Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
Session 7.14 Immigration and Comparative Culture
Presentation #1 Title
From the Carpathians to the Appalachians: Slavic and Hungarian Immigration in West Virginia and the Pennsylvania Coalfields
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Between 1870 and 1920, hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the Carpathian region of Austro-Hungary immigrated to the West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania coalfields. The Pennsylvanian historian Walter Warzeski estimated that of the 700,000 “Ruthenians” (read Carpatho-Ukrainians) that were in the United States in 1933, 60% of those were Transcarpathian Rusyns and the remaining 40% were from eastern Galicia. This session will explore the impact that Carpathian migration had on the Appalachian coalfields as well as discuss the immigrant experience itself. The first presentation will look at the impact of Carpathian immigrants on community life in West Virginia, particularly their impact on religious life and folk traditions. The numerous “Greek-Catholic” churches remaining in the coalfields are symbolic of the once thriving Ukrainian community, a people that remains largely unstudied by Appalachian scholars. The second presentation will focus on the thousands of coalfield residents who emigrated from the Transylvanian region of the Carpathians, individuals of largely Hungarian ethnic origin. It will feature historical documents taken from the presenter’s own family archive, as well as materials gleaned from a personal trip to Transylvania in 2007. A third presentation will focus on the historical and cultural connections between the Ukrainian cymbaly and the Appalachian dulcimer. The presentation will be augmented with a brief musical interlude that will demonstrate the different playing styles used on both the cymbaly and hammered dulcimer. Finally, the fourth presentation will feature a discussion of the Galicians themselves, individuals who called themselves Ruthenians, Rusyns, Carpatho-Rusyns, Slavs, or simply highlanders. Using seldom translated materials from important Ukrainian scholars, the presenter will paint a detailed portrait of the Carpathian mountain immigrant of the period, describing not only their social and cultural characteristics but their spiritual life as well.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Judy Byers is the Director of the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center in Fairmont, West Virginia, an institution dedicated to documenting the rich cultural heritage of the Allegheny region. Not only has Dr. Byers made numerous culture studies of West Virginia communities, she has also traveled extensively abroad, which has allowed her to make important connections between local traditions and their sometimes international origins. Byers was an integral speaker at the 2013 international conference held in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, entitled “Carpathians/Appalachians: Human and Community Development in Highland Regions.”
Presentation #2 Title
From the Carpathians to the Alleghenies: Ukranian and Slavic Immigration in West Virginia and its Impact on Folklife and Culture
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Noel Tenney is a cultural specialist and museum studies coordinator at the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center in Fairmont, West Virginia, an institution dedicated to documenting the rich cultural heritage of the Allegheny region. He has made numerous folkloric studies in West Virginia communities and was an integral speaker at the international conference "Carpathians/Appalachians: human and Community Development in Highland Regions," held in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine in September, 2013.
Presentation #3 Title
From Transylvania to West Virginia: New Directions in Coalfield History
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Lou Martin is the Chair of the History, Political Science, and International Studies Department at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His research interests include labor and Appalachian history, and the twentieth century political economy. He has done extensive research in the pottery and steel industries of Appalachia, and his forthcoming book examines the rural-industrial workers of northern West Virginia. Of Hungarian descent, Martin’s paternal ancestors migrated from the Carpathians of Transylvania to the Appalachians during the early 20th century.
Presentation #4 Title
The Hammered Dulcimer: Similarities and Differences between the Western Ukrainian and Central Appalachian Folk Instrument and Playing Styles
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Lynette D. Swiger is a Hammered Dulcimer Specialist at the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center in Fairmont, West Virginia. She is considered a Master Dulcimer Artist Elementary Educator and has made hundreds of performances in schools across the Appalachian region. Her teaching craft and musical abilities were featured at the International Conference, “Carpathians/Appalachians: Human and Community Development in Highland Regions,” held in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine in September 2013.
From the Carpathians to the Appalachians: Slavic and Hungarian Immigration in West Virginia and the Pennsylvania Coalfields
Corbly Hall 464
Between 1870 and 1920, hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the Carpathian region of Austro-Hungary immigrated to the West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania coalfields. The Pennsylvanian historian Walter Warzeski estimated that of the 700,000 “Ruthenians” (read Carpatho-Ukrainians) that were in the United States in 1933, 60% of those were Transcarpathian Rusyns and the remaining 40% were from eastern Galicia. This session will explore the impact that Carpathian migration had on the Appalachian coalfields as well as discuss the immigrant experience itself. The first presentation will look at the impact of Carpathian immigrants on community life in West Virginia, particularly their impact on religious life and folk traditions. The numerous “Greek-Catholic” churches remaining in the coalfields are symbolic of the once thriving Ukrainian community, a people that remains largely unstudied by Appalachian scholars. The second presentation will focus on the thousands of coalfield residents who emigrated from the Transylvanian region of the Carpathians, individuals of largely Hungarian ethnic origin. It will feature historical documents taken from the presenter’s own family archive, as well as materials gleaned from a personal trip to Transylvania in 2007. A third presentation will focus on the historical and cultural connections between the Ukrainian cymbaly and the Appalachian dulcimer. The presentation will be augmented with a brief musical interlude that will demonstrate the different playing styles used on both the cymbaly and hammered dulcimer. Finally, the fourth presentation will feature a discussion of the Galicians themselves, individuals who called themselves Ruthenians, Rusyns, Carpatho-Rusyns, Slavs, or simply highlanders. Using seldom translated materials from important Ukrainian scholars, the presenter will paint a detailed portrait of the Carpathian mountain immigrant of the period, describing not only their social and cultural characteristics but their spiritual life as well.
