euskalkultura.eus

Basques in the United States is a biographic research project on the Basques who emigrated to the western US, driven by Koldo San Sebastian.  It was published in two volumes, where there are names of over 10,000 people who traveled to the US to make a living, including place of origin, photos and numerous biographical data. 

Boise, ID, USA.   This after noon the work The Basques in the United States was presented.  It is the fruit of nearly ten years of research driving by journalist Koldo San Sebastian.  The book is dedicated to the Basques who immigrated to the Western US, and gathers over 10,000 biographical references on first generation emigrants.

Research for this book was conducted by Koldo San Sebastian, and Argitxu Camus-Etxekopar (main authors), and translated by Joxe Mallea, Jone Laka (research in Mendexa), Lander Santamaria (Baztan), Jose Luis “Txato” Madarieta (Ispaster), Esther Korta (Bedarona), Josep Oms (Roncal-Erronkari).

The work consists of two volumes: the first includes Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Araba.  The second includes both Navarres, Lapurdi and Xiberua.  This research is “only the first step,” as Koldo San Sebastian explained.  “A lot of names are missing.  It only includes names of those whose places of origins are known.  There are many Basques that we know where they are from “in general (province or department), but we haven’t included them.”

Research was carried out in censuses, Military Drafts, ship manifests, emigration agency documents (like Clemençot, Jaureguy, Monlong), in the archives at the Center for Basque Studies, Basque Museum, on Mitch Gariador’s website, local American press….The two major difficulties, according to those in charge, was identifying last names (transformed, reduced or poorly transcribed), as well as following the traces of women who lost their maiden names after marriage.

The presentation of the work in Boise will take place this after at 1:30 as part of the Basque Studies Symposium, “Joan Etorri,” thanks to Argitxu Camus and Joxe Mallea.