IDARM Project
The Italian Diaspora Archive Resource Map (IDARM) project explores collaborative networks around—and innovative digital approaches to—cataloguing the wealth of archival materials relating to the Italian diasporic experience in the PA-WV-OH tri-state region. Convened in 2020, the IDARM project identifies, catalogues, and maps archival materials present in the tri-state, as well as the scholarly projects that emerge from their analysis. The purpose of this mapping is to render both primary and secondary materials on the Italian diaspora more accessible to students and researchers of all kinds beyond this geographic area.
Our archives-focused working group grew from interdisciplinary collaborations and courses focused on Italian American labor, migration, traditions, representations, and cultural production and built on primary sources from museum collections, archival repositories, and historic sites. The group has leveraged these collaborations to build sustainable scholarly and community networks and is developing resource guides to elevate the region’s Italian Diaspora archival resources to greater visibility. Eventually the conveners seek to identify national and international collaborators for this project to further raise these resources’ profile and accessibility, reconnecting and repairing transnational points of contact.
Co-Conveners:
- Nancy Caronia, Visiting Scholar, Chatham University
- Lina Insana, Associate Professor of Italian, University of Pittsburgh
- Melissa E. Marinaro, Director, Italian American Program, Heinz History Center
Original Working Group Members (convened in 2020):
- Donna DiBlasio, Professor Emerita of History, Youngstown State University
- William Hal Gorby, Teaching Associate Professor of History, West Virginia University
- Sierra Green, Senior Outreach Manager, Detre Library and Archives, Heinz History Center
- Lori Hostuttler, Director and Associate University Librarian, West Virginia and Regional History Center at West Virginia University
IDARM Network Members:
- Archives & Special Collections of the University of Pittsburgh Library System
- Detre Library and Archives, Heinz History Center
- European Studies Center/Jean Monnet EU Center of Excellence, University of Pittsburgh
- Frank and Jane Gabor FolkLife Center, Fairmont State University
- Hagen History Center
- History Center Affiliates Programs (HCAP), Heinz History Center
- Indiana University of Pennsylvania Special Collections and University Archives
- Italian American Museum of Cleveland
- Italian Heritage Collection, Citizens Library & Washington County Historical Society
- Mahoning Valley Historical Society
- Montogomery County Records Center & Archives
- Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs, University of Pittsburgh
- Old Economy Village
- Società Dante Alighieri (Rome, Italy)
- University of Pittsburgh Library System
- West Virginia Mine Wars Museum
- West Virginia and Regional History Center at West Virginia University
- West Virginia University
- World History Center, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh
IDARM Project Timeline:
- Fall 2020: Convening of the IDARM Working Group, hosted by the World History Center at the University of Pittsburgh
- Spring-Fall 2021: Development of IDARM Survey, sent to regional repositories with the aim of gathering information about their Italian Diaspora materials (holdings, cataloguing, discoverability, and staffing)
- February 2022: Launch of IDARM Survey
- March 2022: Presentation of IDARM Project and preliminary survey findings at Conference of the Appalachian Studies Association at West Virginia University
- October 2022: Presentation of IDARM Project and detailed survey findings at Conference of the Italian American Studies Association at the University of Pittsburgh
- September 2023: Presentation of IDARM Project and detailed survey findings at the Fifth Conference of the Centro di Ricerca Interdipartimentale di Studi Americani at Roma Tre University
- April 2024: $50,000 NEH Foundations Grant in support of IDARM network building, resource support, and preliminary discoverability work
- June 2024: Launch of bi-monthly IDARM Newsletter
- October 2024: First IDARM Convening, attended by over a dozen IDARM network organizations, who traveled from the Ohio-Pennsylvania-West Virginia tri-state region and from Italy. The two-day gathering featured a keynote address by Daniel Pitti; network discussions; and library and archives workshops.
- March 2025: IDARM Webinar n. 1: “IMLS Grants Info Session”
- April 2025: IDARM-sponsored panel at the annual Conference of the Calandra Institute in NYC, with research drawing on archival materials in the IDARM region
- May 2025: First IDARM-on-the-road site visits to West Virginia network partners
- Spring 2025: Detailed directory of IDARM partner information
For more information about the IDARM project, please contact: [email protected]
