The Transatlantic Perspectives website introduces students and scholars to European migrants and their transatlantic careers. It highlights the transatlantic institutions and networks that facilitated transfers and exchanges between Europe and the United States. The website also contextualizes the migrants’ professional biographies within the frame of transatlantic relations during the second half of the twentieth century by providing links to mass media articles that illustrate the mutual perceptions of Europe and the United States. Finally, the website provides documents, bibliographies, links to archival records, and tools for educators. In developing this resource, we hope to facilitate further research and a growing understanding of the interconnectedness of the Atlantic world.
About the Project:
Transatlantic Perspectives: Europe in the Eyes of European Immigrants to the United States, 1930-1980 is a four year research project that explores the role of European migrants in transatlantic exchange processes during the mid-twentieth century. The project focuses on migrant professionals involved in business, consumer culture, urban development, and the social sciences. By adapting their European professional heritage to their work in the United States and by translating American innovations to the context of their European homelands, these migrants acted as conduits for social and intellectual transfer.
Migration not only entailed cultural transfers but also the emergence of new and hybrid identities. For many migrants, experiencing America meant reevaluating their ideas of European culture and society. Some even transcended their national identifications by embracing a European or European-American self-understanding. In particular, World War II era émigrés were pioneers of a new, comprehensive view of Europe.