U.S. History: Primary Source Collections Online

8,000+ historical materials from Harvard's libraries, archives, and museums that document voluntary immigration to the U.S., from the signing of the Constitution to the onset of the Great Depression. TIP: Use the Search and Browse menus at the top of the page to access items. (Harvard Univ. Library)

Provides "oral histories and artifacts pertaining to the Bracero program, a guest worker initiative that spanned the years 1942-1964. Millions of Mexican agricultural workers crossed the border under the program to work in more than half of the states in America." (George Mason Univ., Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Brown Univ., and Univ. of Texas El Paso)

Includes historic photographs, documents, newspaper articles, letters, and other primary sources documenting Japanese-American immigration and life before, during, and after World War II. Covers early 1900s-1980s, with a strong focus on the World War II incarceration. (Densho non-profit organization)

Free searchable collection of passenger arrival records. (American Family Immigration Family Center/Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation)

Includes historical photos of Ellis Island itself and portraits of immigrants arriving there. (National Park Service)

Oral histories from various immigrant groups, including Latino/Hispanic, Karen, Hmong, Khmer, Tibetan, Korean, Filipino, Chinese, Somali, and more. (Minnesota Historical Society)

From site: "The Otay Mesa Detention Center Detainee Letter Collection documents the hidden stories of hundreds of refugees from human rights hot spots around the world--including Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Brazil, Cameroon, Eritrea and China. Each of them has sought asylum in the United States and has been held at the San Diego, California Otay Mesa Detention Center operated by a private corrections company, CoreCivic. These letters provide insight into the lives of asylum seekers and migrants both before and during detention. Identifying information has been redacted to protect the privacy and safety of the writers. Letters date from July 2018 to present." (San Diego State Univ.)

This oral history project documents the life and experiences of Seattle’s Chinese immigrant community from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and other areas of the world. (Univ. of Washington)

Oral histories documenting the pan-South Asian immigrant experiences in the Pacific Northwest. (Univ. of Washington)

A large portion of the collection studies the roots of U.S. immigration problems, with photos tracing the paths of immigrants from the docks of various European cities to their arrival at Ellis Island and even, in some instances, to their eventual place of settlement in America. (Catholic Univ. of America)

Tells the stories of early Jewish families who settled the Washington region and the unique Jewish experience in Washington State in subsequent years. Includes personal papers, correspondence, organizational and business records, diaries, oral histories, photographs, and films. (Univ. of Washington)