50 Coming Home: A Project of History, Heartache, and Heritage

Faculty Mentor: Disa Gambera (English, University of Utah)

By examining the relationship of Utah’s Cretan communities with the Carbon County mines and railroad industries in the early twentieth century, my intentions are twofold. First, I hope to establish a connection to my own ancestors and community members who immigrated to the area during the time period. Carbon County mines and railroads used Southern European immigrants for the most dangerous, brutal, and cruel jobs that they had to offer. The working conditions were often quite inhumane and frequently forced young, Cretan immigrants to face untimely and tragic deaths. In exploring the impact that this industry had on my own family along with the other families that make up Salt Lake’s Greek community today, I hope to track the emotional, cultural, and communal effect that immigration had on these people to better understand the state’s unique relationship to immigration both in the past and present.The project’s second objective is to disrupt the dominant narrative of Utah history which is centered around The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a person who has grown up in Utah, I am acutely aware of the gaps in the discourse surrounding the state’s history. There is an emphasis on the work the Latter-day Saints contributed to the state’s success, while other peoples and cultures are left out of the narrative. By putting the spotlight on the Cretans of Carbon County, my hope is to introduce the public to different historical communities that were just as critical in the nation’s acceptance of the state of Utah.

The Manuscripts Department of Special Collections at the J. Willard Marriott Library houses over 1,600 unpublished historical collections, available for on-site use by students, researchers, and members of the local public. Within this vast collection are the archives of various immigrant groups – records that reveal the importance of such communities to the growth, prosperity, and evolution of Utah and the broader American West. I have spent the Fall semester of 2023 analyzing the archives pertaining to the Cretans of Carbon County. This research has already greatly informed my project and the trajectory it will take. There are a total of ten collections within the library that I hope to integrate into my project over the following several months. While the archives and literature do exist, they are currently only available to the public through personal, extensive, physical research at the Marriott Library. By analyzing these collections, my hope is to digitally curate my findings into an interactive online interface that is informative, accessible, and overall palatable to the public.

Ultimately, I envision this project to take the form of a digital archive or exhibit, accompanied by an interactive map that charts the story of Carbon County’s Cretan community over the last one hundred years. The project will be supplemented by a series of personal and research essays that will further inform the digital aspect of the project. All research done for the project will be gained by studying the manuscript collections held within the J. Willard Marriott Library. By Spring semester 2024, I plan to move on from my research and begin the execution of the project’s more tangible aspects— using the majority of the 120 hours funded by the Office of Undergraduate Research to write the supplemental essays and develop the digital exhibition.

My direct mentor for this project is Disa Gambera who is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Utah. Disa has spent her career analyzing literature and literary criticism. With her academic background and expertise, I am certain Disa will be able to help me write, rewrite, and revise the essay collection of this project in a meaningful way.

I am also working closely with Lyuba Basin, the Rare Books Curator for the J. Willard Marriott Library. In this position, Lyuba works closely with the Special Collections materials at the Marriott Library for her own exhibitions and curatorial work. Most recently, Lyuba co-curated an exhibition that traces the history of Special Collections at the University of Utah. As a curator and library professional, Lyuba will be able to assist me with my first curatorial project. In addition to being a critical resource in identifying which collections are most useful to me, she has guided me through the process of archives research and has taught me about the act of preserving and creating a story through artifacts and limited information.

This project exists at the intersection of furthering the goals of my intellectual, professional, and professional growth in a myriad of ways. Not only will this project allow me to establish new connections of heritage and history, but I will also be able to continue to develop my skills in writing, while further pursuing the academic field of Library Science. As I am currently in the process of applying to Master’s Programs in the field of Library Science, it is clear to me that this project will be a critical aspect of my portfolio for years to come. Furthermore, as I research the field of Library Science I am becoming increasingly confident that I want to embark on a career path in curatorial work within the library setting. This project gives me the perfect case study to determine if this truly is the correct path for me.