Published by Primary Source Microfilm

From the New York Public Library, the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies Library in Philadelphia and the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota

Immigrant culture and experience in America have become objects of popular interest in recent years. Spanning the years between 1789 and 1929, Immigrant in America covers two major waves of immigration. In 1820, 10 million people, more than 90% of them from western and northern Europe, entered the country. Among them were the Germans, English, Welsh, Scots, Scotch-Irish, British and Irish, as well as people from Norway, Sweden and France. The second wave, the peak of immigration, took place during the 1880s, ushering in arrivals from eastern and southern Europe: 27 million Poles, Greeks, Italians, Croatians, Ukrainians, Hungarians and Russian Jews.

Not until the New York Public Library began to collect immigrant literature was any serious, systematic effort made to preserve the history of the immigrant. Under the guidance of A. William Hoglund, Professor of History at the University of Connecticut and Trustee of the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, Immigrant in America draws from several major archives, including the New York Public Library collection.

Subsets by Nationality

Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Ukranians 25 reels

Albanians, Basques, Belgians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Latvians
4 reels

Poles, Slovenes, Rumanians, Lithuanians, Russians, Carpatho Rusyns, Serbs
37 reels

Norwegians, Danes, Finns, Icelanders, Swiss
57 reels

Irish, Scotch-Irish, Scots, English, Welsh
30 reels

Austrians, Germans, French, Italians, Dutch, Greeks
60 reels

Swedish
21 reels

Jews
23 reels

General Information
8 reels