“Revisiting the Classics: Immigration and Urbanization –
The Slovak Experience, 1870-1918”
by
M. Mark Stolarik
Professor and Chairholder Emeritus,
Chair in Slovak History & Culture, University of Ottawa
Saturday, May 18, 2024
2:00 pm ET
Online – Zoom
Click on this link to RSVP
In 1974, the University of Minnesota granted M. Mark Stolarik a Ph.D. for his dissertation “Immigration and Urbanization: The Slovak Experience, 1870-1918,” which was published under the same title by AMS Press in New York, in 1989. Based on thorough archival research in Slovakia and in the US, Stolarik traced the migration of Slovak peasants, largely from villages in eastern Slovakia (then part of the Kingdom of Hungary) to the industrial northeast of the US, in search of work. There, these immigrants established the three pillars of their communities: fraternal-benefit societies, parish churches, and a thriving newspaper press. With these institutions they managed to preserve many aspects of their culture through three generations of life in the New World.
Professor Stolarik (Ph.D., Minnesota) specializes in the history of Slovak immigration to North America. He has published 10 books and over 70 articles in scholarly journals on this subject, as well as on Slovak history in general. He taught Slovak history at the University of Ottawa for 30 years, until his retirement in 2022. He founded the Slovak Studies Association in 1977. From 1982 until 2021 he edited the scholarly journal Slovakia. Although in retirement, he continues to research Slovak-American and Slovak-Canadian history, to publish in this field, to present papers at scholarly conferences, and to speak on this subject upon request.
