History

20th Century American Immigration and Migration: A Resource Guide

Background Books Internet Guides Journal and Magazine Articles Maps

Newspaper Articles Pictorial Resources Primary Sources Statistics Teaching Tools Access Note

Background

• Ciment, James. Encyclopedia of American Immigration. 4 vols. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 2001.
  HUNT REF-1 304.873 E56

• European Immigration to the United States (Spartacus Educational)

• Fuchs, Lawrence H. "Immigration Policy." In Encyclopedia of the United States Congress, edited by Donald C. Bacon, Rogher H. Davidson, and Morton Keller, vol. 2, pp.1093-1101. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
  HUNT REF-1 328.73 E562

• Historical Society of Pennsylvania
  In 2002, the he Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies merged with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Current and past exhibits some pictures and background on the American ethnic, racial, and immigration experiences.

• Immigration (Library of Congress)

• Kanellos, Nicolás and Claudio Esteva-Fabregat. Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the United States: Sociology. Houston, Tex.: Arte Público Press c1993-
  HUNT REF-1 973.0468 H236 VOL. 3

• Kupiec, Mary Cayton, Elliott J. Gorn, and Peter W. Williams, eds. Encyclopedia of American Social History. 3 vols. New York: Scribner, c1993.
  HUNT REF-1 306.0973 E56

• Ng, Franklin, ed. Asian American Encyclopedia. 6 vols. New York: Marshall Cavendish, c1995.
  HUNT REF-1 973.0495003 A832

• Niiya, Brian, ed. Encyclopedia of Japanese American History: An A-to-Z Reference From 1868 to the Present. New York: Facts on File, c2001.
  HUNT REF-1 973.04956 J35A

• Pan, Lynn. Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999.
  HUNT REF-1 304.80951 E56

• Thernstrom, Stephan. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1980.
  HUNT REF-1 973.04 H33

• Timeline of U.S. Immigration Policy (Close Up Foundation)

• Trotter, Joe W., Jr. "Migration/Population." In Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, edited by Salzman, Jack, David Lionel Smith, and Cornel West, vol. 4, pp. 1779-1785. New York: Macmillan Library Reference, c1996.
  HUNT REF-1 973.0496 E56

• Vecoli, Rudolph J. "Ethnicity and Immigration." In Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century, edited by Stanley I. Kutler, vol. 1, pp. 161-193. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, c1996.
  HUNT REF-1 973 E56

• Vecoli, Rudolph J., ed. Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America. 2 vols. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, c1995.
  HUNT REF-1 305.800973 G151

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Books

To find books on your topic, use the catalogs listed below.

Subject terms to search or browse might be: immigrants immigration migration internal nationalities e. g. chinese (best combined with geographical entitity) ethnic groups e. g. hmong americans or chinese americans

perhaps searched in combination with: history 20th century ethnic identity cultural assimilation state name(s) e. g. california


Please note that if you are researching African Americans, that subject terminology has changed over time, and that all variations should be searched, e. g. african americans or afro-americans.

If you need help finding books on your topic, ask at the Hunt Library reference desk. The reference staff can help you identify appropriate terms and search strategies to use for your topic.

• Cameo
  Library catalog of the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries including books, titles of periodicals (journals, magazines, newspapers), videos, etc.

• Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
  Catalog of Pittsburgh's public libraries. Carnegie Mellon faculty, staff, and students can borrow materials by getting a Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh library card at the Main Library lending desk. Library Cards are free to residents of Allegheny County (bring proof of address), as well as out-of-town college students residing in the county (bring your Carnegie Mellon ID card and proof of local address).

• Pittcat (University of Pittsburgh Libraries)
  Catalog of the University of Pittsburgh Library System, including all branch campus libraries. Carnegie Mellon faculty, staff, and students can borrow materials by getting a Special Borrower's card at the Hillman Library circulation desk with their Carnegie Mellon ID cards and proof of current Carnegie Mellon affiliation. See University of Pittsburgh Library System Reciprocal Borrowing Agreement for details.

• Worldcat (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  1200-present (Updated daily)
  Citations to books, titles of journals, manuscripts, and other materials in libraries throughout the United States, as well as some international libraries. You can limit your search to books by selecting Book in the Type option. Each record will let you know which libraries have that item.

