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Explore the Resources of the Web

There are hundreds of websites with information about American immigration. We have selected some of our favorites to put on this list. Just click on the link to continue your journey of learning.

Statistical Resources

Migration Information Source
Visit this excellent resource hosted by the Migration Policy Institute, which bills itself as an “independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank dedicated to the study of the movement of people worldwide.” This site provides the latest statistical data both domestic and global, and keeps readers up to date on all the latest developments in the field.

U.S. Census Bureau
This is the homepage for the U.S. Census Bureau, the official government outlet for population statistics and data for the United States. Current briefs, reports, and statistics are based on Census 2000 information; the next census will be conducted in 2010.

Census 2000 Brief on Ancestry
This 10-page brief authored by Angela Brittingham and G. Patricia de la Cruz of the U.S. Census Bureau, issued in June 2004, presents population and housing data collected in Census 2000, where 80 percent of respondents to the long form specified at least one ancestry. The report presents data on the most frequently reported ancestries and describes population distributions for the united States, including regions, states, counties, and selected cities. A fascinating read of the data.

Asians in the U. S.
This link goes straight to another Census 2000 Special Report titled We the People: Asians in the United States, authored by Terrance J. Reeves and Claudette E. Bennett, and issued in December 2004. Twenty pages long, this report provides a mass of statistical data on Americans of Asian heritage.

Hispanics in the U. S.
Another Census 2000 Special Report, this link hops to a report titled We the People: Hispanics in the United States, authored by Roberto R. Ramirez and issued in December 2004. An 18-page statistical report, this brief provides a portrait of Hispanic-origin population in the United States and discusses some of the Hispanic or Latino groups within the population at the national level.

Other Resources

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.
Functional website that provides a sophisticated passenger search capability for passenger arrivals between 1892 and 1924. Information ranges from name, year of birth, year of arrival, name of town or village of origin and name of passenger ship. Also included is a list of ethnicity categories phrased in the manner of the time period that might help identify particular individuals. This site also includes a thorough history of Ellis Island, a timeline, a photo album of photos then and now, a genealogy learning center, and a gift shop.

Ellis Island Immigration Museum
Brief history of island and museum, provides directions and hours of operation, access to the online gift shop, and a few related links.

Save Ellis Island
A site dedicated to the history and the preservation of Ellis Island and the various buildings on its property.

Lower East Side Tenement Museum
An interactive website that highlights a museum on the Lower East Side of Manhattan dedicated to the places where many immigrants first lived in their years in America. See the rooms as they were and as they have been restored and follow the stories of six families that lived in the building over the years.

International Institute of St. Louis
Since 1919, this organization has provided a broad array of social services for new Americans. This website provides information for refugees and immigrants in obtaining independence in their new country by assisting them in learning English, finding jobs, and providing adjustment services to overcome language and cultural barriers. This website also provides useful information, reports, and links for researchers under its Resources tab.

Immigration…The Changing Face of America
Designed for educators, this site provides an introduction to the study of immigration to the United States, with particular focus on the late 19th and early 20th century immigrants.

The Immigrant Experience Today
Sponsored by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, this site explores the immigrant experience for today’s immigrants, specifically in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest region, and provides interesting statistics on movement into that area..

The Immigration Experience: Immigrants didn’t always enter New York through Ellis Island…
This website provides interesting background on how immigrants arrived in the US at various points of entry prior to the building of Ellis Island.

The Scandinavian Immigrant Experience Collection
This collection is a depository of historical materials relating to immigrants to the Pacific Northwest from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Sponsored by Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, the site includes access to an enormous number of documents, oral histories, etc.

UC Berkeley Media Resources Center General Works on US Immigration
A link to an extensive collection of video titles of interest on immigrants to America.

Ancestry.com
An interactive website designed to help you begin researching your family tree. The site includes links to access Birth, Marriage & Death Records; U.S. Military Records; U.S. Immigration Collection; UK Census information from 1841 to 1901; OneWorldTree, a worldwide collection of names in family trees submitted by site members; U.S. Passport Applications from 1795-1925; and Historic Land Ownership and Reference Atlases, 1507-2000.

North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories
First published in 2003, this Alexander Street Press database provides personal insights into what it meant to immigrate to America and Canada from a number of immigrants. The database includes more than 100,000 pages of personal narratives, including letters, diaries, pamphlets, autobiographies, and oral histories. The collection begins around 1840 and extends to the present, focusing heavily on the period from 1890 to 1920. This product is available on the Web, either through one-time purchase or perpetual rights or through annual subscription. According to WorldCat, a library program that lists holdings around the country, 62 libraries in the world support this database.

Photo credit: New York - Welcome to the land of freedom- An ocean steamer passing the Statue of Liberty: Scene on the steerage deck/ from a sketch by a Frank Leslie's Illustrated newspaper staff artist. 1887. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.