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.
Members of the Italian Diaspora Archive Resource Map Working Group include:
Co-Conveners:
- Nancy Caronia, Teaching Associate Professor of English, West Virginia University
- Lina Insana, Associate Professor of Italian, University of Pittsburgh
- Melissa E. Marinaro, Director, Italian American Program, Heinz History Center
Members:
- Donna DiBlasio, Professor Emerita of History, Youngstown State University
- Hal Gorby, Teaching Assistant Professor of History, West Virginia University
- Sierra Green, Archivist, Detre Library and Archives, Heinz History Center
- Lori Hostuttler, Interim Director and Assistant University Librarian, West Virginia and Regional History Center
Organizations:
- Frank & Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center, Fairmont State University (Fairmont, WV)
- Mahoning Valley Historical Society (Youngstown, OH)
- Archives & Special Collections Service Center (A&SC), University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA)
- History Center Affiliates Program (HCAP) (Pittsburgh, PA)
For more information about the IDARM project, please contact: memarinaro@heinzhistorycenter
