Pier Perspectives Blog

At the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, the focus of the collection is digital-born and digitized items, including oral histories, written stories, and digital archival materials like documents and photographs.

"But Why Would You Leave the Boston States?" This was a question I came to expect in the early 1970’s when I met new people in communities around St. Margaret’s Bay where I have lived for most of my life. In our tours of the Pier 21 section of the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 we talk about the "pushes and pulls" of immigration—those factors that have drawn people toward a different place, and those factors that might be pushing them away from their present home.

When Marianne Ferguson (nee Echt) was a young Jewish girl in 1939, her family had the remarkable good fortune of escaping from the Free State of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) before the Holocaust. As both a pharmacist and a hobby farmer her father was uniquely qualified to become one of the mere five thousand Jews given permission to enter Canada during the Hitler years.

Jay Patel is a York University student who completed an educational placement with the Canadian Museum of Immigration’s Oral History Program. He worked with 13 interviews recorded in 2017 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, using qualitative software to code the interviews. Excerpts from interviews with Sunny Naqvi and Bassel Alkosani, coded for “work” and “reflections,” help us understand their immigration experiences. Jay also reflects upon his own family connection to immigration.

Here in the Collections department, much of our work focuses on Digital Preservation. Digital Preservation is a way of keeping digital material alive so that they can be accessed long into the future, even as the technological tools and programs we use change.

Collaboration is an essential part of oral history research, and takes place across the country between the Museum and various institutions, including settlement organizations, universities, and community groups. Collaboration can take many forms, and is part of the process of sharing authority in oral history, which makes practicing history more inclusive and democratic.

Preserving your digital memories With the holidays fast-approaching, it’s the perfect time to reminisce about get-togethers and good times spent with family and friends. These memories are often captured in photographs; from the physical prints that you put in an album, to digital images captured on your phone or camera. Collecting and preserving these types of images is a big priority for the Museum, but there are some simple steps you can take to make sure your personal memories are kept safe for future generations too.

On February 28, 1928 the Holland America line steam ship Nieuw Amsterdam departed from Rotterdam, Netherlands and was the first ship to arrive at Pier 21 on March 8, 1928.

This photograph, taken by Harry Cochrane, depicts immigrants arriving at Pier 2 in Halifax’s North End just before the First World War. Although the date, people, and ship are unknown, their faces and apparent emotions, as well as details such as the background and clothing, make this an interesting piece of history. We would love to hear from anybody who may know anything more about this photograph!