On the 2nd of September, the Méliusz Central Library will host the opening of a traveling roll-up exhibition titled The Legacy of Hungarians in the United States, which was created as part of an international collaboration marking the 250th anniversary of the United States.
For more than two and a half centuries, Hungarians have been part of the American story. From the earliest participants in the American War of Independence, successive waves of emigrants left their homeland in search of freedom, opportunity, or refuge. While some eventually returned, the majority remained, laying the foundations of Hungarian life in the United States. Across generations, they built communities, institutions, and lives in cities, industrial regions, and cultural centers throughout the country.
Legacy of Hungarians in the United States: People, Places, Pathways is a collaborative exhibition initiative that introduces this shared history through life and family stories, migration periods, and key locations. By connecting personal experiences with historical context and geographic space, the project offers a comprehensive view of how Hungarian communities formed, evolved, and contributed to American society.
The exhibition brings together archival research, institutional collections, and community knowledge into a shared platform that is accessible, expandable, and rooted in the experiences of the communities it represents.
It is a modular traveling exhibition designed for cultural institutions and community venues in both Hungary and the United States. Built on a flexible roll-up format, it presents key migration periods, locations, and selected life stories in a way that can be adapted to different spaces and events.
Each exhibition stop is conceived as more than a display: it creates opportunities for local engagement and serves as a point of connection, where communities can contribute their own materials and stories to the project.
Through this format, the exhibition brings the shared history of Hungarian migration directly into the communities it represents, while continuously expanding through new local connections and contributions.
In this project, Hungarian and American public collections, academic institutions, civil society organizations, and researchers are collaborating to showcase the legacy of the Hungarian diaspora.
Exhibition Opening at 5 pm on the 2nd of September 2026 (Wednesday)
The exhibition will be opened, and a guided tour will be led by Dr. Balázs Venkovits, associate professor and director of the Institute of English and American Studies at the University of Debrecen
Opening remarks by Dr. Béla Lóránt Kovács, director of the Méliusz Juhász Péter Library
Location: Méliusz Central Library (19/D Bem Square Debrecen), ground floor
The exhibition will be on view until the 12th of September 2026, during the library’s opening hours.
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