Northport Museum to Celebrate Reopening With Exhibit on Immigrants

After 14 months, the Northport Historical Society museum will reopen June 2 to the public, followed June 6 by a gala and opening reception for its exhibit that celebrates immigrants and their impact on the community.

The exhibit is entitled Immigrants of Northport and East Northport
“We had been thinking of doing this for several years and had planned it for the spring of 2020,” Terry Reid, museum curator, said. “We’re finally reopening to the public, with  a whole year’s worth of events. Basically we are focusing on mostly past immigrants who came to Northport and East Northport, on those who built and continue to build our community.” 

The museum chose to feature immigrants who have made a big impact in the area–big employers, an immigrant who founded a church or someone who otherwise made a contribution, she said.

“Most came over  during the Golden Age of immigration, from about the 1840s to some more recent in the 1970s on the lottery system, she said.
The stories told in the exhibit are of immigrants from  a variety of countries, including those in  the Middle East, China, Japan, Pakistan, Iran, Italy, Ireland, England, Greece, several Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, and Eastern Europe.
She said the stories of why and how people came to the United States were frequently very moving.
“People often have no idea about what people fled, the poverty, the oppression, wars, just crazy stories,” she said. To achieve the American dream, “they worked to get themselves through school, opened businesses, sent their kids to school.”
The museum doors will open at 1 p.m.with a gala opening and reception. The exhibit will run until next spring, while  other events related to the exhibit are in the planning stages.

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