Migration Collections: Historiographical Debates and Museological Challenges Today

Description

A rise in global migration during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has prompted ongoing efforts to preserve the histories of various migrant communities in countries around the world. The formation of migration museums has served as a widespread approach to document these histories and educate publics of their significance. This thesis examines the creation and development of collections at the Migration Museum in Adelaide, Australia (MMA) and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City (LESTM) to determine how collections of migration are conceived and maintained. It is argued that while both museums initiated collection building analogous to contemporary historiographical and museological conceptions, their respective collections have become representative of two starkly different migration narratives: the collections at the Migration Museum have grown to represent an ongoing national history, whereas the collections at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum have become representative of site-specific experiences.

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