Sir, - I read with interest your editorial comment (September 29th) that researchers have tended to neglect the study of emigration. The Ulster American Folk Park, the largest museum of emigration in Europe, hosted the annual conference of the Association of European Migration Institutions from September 25th to 27th, 1997.
Representatives from 21 organisations from throughout Europe, North America and the British Isles attended the conference, entitled "To Parts beyond the Seas - Individual Experiences of the European Diaspora". It focused on the personal papers of emigrants, such as letters and diaries, which helped to give an insight into the entire process of emigration and into how individuals doped with such enormous personal experiences and faced the challenges of a new life beyond the seas.
What was remarkable from the papers presented was how much these emigrant groups had in common in terms of their journeys to America but also in the emotions which they expressed in their letters. There was hope and anticipation, but also - despite the fact that emigration was motivated for many by economic or political repression - great sadness at leaving the native land.
The Association of European Migration Institutions seeks to bring together organisations involved in emigration and migration research and the conference at the Folk Park was the largest held to date, with representatives from Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Aland Islands, Germany, France, San Marino, Slovenia, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They were joined by representatives of the recently established North American Association of Migration Institutions, including Ellis Island and the folk park's sister museum in Staunton, Virginia, the Museum of American Frontier Culture.
The Centre for Emigration Studies at the Ulster American Folk Park offers a degree in Irish Migration Studies in association with Queen's University, Belfast, a unique partnership between a museum and a university. There are at present 16 students on this course. If any of your readers would like further information on this or our other educational activities they are most welcome to contact the undersigned. - Yours, etc.,
John A. Walsh,
Head of Museum Services, Mellon Road, Castletown, Omagh, Co Tyrone.