From a November 15, 2002 Press Release

Students, educators, scholars, and ethnic community members have a new research tool available to learn more about American immigration from digitized primary sources. The Immigration History Research Center (IHRC), located on the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis campus, has an online searchable database of digitized items from its photograph, print, and manuscript collections on the IHRC Website: http://www.umn.edu/ihrc.

COLLAGE (Collections Online: A Digital Library of American Immigration and Ethnic History), launched in June 2002, includes photographs and other archival materials selected from over twenty different ethnic collections, with descriptive information for each image. This digital documentation creates an opportunity to access these unique materials on the Web. Online items include images of homes, sports clubs, and community life in relation to the immigrant experience: http://www.umn.edu/ihrc/collage.htm.

COLLAGE is also a gateway to Featured Archival Sources, introduced in October 2002 as an initiative to select individual documents from the collections and provide historical and cultural context: http://www.umn.edu/ihrc/fas.htm.

A variety of Web resources are also part of COLLAGE, designed to support curriculum development and research for immigration subjects: http://www.umn.edu/ihrc/ihe_links.htm.

Since going online, users are accessing COLLAGE via:

• the IHRC home page: http://www.umn.edu/ihrc
• the University of Minnesota's University Libraries Digital Collection home page: http://digital.lib.umn.edu
• through UNESCO's Archives Portal under Primary Sources Online: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_archives/pages/Primary_Sources_Online.

This project stimulates research through building a digital collection, developing online tools to aid in its use, and providing broad access to it. COLLAGE facilitates undergraduate research in immigration studies, provides public access to primary sources for K-12 education and for ethnic community organizations, and encourages the continued documentation and preservation of the immigrant experience.

Support for COLLAGE comes from two grants. The first, from the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts Infotech Fees Committee, enabled the Center to begin the project. The second, a recent $250,000 award from the National Park Service's heritage preservation program "Save America's Treasures," will allow the project to expand over the next several years. This provides that as more materials are selected, from the IHRC's archives and other collections, and user interests are defined, the number of images available online will increase.

The Digital Collection Unit of the University of Minnesota Libraries is digitizing the images and providing the online support. The IHRC's COLLAGE is a partner in the campus-wide IMAGES initiative to produce high quality, standardized digital images and to promote their discovery: http://digital.lib.umn.edu.

Founded in 1965, the IHRC is an international resource on American immigration and ethnic history. The IHRC collects, preserves, and makes available archival and published resources documenting immigration and ethnicity. The Center also produces a wide array of programs and publications aimed at fostering greater understanding of the immigrant experience. For more information about the IHRC's online project, contact:

• IHRC - COLLAGE, 311 Andersen Library,
  222 21st Ave. S, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0439
• Phone: 612-624-8353
• E-mail: moore144@umn.edu
• Web: http://www.umn.edu/ihrc/collage.htm

Press release contacts: Joel Wurl, Curator, Assistant Director, 612-625-4800, wurlx001@umn.edu and Erik Moore, COLLAGE Coordinator, 612-624-8353, moore144@umn.edu. Photos and logos available upon request.