Research Guides: English: The Immigrant Experience

Books

Somalis in Minnesota

America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States

Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America

A Companion to American Immigration

The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America

The Ethics of Immigration

Undocumented Storytellers: Narrating the Immigrant Rights Movement

American Settler Colonialism: A History

A Conservative and Compassionate Approach to Immigration Reform: Perspectives from a Former U.S. Attorney General

Immigration and Women: Understanding the American Experience

The DREAMers

The Making of Asian America: A History

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen

The Making of Modern Immigration: an Encyclopedia of People and Ideas

Immigrants in American History: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration

Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies

American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction

Immigration Structures and Immigrant Lives: An Introduction to the U.S. Experience

Toward a Better Life

Boats, Borders, and Bases

Borders of Belonging

We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World

Border Thinking: Latinx Youth Decolonizing Citizenship

Search for Articles, Books, and More!

Search Strategies

1. Put words for your immigrant/refugee group in the first box. Separate multiple words with OR (in all capital letters)

2. Type the word immigra* to search for immigrant OR immigrants OR immigration at the same time. Add refugee if that applies to your group.

3. Add any aspects to this groups immigration experience that you want to research (identity, education, etc)

Databases

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
An archive of scholarly full-text journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
The JSTOR archive holds the complete digitized back runs of core scholarly journals, starting with the very first issues, some dating as far back as the 1600s. Subject areas include the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.

JSTOR includes various collections, and the St. Kate's Library has purchased the Arts and Sciences Collections I-VII and the Biological Sciences Collection. These collections include subsets for ecology & botany, language & literature, and music.

JSTOR's agreements with publishers often include a "moving wall," which means that the most recent years (typically 3-5 years) are not available.
SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
For social & cultural perspectives on immigration
A comprehensive social sciences research database with full text for more than 1,700 journals dating back to 1908. It also provides full text for more than 830 books and 14,000 conference papers. Subject indexing is based on a sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers.
America: History & Life This link opens in a new window
A good database for historical perspectives (U.S. & Canadian history)
A complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. It indexes and abstracts more than 2,000 journals published worldwide. Book reviews, media reviews, and disserations are also indexed. Indexing began in 1954. This database is produced by ABC-CLIO, but you access it through EBSCO.
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
A good database for historical research (world history)
This resource excludes the history of United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life. Indexes and abstracts articles from more than 2,000 journals. Also includes book reviews and dissertations. Indexing coverage begins in 1954.

This database is produced by ABC-CLIO, but you access it through the EBSCO website.
PAIS Index This link opens in a new window
For economic, policy & global perspectives on immigration
Database chronicling global public policy and social issues. Indexes periodicals, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications, Internet resources, and other publications from 120 countries. Coverage begins in 1915.
Immigrations, Migrations and Refugees: Global Perspectives, 1941-1996 This link opens in a new window
A collection of news reports and transcripts from media sources outside the United States focusing on refugees and migration.
Reports from Foreign Broadcast Information Services (FBIS) looking at the refugee flows during World War ll through 1996.

Minnesota & Twin Cities Resources

Becoming Minnesotan - MN Historical Society
This collection of oral histories represents a unique source of contemporary history through the experiences of the newest Americans, in their own words. The content of the collection covers themes common to all of the groups, as well as the perspectives unique to each one.
Immigration History Research Center
"Founded in 1965, the Immigration History Research Center (IHRC) aims to transform the way in which we understand immigration in the past and present. Along with its partner, the IHRC Archives (University Libraries), it is the oldest and largest interdisciplinary research center and archives devoted to preserving and understanding immigrant and refugee life in North America."
Minnesota Compass
Measures progress in our state, and tracks trends in areas such as education, economy and workforce, health, housing, and public safety.
Minnesota Refugee Health
Information and status reports on immigrant health, from the Minnesota Department of Health.
Minnesota State Demographic Center: Immigration
The Minnesota State Demographic Center analyzes and distributes data from state, U.S. Census Bureau and other sources. Links to a variety of data and information available from the State Demographer's Office (part of Minnesota Planning Dept.)
Wilder Research
The Amherst H. Wilder Foundation is a non-profit, social services organization that produces research on community issues in Minnesota including immigration.

Immigration Statistics & Data

General Social Survey
Immigration Statistics - U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Migration Data Hub - Migration Policy Institute
Minnesota Compass
Measures progress in our state, and tracks trends in areas such as education, economy and workforce, health, housing, and public safety.
Pew Research Center - Immigration & Migration Trends
refworld
Refworld is the leading source of information necessary for taking quality decisions on refugee status. Refworld contains a vast collection of reports relating to situations in countries of origin, policy
U.S. Census Bureau - Foreign Born
United Nations Statistics Division - International Migration

Hmong Immigrants

Hmong Americans in Minnesota
A research guide from the Minnesota Historical Society
Hmong Archives
Hmong Cultural Center
Be sure to check out their Hmong Resource Center Library.
Hmong Museum
Hmong Resource Center Library
Comprehensive Hmong scholarly studies collection open to the public.
Hmong Studies Journal
Comprehensive research portal site devoted to the advance of Hmong Studies.
Hmong Times
Twin Cities newspaper serving the Hmong community.

Hmong and American by Vincent K. Her (Editor)
Call Number: E184.H55 H555 2012
Publication Date: 2012
A People's History of the Hmong by Paul Hillmer
Call Number: DS509.5.H66 H55 2010
Staring down the Tiger : stories of Hmong American women by Pa Der Vang (Editor)
Call Number: PS508.H63 S73 2020
Publication Date: 2020
Claiming Place by Chia Youyee Vang; Faith Nibbs (Editor); Ma Vang (Editor)
Call Number: DS509.5.H66 C53 2016
Publication Date: 2016

Latinx Immigrants

CLUES: Comunidades Latinas Unidasen Servico
"CLUES is Minnesota’s largest Latino-led nonprofit organization, founded in 1981 by and for Latinos. Our work is to ensure the advancement of social and economic equity and wellbeing for Latinos in Minnesota." (from the website)
HACER: Credible Latino Research
Nonprofit agency providing research, reports and publications on Hispanic people in Minnesota.
Mexican Americans in Minnesota
A research guide from the Minnesota Historical Society.
Minnesota Council on Latino Affairs
Reports and statistics from the Chicano-Latino Affairs Council, a Minnesota government agency.

Border Thinking: : Latinx Youth Decolonizing Citizenship by Andrea Dyrness; Enrique Sepúlveda III
Publication Date: 2020-03-31

Somali Immigrants

The Somali Museum of Minnesota
Somali-Americans in Minnesota
A research guide from the Minnesota Historical Society.

English

Journals

General Immigration & Refugee Information

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