Pittsburgh (Pa.). City Photographer | Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection, 1901-2000
I owe thanks to several people and organizations for helping to make this website possible. First among them is Professor Zsuzsánna Magdó. In late 2022 she invited me to contribute to a curricular project she was piloting called Transnational Pittsburgh. Supported by a seed grant from the University of Pittsburgh, the project assembled faculty from Pitt’s Greensburg and Oakland campuses to offer a series of courses highlighting the experiences of diaspora communities in Pittsburgh. Crucially, it also provided funding for me to hire a professional web developer who could help me execute my vision for Migrant Voices.
I chose the right person for the job. Alex Doran came highly recommended as a recent graduate from Pitt-Greensburg’s Information Technology program who had additionally done work in digital humanities. Over the course of fall 2023 and winter 2024, Alex worked diligently on the backend development and coding necessary to make Migrant Voices run smoothly and be user-friendly. To say he went above and beyond my expectations would be a profound understatement. The quality of the site design says it all. (He can be reached at dorana.business@gmail.com.)
A final thanks goes to my research assistant, Matthew Falk. In fall 2025, Matthew prepared transcriptions for the eight interviews that comprise the Pittsburgh Oral History Project collection. Even with modern transcription software, making accurate, user-friendly transcriptions is no easy task. It required slow, painstaking work over the course of an entire semester. The value of Matt’s work will be self-evident to anyone who uses one of his transcriptions. (For questions or comments, he can be contacted at matthewfalk2003@gmail.com.)