Migrant Identity and Culture Maintenance: The Welsh in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, USA, 1880-1920

This paper provides an analysis of the nature of the Welsh ethno-linguistic community in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The study considers culture maintenance, and suggests that although Welsh ethnic integrity was initially maintained due to linguistic ability, occupational specialisation and the creation of vibrant cultural institutions, it was undermined by the various forces of acculturation and, ultimately, by high levels of exogamy and the cessation of immigration from Wales.