If you need books that are not in the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries, you can use EZ Borrow or Interlibrary Loan through Illiad. EZ Borrow items usually come in a few days, while Illiad can take a longer period of time.

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Internet Guides

• Internet Modern History Sourcebook: US Immigration (Paul Halsall, Fordham University)

• The Second Wave: European Immigration from 1850-1920: Immigration Links for Your Research (Learning Page, Library of Congress)

• WWW-VL: History: United States: Ethnic Studies

• Yahoo!> Arts > Humanities > History > U.S. History > By Subject > Immigration

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Journal and Magazine Articles

• America: History and Life (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  1964-present (updated monthly).
  Citations and some abstracts to journal articles, dissertations, and book and media reviews on United States and Canadian history from prehistory to the present. Use the advanced search to search or browse subject terms. Migration, immigrants or immigration would be good subject terms to use, perhaps in combination with an ethnic group name, e. g., chinese americans. For research on African Americans, this database uses the term blacks. Use the Time Period line to limit to a particular century, e. g. 1900H or even a particular decade, e. g. 1930d. You can combine one or more decades, e. g. 1930d or 1940d or 1950d.

• EBSCOHost Academic Search Elite via the Access PA Power Library
  Search about 1,560 journals covering the social sciences, humanities, general science, multi-cultural studies, education, and much more. Many will have the full text of the article available. The link above is only for Allegheny County public library card holders. If you're not from Allegheny County, you can find use Find Power Library to locate your local library and logon from there with your library card ID.

• Immigration (Atlantic Online)
  Articles from The Atlantic Monthly's archive and related links. See additional articles at Immigration: The Perpetual Controversy

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Maps

• Chaliand, Gérard and Jean-Pierre Rageau. Penguin Atlas of Diasporas. New York: Viking, 1995.
  HUNT REF-1 304.8 C43P

• Flanders, Stephen A. Atlas of American Migration. New York: Facts on File, 1998.
  HUNT REF-1 304.80973 F58A

• Segal, Aaron. Atlas of International Migration. New Jersey: Hans Zell Publishers, 1993.
  HUNT REF-1 304.8 S45A

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Newspaper Articles

Some newspaper resources are also listed under Primary Sources.
• Ethnic News Watch (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  1975 - present (updated monthly).
  Ethnic NewsWatch is a full-text general reference database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press --English and Spanish language.

• Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Features full-text access to business, legal and general medical/health information. The U.S. News section will let you search newspapers by region or state.

• Proquest Newspapers (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Once connected to Proquest, click Databases Selected, then Clear All Databases. Click the boxes to select Proquest Newspapers and/or National Newspapers, then click Continue. You'll be returned to Basic Search. Recommended: using Advanced Search, which offers more searching flexibility.

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Pictorial Resources

• AP Photo Archive (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Contains regional, state, national and international news photographs with descriptive captions and identifying information including photographer, date and location. Downloading, printing, and display of images is permitted for Carnegie Mellon users for educational purposes. Distribution or display of images via any electronic format must be confined to the Carnegie Mellon community.

• Image Collection on EBSCOhost via the Access PA Power Library
  Select the EBSCOhost Web Interface, then select a database. Select the Images button at the top. You can make your search more relevant by selecting the Historical photos category. The link above is only for Allegheny County public library card holders. If you're not from Allegheny County, you can find use Find Power Library to locate your local library and logon from there with your library card ID.

• Historical Society of Pennsylvania
  In 2002, the he Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies merged with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Current and past exhibits some pictures and background on the American ethnic, racial, and immigration experiences.

• Immigration Station at Angel Island, California. (Angel Island Association)

• Selected Images of Ellis Island and Immigration, ca. 1880-1920 (Library of Congress)

• "Suffering Under a Great Injustice:" Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar (American Memory, Library of Congress)

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Primary Sources

Other source material may be found by using the catalogs listed in Books and combining immigrants, immigration or ethnic group or nationality names with correspondence, diaries, sources, and personal narratives.
• African American Newspapers: the 19th Century via Accessible Archives (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  The complete text of major 19th century African-American newspapers published in the United States. An ongoing project, new text is added to the database each month.

• American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library (Library of Congress)
  Search all or selected collections to find images, audio, documents, etc.

