One of the virtual museum’s most important objectives is to build a rich database for historians and anthropologists to study the Bulgarian diaspora in North America. It aims to outline the profile, values, and identity of the Bulgarian community in North America, and to present different existential experiences and perspectives on immigration.
Like reality itself, the experiences of Bulgarians abroad are multifaceted. The variety of life stories and personal biographical documents show the human face of immigration and the way immigrants adapt to a foreign environment while preserving or giving up their Bulgarian identity.
The project seeks to shed light on the personality of the ordinary immigrant, but it also presents a generalized image of the Bulgarian group(s) in North American society.
The virtual museum is a prerequisite for monitoring the dimensions of contemporary globalization, and it aims to help individuals feel closer in their everyday life experiences because human problems are often the same in different parts of the world. By presenting materials about everyday life in the past, the website will attempt to give a guiding light for the future. In fact, through these testimonies the virtual Bulgarian portal will become both a place that stores memories and a mainstay of identity. Visitors to the website will be able to compare their own experiences while learning about the lives of the Bulgarian community abroad, and in doing so, they will feel more connected with the global community.
With this new form of interactive exhibit, individuals will be able to see and hear different storytellers and be touched by the immigrants’ voices. The virtual museum allows visitors to discover authentic testimonies directly from the source.
Additionally, the portal is accessible to visitors from all over the world. The site acts as bridge that facilitates communication between Bulgarians abroad, as well as between the Bulgarian diaspora and the Bulgarian state. It opens channels for communication and cooperation with Bulgarian media and Bulgarian cultural institutions: museums, galleries, and non-governmental organizations in the U.S., worldwide, and in Bulgaria.
By providing biographical materials in both Bulgarian and English, the virtual museum is accessible to Bulgarian audiences, as well as to the English-speaking world. It will enable members of North American society to understand the Bulgarian community better, which in turn will help its integration into the American reality.