Stories of Immigration Scanning Day

Our upcoming gallery exhibits will tell stories of immigration and cultural heritage in New Bedford and the fishing industry. We are interested in photographs, objects, or documents that tell stories of what life and work was like in your country of origin, what brought you to New Bedford, and what it was like to immigrate to this area. Bring any photographs, documents, or objects related to these topics to be scanned and documented by Fishing Heritage Center staff and volunteers. They will help us tell a more complete story of immigration and cultural heritage in New Bedford’s working waterfront.

These upcoming exhibits will be will be supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Commonwealth Initiative.

On the second Saturday of every month, the Center invites the public to bring their fishing industry related photographs, both historic and contemporary, as well as documents such as settlement sheets, union books, or news clippings to be scanned. Staff will scan the materials and record any information the owner shares about each piece. The owner will leave with their originals along with a digital copy of the scans on a flash drive. The Center is working to create a digital archive of these materials which will be made available to researchers and the public. These documents will help us to tell the story of the fishing industry.