Becoming American Becoming Ethnic

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments This volume has taken shape over an eighteen-year period and has benefited from the assistance of numerous individuals over the years. First, I thank the students I have had in History/Third World Studies 7B at the University of California, San Diego, and in History 264 at the State University ofNew York at Binghamton. Librarians at both institutions assisted students as they began to search for their own ethnic roots, and Paul Zarins, Susannah Galloway, and Ed Shephard have been particularly generous with their knowledge and time. The special collections departments at both libraries have graciously permitted students to deposit their papers in their collections, a fact that made this book possible. However effective these courses have been, graduate teaching assistants have made a major contribution, and in this regard I acknowledge the fine work of Art McEvoy, Victoria Brown, Scott Nash, Mike Groth, and Michelle Kuhl. As the work of collecting papers for use in this volume proceeded it often required real detective work to track down former students and secure permission to use their writing. Mae Brown, Sonya Dublin, and Michelle Kuhl were instrumental in this phase ofthe work. Julie Simmonds and Laura Free provided additional typing, editing, and research assistance that helped bring the manuscript together. My thanks go out as well to Lois DeFleur and Sascha Dublin, who, hearing me talk at length about the wonder of these papers, insisted that they would make an excellent book and prodded me to launch the undertaking in the face of numerous other demands on x Acknowledgments my time. I am grateful to Janet Francendese and Steve Brier at Temple University Press, whose thoughtful comments helped me frame more clearly the students' work and who were willing to make a commitment to this project at an early stage. In addition, Victoria Brown, Constance Coiner, Donna Gabaccia, and Dorothee Schneider offered thoughtful readings of my introduction and selected student essays. Finally, my thanks go to Kitty Sklar for incisive editing and enthusiastic support in the final stages ofthis project. It has been a joy to rediscover the fine work these students have done over the years and to help guide a small fraction of it to a broader audience . I gratefully acknowledge the permission ofmy former students to include their papers and family photographs in this collection. The Center for Lowell History, the Lowell Historical Society, and the Solvay Public Library have also granted permission for inclusion of photographs here. These papers show the power of multiculturalism in the classroom and demonstrate how students and faculty can learn in a setting that affords respect and encourages self-exploration. Becoming American, Becoming Ethnic ...