Library of Congress site on Immigration
Selected cultures and timelines this page illustrates immigration patterns, history and assimilation.
Harvard's Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930
Excellent timeline - with links to many original digitized documents.
Office of Immigration Statistics
Go here to find statistics - click on Data and Statistics. The Yearbook of Immigration Statisics has many tables about Immigration (including immigration by country in 10 year periods).
Encyclopedia of World Cultures Reference GN307 .E53 1991
Grab the continent volume you need and look for your culture. Each entry has a section for History and Cultural Relations and Sociopolitical Organization. These sections can explain why someone chooses to immigrate.
Countries and Their Cultures Reference GN307 .C68 2001
This book is in alphabetic order by country – they have background on history, demography and political life. This book would explain why someone would emigrate.
Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America Reference E184 .A1 G14 2000
Use the index at the front of any of the three volumes to find your group, each section will explain their acculturation, assimilation, history and politics. This can be helpful to find out what was going on here in American and how the ethic group is operating here in America.
Britannica
Use your country name and emigration – there may be overviews of why people would want to leave their country.
ProQuest - for news articles
Choose Historical Newspapers for articles during the time period back to the 1850s! To get started, use the dropdown arrow for More search options and select Article or Editorial Article, put in some search terms and go! If you get too many hits, try using just Document Title in dropdown next to search terms.
JSTOR - Scholarly articles
Covers immigration issues and trends. Includes International Migration Journal.
Forced Migration Online
Includes a searchable digital library, searchable catalogue with descriptions of and links to Internet-based resources, and series of geographic and thematic research guides provided through the courtesy of the staff at the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford.
Center for Immigration Studies
This think tank's page provides information on common topics in immigration, such as immigration history, statistics on immigrants, and citizenship. The Center provides a number of policy briefs and papers. Google search
If these resources don’t explain exactly what was happening in your country and why people would want to emigrate, try a google search on – “your countries name history timeline”. This may explain any political or social reasons why someone would want to leave.
