1940 Theses Master's

The Hungarians in New York: a study in immigrant cultural influences

Primes, Agnes Alma

"Rare indeed have been the contributions of men and women of Hungarian blood to our national life," said President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a letter to the editor-in-chief of the Amerikai Magyar Nepszava on the fortieth anniversary of the greatest Hungarian-American daily newspaper.

My research has convinced me that in proportion to their numbers, Hungarians have exerted a considerable influence on American life, especially in the latter part of the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. However, the Hungarians themselves are to blame for misconceptions because they have been singularly remiss in keeping records of their activities and they have lacked historians to discover and organize the facts.

Much ground-work still remains to be done in accumulating primary sources, and many parish records and other materials are now unavailable because they were carelessly mislaid or destroyed. In view of these limitations I can only regard my work as a pioneer effort to synthesize the available knowledge.