recently with the Hmong, Somali, Korean, and Latino entrants to the state. In sharing these immigrant stories, told through their own voices, MDL shares with the world a broader view of what it means to be Minnesotan. This initiative gathered and digitized existing oral histories from organizations across the state. These existing materials were coupled with newly created stories that best document the rich tradition of immigration to this state. This project weaves together 389 audio and video histories into a single collection where these stories can be saved and shared in an open and accessible manner.
