Cartas desde América. La emigración de asturianos a través de la correspondencia. 1864-1925

Abstract

The article illustrates the value that letters have for historical and anthropological research, especially on traditional societies. Letters sent home by Asturian immigrants in the Americas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, today kept in the Museum of the Asturian People (Gijón), enable us to know firsthand the behavior, sentiments and perception of the reality that these people encountered overseas. They wrote about their long trip across the Atlantic, their arrival in a foreign land, the jobs they found and the relationships they established among themselves. Yet these letters are not only about their authors; they are also about contemporary Asturian society.