Migration museum

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Migration museums cover human migration in the past, present and future.

Contents

Background

The current trend in the development of migration museums, named differently worldwide, is an interesting phenomenon, as it may contribute to the creation of a new and multiple identity, at an individual and collective level. The United States with Ellis Island, Australia, Canada, and more recently several European countries — e.g., France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and the United Kingdom — have been creating such venues to facilitate transmission between generations as well as encounters between migrants and the host populations, by telling their personal story.

While these initiatives also serve the duty to remember, they seem to have three main objectives: Acknowledge, integrate and build awareness

Given the international scene and the latest events, from the Van Gogh affair in the Netherlands in 2004 to the so-called ‘crise des banlieues’ in France in 2005there is an urgent need to give the migrant generations (the youth as well as their parents) a voice, in order to foster inclusion, integration and the right to difference. Listening to individual stories may help to deconstruct stereotypes. Memory, History and Narration may also allow to take a step back and to consider the complete picture.

Migration museums also face common challenges, in that they intend to be not only a venue for conservation and exhibition, but also and above all a lively meeting place. The challenge is not so much to bring in the intellectuals, academics, researchers, historians, traditional visitors of museums (the converted) but to attract the general public, those with preconceived ideas on immigration and the migrants themselves.

In addition to the following list, there are many local heritage initiatives and smaller museums which have increasingly focused on migration as a part of the narrative they portray.

List of migration museums

ImageMuseumCityCountryEstablished
American Museum of Immigration (closed in 1991) New York City United States1972
Angel Island detention barracks.JPG Angel Island Immigration Station museum Tiburon, California United States
HH-20110315-02-Ballinstadt.jpg BallinStadt Hamburg Germany2007
Pier21turnaround.jpg Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada1999
Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration Paris France2007
Cobh - Cobh railway station - 20210726164734.jpg Cobh Heritage Centre Cobh Ireland1993
Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration.jpg Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration New York City United States1990
Gdynia Dworzec Morski 10.jpg Emigration Museum Gdynia Poland2015
Deutsches Auswandererhaus Bremerhaven 09-2008.jpg German Emigration Center Bremerhaven Germany2005
Immigration Museum, Melbourne.jpg Immigration Museum Melbourne Australia1998
MigratieMuseumMigration Brussels Belgium2019
Migration Museum, Adelaide.JPG Migration Museum Adelaide Australia1986
Entrance to the Migration Museum in Lewisham, London.jpg Migration Museum London England2013
Number 19 Princelet Street - geograph.org.uk - 819124.jpg Museum of Immigration and Diversity London United Kingdom
Museum of the African Diaspora MOAD.jpg Museum of the African Diaspora San Francisco United States2005
Museumand: The National Caribbean Heritage Museum"Museum without walls"United Kingdom2015
ID 201 Ex Hotel de Inmigrantes 0786.jpg National Museum of Immigration Buenos Aires Argentina
Utvandrarnas hus SW.JPG Swedish Emigrant Institute Växjö Sweden1965
Emigrantkirka pa Sletta (Austrheim).jpg Western Norway Emigration Center Sletta, Vestland Norway

Further reading

Related Research Articles

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References