America’s labor movements have always been shaped by immigrants who brought skills, traditions, and a deep understanding of what it meant to work long hours for little pay under unsafe conditions. From factory floors and mines to union halls and protest lines, immigrant workers helped define what fairness, dignity, and … Read More
Written by Scarlett Rigby, Collections & Museum Operations Consultant What does it take to become a permanent museum? It is not just opening exhibitions or welcoming visitors. It takes years of work behind the scenes, including difficult decisions about what to collect, how to care for a collection, and what … Read More
This week at the Reher Center we commemorated the 115th anniversary of the Triangle Factory Fire of 1911. The blaze took the lives of 146 workers, most of them Jewish and Italian immigrants and mostly women and girls. To honor the victims of the factory owners’ willful negligence—who locked the … Read More
Take a moment to think about your favorite “American” meal. Maybe it’s a hot dog at a baseball game, a slice of pizza grabbed on the go, barbecue at a summer cookout, or a plate of comfort food passed around a family table. Now ask yourself a simple question: … Read More
An ocean steamer passing the Statue of Liberty: Scene on the steerage deck (1887) Library of Congress Why Policy Matters Immigration policy is never abstract. Laws have real consequences for real people: families separated or reunited, communities built or broken, cultures preserved or erased. Policy determines who is deemed worthy … Read More