(worldmapsonline.com)

Immigration , the act of moving to a foreign place with the intent of staying.  Hundreds of years ago settlers immigrated to colonies like Massachusetts, founded on the hope of economic prosperity and religious freedom creating towns and cities where ever the went.  Surrounded by acres of forests, miles of river, and many mountains, sits the city of North Adams.  Through out this class I hope to dive into the history of one of the smallest cities in Massachusetts that I my self have migrated to like so many others.  While at the current moment I do not plan on staying in North Adams post graduation, every time I cross the one of the many bridges into town I cannot help the sense of homecoming I feel.  I love learning about local history so this project seems like the perfect challenge to undertake.  While my partner and I are not quite sure which direction the project will end up going, I believe we are looking to study the early twentieth century period of North Adams.  A time when factories and mills were the heart and soul of the Northern Berkshires where our city is located.  I am also extremely excited to learn about the cultures and histories of my classmates towns and cities.  Connecting to others across our country, and the world for that matter, is so important for growing as a society as we have seen from our readings.

Being a college town, much of the population that makes up North Adams is transient. Like Goodman states not every migrant intends to stay . During the beginning of the nineteen hundreds people from all over the world came to stay however, and carve out a life for themselves and their families.  That all changed as the years went on and the mills and factories began to close.  The affects can still be felt today as North Adams works to recover from the closing of our last factory during the 1980s, causing hundreds to emigrate in search of employment elsewhere.  It will be interesting to see the similarities between people separated by time.