About the Immigrant Oral Histories

In 2009, the Minnesota Historical Society received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to digitize and make available oral histories of recent immigrants to Minnesota which already existed in the collections of the Society. The goal of this project is to extend the reach of these materials to a broader audience, to support community building, and to help sustain cultural identity.

This site presents the full interview transcripts for each oral history project digitized under the auspices of this program. A second site developed as part of the project, Becoming Minnesotan, presents excerpts from these oral history interviews, along with supporting information about each narrator, the communities, and immigration in general, in a format designed to be of greatest use to teachers and students in grades 4-12. The full interviews and transcripts for each of the oral history projects can also be accessed on cassette tape or CD at the Minnesota Historical Society Library.

Terms of Use

Information, images, audio and videos in Collections Online are for research and personal use only. If an image from Collections Online is to be used for a school paper or project where only a single copy will be produced, you may copy the image from the website and use it without charge, but please use the following credit line: Courtesy, Minnesota Historical Society, [ID Number]. For all other uses, please refer to the Society's Conditions of Use.