History/Political Science paper by Boros, Nicholas
Painting the Past with Paper: A Demonstration of the Value of the Pictorial History Genre for Hungarian Diaspora Studies
Type of Abstract (select):Abstract (max. 250 words):
In commemoration of its 125th anniversary in December 2017, America’s first Hungarian Roman Catholic parish, St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church in Cleveland, recently prepared an anniversary book. Such publications are often consulted by historians investigating Hungarian diasporic communities because of the key role that churches played in the ethnic identity maintenance of immigrants and their descendants. Due in large part to the fact that these works are intended for a popular audience, the historical sketches within them typically lack the scholarly rigor of professional historical research. Attempting to meet the needs of the local popular audience while offering material that aligns more closely with the standards of academic history, a pictorial history featuring items from the parish’s museum and archives was added to the book.
Unlike most pictorial histories, this text consists largely of scans of printed materials and other ephemeral items organized into themes that showcase the various religious and secular functions that this church, once the nation’s largest Hungarian Catholic congregation, had served. By surveying a selection of the fifty scans and their accompanying descriptions, each image’s ability to distill historical insights about topics ranging from pre-Vatican II American Catholic culture to the bicultural identity that developed in Cleveland’s Hungarian neighborhood between waves of immigration, becomes apparent. Because of the many benefits offered by this format’s structure, I offer it as a model for other Hungarian-American organizations looking for a creative way to digitize holdings from their collections and recount their pasts while considering the perspectives of historians.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Nicholas Boros is a pre-service high school mathematics teacher completing his final semester of a post-baccalaureate teacher licensure program at Cleveland State University. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 2015 from Cleveland State University, where he triple majored in linguistics, comparative religion, and mathematics. His research interests include language maintenance and the historical development of diasporic religious communities. ngboros@yahoo.com