The American Trunk and the Return Journey of Greek Migrants in the Early 20th Century

Giota Tourgeli

The travel trunk emerged as a powerful symbol of transatlantic migration at the turn of the twentieth century. Among the more than 400,000 Greeks who immigrated to the United States by the 1920s – many intending only temporary sojourn – the trunk became a preeminent material object associated to their eventual return to the homeland. Notably, approximately 40% of these migrants returned to Greece, often carrying trunks that symbolized the material benefits accrued through their mobility. Unlike suitcases, which primarily facilitated the transport of their essential belongings (Fig. 1), the trunk served as a protective container for a diverse range of objects accumulated over time. These items addressed personal needs and were often intended as gifts for family members, functioning as a kind of remittance. The ritual of packing and unpacking these trunks reaffirmed enduring familial and communal bonds, offering symbolic compensation for prolonged physical absence.

Fig. 1. Anonymous, Ready to return for Balkan War, c. 1912. (The Library of Congress, Bain News Service). About 40,000 Greek migrants returned to Greece during the Balkan Wars. They travelled “light”, planning to defend their country and then come back to the United States.

Undoubtedly, the American trunk represented more than a mere travel item; it was a material marker of the migrant’s metamorphosis. The transformation was first signaled by the migrant’s return as a second-class – if not first-class – passenger on an ocean liner. Secondly, it was reflected in the quality and quantity of his baggage and, by extension, in the nature of the goods he carried. Greek peasants, who initially departed as steerage passengers, transported their modest possessions in baskets, betel bags, cloth bundles or, at best, in inexpensive cardboard suitcases purchased in port markets. The objects included their first “European” costume, a blanket, a migrant guide and some dry food for the trip.

In contrast, upon their return, migrants often arrived with multiple elegant suitcases and steamer trunks, filled with carefully selected items chosen for their utility, emotional value or the prestige they provided. Some of these were everyday objects –often second-hand, acquired in the workplace– that nonetheless seemed fabulous within the context of rural Greek communities. These included fashionable clothing, textiles and linens, agricultural tools, kitchen utensils, and popular books from Greek-American publishers. Particularly impressive were Western industrial goods and technological innovations –many purchased with installment plans– such as toys, clocks, firearms and musical instruments, gramophones and records. The contents of these overloaded trunks testified to the migrants’ economic power, and the material lifestyle fostered by their mobility. They also skillfully concealed the frugality and hardships they had endured to acquire such items. The presentation of these goods served to craft a narrative of success, masking the difficult realities of migrant life abroad.

Long-distance travel across borders imbued trunks with significant symbolic value, marking them as special objects. The colorful travel stickers – bearing the logos of the railroad and steamship companies – not only charted the long journey but also attested that they had come from elsewhere. These stickers narrated aspects of the complex bureaucratic process encountered while travelling. The carriage of the baggage to the port of New York, its disinfection and loading onto liners, customs clearance at the ports of Patras and Piraeus, transshipment via domestic steamers, transportation to mountain villages, and final delivery to migrants’ families depended upon a dense transnational logistical network consisting of travel agents, boatmen, porters, carters and muleteers. However, this transnational journey was shaped not only by the organized services and economic interests of transport entrepreneurs but also by the opportunistic activities of petty crooks and bandit gangs. The large, heavy trunks – emblems of distance and perceived wealth – contributed to the reputation of returning migrants as affluent men. Consequently, these migrants and their families often became targets of attacks in port zone, along transit zones, and even in their own homes.

The migrant trunk, as a container of exotic commodities, promoted the “American Dream” itself and contributed to the emergence of a migration culture. It served as a condensed representation of the “American world” and provided tangible evidence of the economic disparity between life “abroad” and “at home.” The baggage, often transported on mules, sent messages of conspicuous consumption, making the migrant’s homecoming triumphant. The size, weight, sturdiness and decorative elements of the trunk impressed all those gathered in the communities of origin to welcome the migrant, whereas the metallic lock further ignited curiosity and speculation about its valuable contents. The ritualized opening of the trunk and the distribution of its objects to family and friends had a profound impact on the mental mobility of young people in particular. Objects enclosed within disseminated images of wealth, fashion and Western modernity, shaping local perceptions of life in the United States. These objects inspired aspirations and reinforced the desire among many to pursue their fortunes abroad, thereby contributing to the perpetuation of migration flows.

Upon delivery, the American trunk was transformed from a travel object and personal possession into a valued family asset. Although its physical journey had ended, its symbolic biography continued to evolve. Like many other migration objects travelling to the Greek provinces, the trunk’s afterlife acquired new layers of meaning. Imbued with the glamour of the golden land, it was regarded as an extraordinary object and prominently displayed in the main room of houses built with the American earnings. It stood alongside other prized possessions brought from America – such as the gramophone and the Singer sewing machine. Much more than a decorative element, it attested to the family’s migration history and rising social status. The inscriptions it bore, with the owner’s name and the American manufacturing company, alluded to an exclusivity, enhancing the symbolic capital of its owners. As an object of distinction, the trunk served to connect the migrant family’s past to its envisioned future, reinforcing its elevated status within the local community.

However, in the materially impoverished setting of the Greek countryside, the trunk’s functional role persisted. As one of the few substantial furnishings in a peasant household, it was repurposed for the storage of dowry clothing or to conceal valuable family possessions. Even the sturdy ropes that had bound it during its transatlantic journey found new utility in agricultural work. These practical adaptations contributed to the trunk’s preservation, safeguarding it from decay. Over time, many trunks underwent further transformations (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. American trunks exhibited at the local folklore museum in Stefani in eastern Corinthia (Peloponnese, Greece). Curated by the Educational and Cultural Association of Stefani. Photographs by the author.

 

 

Retrieved from attics and cellars – if not ending up in antique stores – they were reappropriated as mnemonic objects by later generations and local heritage associations. Regaining a prominent place in the home as family heirlooms, or featured as central exhibits in local heritage museums, these trunks became tangible links to the past. Alongside migrants’ photographs and records from the Ellis Island passenger database, they document the “American past” of the Greek countryside  serving as enduring witnesses to a complex history of migration and cultural memory.

Further reading

Paul Basu and Simon Coleman, “Introduction: migrant worlds, material cultures,” Mobilities 3, no. 3, 2008, p. 313-330.

Hans Peter Hahn and Hadas Weis, “Introduction: biographies, travels and itineraries of things,” in Hans Peter Hahn and Hadas Weis (eds.), Mobility, meaning and transformations of things: Shifting contexts of material culture through time and space, Oxford and Oakville: Oxbow Books, 2013, p.1-14.

Igor Kopytoff, “The cultural biography of things: Commoditization as process,” in Arjun Appadurai (ed.), The social life of things: Commodities in cultural perspective, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986, p. 64-92.

Giota Tourgeli, Οι Μπρούκληδες. Έλληνες Μετανάστες στην Αμερική και Μετασχηματισμοί στις Κοινότητες Καταγωγής 1890-1940 [The Brooklidhes: Greek immigrants in the United States and the transformations of origin communities, 1890-1940], Athens: National Centre for Social Research (EKKE), 2020 (e-book).

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