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The Minnesota Digital Library recently published a series of online exhibitions that explore the history and culture of Minnesota's immigrants. This three-part series utilizes digital collections to understand where Minnesota's immigrants came from, the experiences they had, and how they preserved their culture in Minnesota.

Swenson family members in front of an American flag
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The Minnesota Digital Library recently published a series of online exhibitions that explore the history and culture of Minnesota's immigrants. This three-part series utilizes digitized photographs, documents, and interviews from MDL's collections to understand where Minnesota's immigrants came from, the experiences they had, and how they preserved their culture in Minnesota.

This series originated from a project developed by the Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) with the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). The original project digitized previously recorded oral histories from cultural heritage organizations across Minnesota, created new interviews, and shared them together on a single website. Due to technical changes and a desire to better integrate these recordings with the rest of MDL, that website was retired and all of the recordings were added to MDL as a single collection

MDL then created the Minnesota Immigrants online exhibits to investigate immigration history in greater depth and to provide more context to immigrant experiences. These exhibits share interviews, photographs, documents, and more from immigrants throughout Minnesota's history, many in their own voices. In telling their stories, MDL shows a more inclusive view of what it means to be Minnesotan.

Visit the new exhibits today:

Minnesota Immigrants: People on the Move
Minnesota Immigrants: Immigrant Experiences
Minnesota Immigrants: Preserving Culture

These three join our previously-released exhibit, Farm to Table: Food History in Minnesota. They are all available now on our new project page. Coming soon: our National History Day resource page, packed with tips for those working on NHD projects. Stay tuned for more information!

Written by

Stephanie Hess
Digital Curator, Minnesota Digital Library
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Historical content from Minnesota's cultural heritage organizations, all in one place