New York

Migrant City

A showcase of immigrants in New York City, from past to present, through the projects made by NYU undergraduates.

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Student Projects

NY Restaurant Keepers

Foreign Born Citizens and Tenement Housing in the 18th and 19th Century

The 1917 Immigration Act

Capturing Quantitative Data on Immigrants

Chinese Restaurant Database

A-Story-A: Immigrant Communities in Astoria, Queens

From Archive to Data

Gaelic Gaming in New York City

Approaches to Messy Digitized Archival Documents

Taking History Outside the classroom

The projects featured on this website are made by NYU undergraduates at campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai as part of a guided research seminar, led by Professors Heather Ruth Lee and David Ludden and research assistant Deirdre Harkins. The spirit of collaboration and exploration drives History Beyond. Students work in interdisciplinary teams on research topics of their choosing, while Professors Lee and Ludden support their visions by helping design the project, organizing skill-based workshops, and pointing them to resources and people.

History Beyond gives undergraduate students experiences in undertaking independent historical research. The course encourages students to think creatively and boldly, to negotiate past difficulties in collaboration, and to learn from setbacks.

Immigrants at Ellis Island, N.Y.

The New York Public Library Digital Collections

New Method of teaching History

NY Immigrant City research cluster embraces the digital storytelling as a critical frontier in humanities pedagogy. Students are invited to present traditional research in innovative and creative ways. The intention is to give students independent, team-based research experience.

Taking cue from the physical and biological sciences, in which research teams work toward answering a common question, NY Immigrant City creates opportunities for students to work in unconventional settings and to develops skills less commonly taught in conventional classrooms. More importantly, the students draw upon their experiences as digital natives to curate and express their research findings.

Another view of Ellis Island from the harbor, showing various buildings.

The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1902 – 1913.

About the Team

NY Immigrant City is a guided research seminar with participation from the NYU New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai. It uses a team-based research program called Vertically Integrated Projects, piloted by Georgia Tech and coordinated through NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Chatham Square Branch, New York Public Library (old rented building)

The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1902.