杏吧原创

04/05/2019
By David Perry

For four years, History Prof. Robert Forrant and Asst. Prof. Ingrid Hess of Art & Design have quietly charted the broad history of immigration in Lowell.

With the help of a team of UML students , they have gathered and curated hundreds of photographs, videos and essays, building a unique website that is designed to help teachers, students and academics put together the pieces of a historically significant part of Lowell鈥檚 DNA 鈥� the arrivals of waves of immigrants calling the city their new home.

The professors鈥� efforts recently got a boost with a $12,500 grant from Mass Humanities, an independent programming and funding organization.

The website, which will be called the Library of New England Immigration (LNEI), will be officially unveiled in the coming months and will be part of UMass Lowell鈥檚 library site. Initially, the site will focus on Lowell immigration, especially over the past 50 years, but it will take a broader view down the line, says Forrant.

鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing like it that I can find anywhere else,鈥� Forrant says. 鈥淭his gives visitors 鈥� be they middle school or high school or college students, or individuals interested in the vibrancy of our immigration history 鈥� a site that captures the American mosaic.鈥�

It is the student work, plus telling a city鈥檚 story through its immigrants, Native Americans and those who have found asylum, that makes the site so unique, says Forrant.

Several UML students have helped, working as paid researchers, writers, image hunters, graphic artists and web designers. Cameron Blanchard, a junior majoring in fine arts, created the website. A graphic design alum, Ernest Guerrera 鈥�18, began working on the project as a motion designer and is now project manager.

Hess notes that the outside funding represents more than capital.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really exciting to obtain this outside funding, and it shows that work done at the university is valued beyond the university,鈥� she says.

鈥淭he money is also important to support students doing the historical research, helping with the writing and doing the major share of creating the videos and the site itself,鈥� says Forrant, who teaches classes in immigration history. 鈥淓very student working on it is compensated.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 really exciting to obtain this outside funding, and it shows that work done at the university is valued beyond the university.鈥� -Asst. Prof. of Art Ingrid Hess

He estimates that between grants and other funds, more than $25,000 has been raised so far for the project.

Blanchard, whose concentration is in graphic design, was invited to the project by Hess in September 2017.

鈥淚nitially, my role was to get the site up and running,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut it includes web development and making sure the technology works and knowing what you need to make it.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a great project. To have all that information at your fingertips, and to put together a site for everybody to use, was amazing.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 grateful to have worked on this. It鈥檚 the history of Lowell and New England, and it鈥檚 where I鈥檓 from,鈥� says Guerrera, a North Andover native.

Forrant says the arrangement of the information will make it easier to access with just a few mouse clicks.

鈥淎s a historian, I can research and assemble information for years, but with a click, you can have all this at your fingertips,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 can write a book, but this is going to reach a whole lot more people, and faster.鈥�

The project was born shortly after Forrant and Hess met at an event that introduced veteran professors with newly arrived UML teachers. Forrant, who had long harbored ambitions of producing a large-scale project on immigration, found the person who could help him bring it to life using the latest technology.

Hess is also an award-winning children鈥檚 book author and designer whose subjects include diversity and empowerment. She met Forrant a few years ago when she was a new UML hire.

鈥淲e work well together,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e understand what the other person鈥檚 skill set is.鈥�

Forrant agrees.

鈥淚 realized right away that by doing kids鈥� books, she knows how to present something complex in an interesting, compact way,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd I stay away from what she and her students do best. That鈥檚 when collaboration works best.鈥