• Balch Online Resources: Working with Documents (Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies)
  Immigrant guides, steamship ads, steerage accounts, etc.

• Ellis Island (The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation)

• Flashback: Immigration: The Perpetual Controversy (Atlantic Online)
  Articles on immigration from the Atlantic 1896-1994. See additional articles at Immigration.

• Harpweek (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Articles, maps, cartoons, etc. from Harper's Weekly from 1857-1912.

• Immigrant and Ethnic America (Harpweek)
  Articles, maps, cartoons, etc. from Harper's Weekly. This is a free site, with limited access.

• Proquest Historical Newspapers (Carnegie Mellon users only)
  Search and display full text of historical issues of the New York Times (1851-1999) and Wall Street Journal (1896-1986). Use the date limits at the bottom of the screen to make your search more specific.

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Statistics

• Carpenter, Niles. Immigrants and Their Children, 1920; A Study Based on Census Statistics Relative to the Foreign Born and the Native White of Foreign or Mixed Parentage. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1927.
  HUNT REF-1 317.3 C29I

• Federation of Social Agencies of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County Bureau of Social Research. Social Facts about Pittsburgh and Allegheny County ... 5 vols. Pittsburgh: Bureau of Social Research, Federation of Social Agencies of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, c1945.
  HUNT REF-1 312.0974886 F29S
  Kept in locked case at the reference desk.

• Geographical Mobility/Migration (United States Census Bureau)
  • The Current Population Survey
    Includes data on the annual rate of moving, and the characteristics of movers and nonmovers by type of move. site includes CPS reports from 1990-2000, as well as historical data from 1947-2000. Older issues of the CPS dealing with mobility are available in paper in HUNT REF-1/CENSUS C3.186/20 and on microfiche ASI 2546. Linda Morris' Subject Index to Current Population Reports and Other Population Report Series. HUNT REF-1 304.60973 S9412 can help identify the report number(s) you need. Reference librarians at the Hunt Library reference desk can also help you locate the material on microfiche or in paper.

• Gibson, Campbell J. and Emily Lennon. "Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-born Population of the United States: 1850-1990" (United States Census Bureau)

• Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970. Washington, D. C.: U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1976.
  HUNT REF-1 317.3 U25ABS SUPP. 1970
  Historical Statistics of the United States on CD-ROM: Colonial Times to 1970 [CD-ROM]. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  HUNT REF-1 317.3 U25ABS SUPP. 1970A
  "International Migration and Naturalization," pp. 97-120.

• Hutchinson, Edward Prince. Immigrants and Their Children, 1850-1950. New York: Wiley, [1956].
  HUNT REF-1 331.62 H97I

• Immigration Statistics (United States Immigration and Naturalization Service)
  Includes Annual reports, as well as the Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1997-present. Issues of the Yearbook are also available on microfiche in Hunt Library, ASI 6264-2 1980-present. Please ask at the Hunt reference desk for assistance.

• Kuznets, Simon Smith, ed. Population Redistribution and Economic Growth: United States, 1870-1950. 3 vols. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1957-64.
  HUNT REF-1 304.60973 K97P

• Statistics on Immigration to the United States (Close Up Foundation)

• United States. Bureau of the Census. Census of Population (1990). The Foreign-born Population in the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of the Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, 1993.
  HUNT REF-1/CENSUS 304.873 C396 1990

• United States. Bureau of the Census. Population: Internal Migration 1935 to 1940. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1943-1946.
  HUNT REF-1/CENSUS
  • Age of Migrants
  • Color and Sex of Migrants
  • Economic Characteristics of Migrants
  • Social Characteristics of Migrants

• United States Historical Census Data Browser (University of Virginia)

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Teaching Tools

• Ancestors in America (Center for Educational Telecommunications)

• Census in Schools (United States Census Bureau)

• Collage: Immigration History and Ethnicity Web Resources: Classroom Curriculum and Activities for Teachers (Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota)

• European Immigration to the United States (Spartacus Educational)

• New Americans: For Educators (PBS)

• Port of Entry: Immigration Teacher Material (Library of Congress)

• Teacher and Student Resources (United States Immigration and Naturalization Service)

• Teaching Activity on U.S. Immigration Policy (Close Up Foundation)

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See also:

African American History: Primary Sources

Gender and Minority Studies