Immigration Research
Rubric for Scoring Immigrant Research Assignment
Immigrant Research Assignment Worksheet
The assignment documents are also in Schoology.
Genealogy research is hard! People who are good this type of research often do it either as a hobby, volunteer work, or even as a career. You'll get a little sampling of it with this immigration research project.
Who can help? Ask your family members about your immigrant ascendent. When did they arrive in the US? Where from? How did they get here? Where did they settle? When were they born? Has anyone in your family already started some genealogy research and have information to share with you?
But beyond asking family members directly, there are some resources available that can help you out.
Genealogy Resources:
New! Ancestry Classroom! We have a 3-year subscription to this excellent resource!
National Archives: Resources for Genealogists - More tools here than you can use to search your family's history.
Census Records Search - Did your family member live in the US before 1950? Census data (household names, jobs, ages, etc.) from 1790-1950 is available online. More current census years are not available, due to a 72-year restriction on access. You'll need a name and a state in which they lived at one time or another.
Family Search - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has created the largest collection of family records in the world, with information on more than 3 billion people. This effort is provided through Family Search, a non-profit organization sponsored by the Church. FamilySearch provides access to information from 100 countries, including birth, marriage, and death records, censuses, probates and wills, land records, and more. These records are made available to the public free of charge, You can create a free account by using your school email.
Naturalization Records - Records of citizenship by state. The search requirements and document viewing vary by state.
Native American Records Search - Scroll down to the bottom of the page for many resources on Native American ancestry.
World War II Registry - Did your family member fight during WWII? Go to the World War II Registry and click on Search the registry. You'll need a first and last name, and a state.
Ellis Island Passenger Search: Did your family member come from a European country during the turn of the century? They probably arrived at Ellis Island. This search looks for names on ship's manifest or passenger list. Interested in the history of Ellis Island? Visit https://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ellis-timeline#1900
Chinese Genealogy Resources by Past Presence (a genealogist)
Trends in Migration to the U.S. provided by the Population Reference Bureau
Key Findings about U.S. Immigrants by the Pew Foundation
Country of Origin Research:
Databases and eBooks:
Using the Databases and eBooks from Home? View the Digital Resources Logins and Passwords page. You'll need to sign in with your @apps to view.
ABC-Clio World History Database - A history database featuring shorter, hyperlinked encyclopedia articles, written by ABC-Clio staff. In addition to these articles, you'll find media and primary sources.
World History in Context Database - A comprehensive database that gathers published information from reference books, magazines and news publications, academic journals and includes primary sources like videos, images, and audio.
Need to know more about current-ish economic, social and political aspects of your country? Our eBooks have current economy and culture of all countries.
CultureGrams via King County Library - Click "Middle and High School Students > Databases > Social Studies (in the dark grey left navigation) > CultureGrams. Login with your 417+student number and the last four digits of your student number. Select your family's country of origin and then get information such as history, economy, access to education and healthcare, government, and more.
Print Books:
Country books - We have many books of each country's history and culture in the 900's shelves. Look in the library catalog for specific country books.
King County Library Genealogy Resources: Only available at KCLS libraries :( LOTS of resources here. Military records, Census information, US and World Genweb, Heritage Quest Genealogy, etc.
Citations:
A one-minute quick Noodletools video overview, including how to submit your project to a drop box.
How to Share your NT with the Library
**Once you share your works cited, McC always see your "live" version. She'll make comments on them and you'll have a few days before she grades them.
Databases will create correct citations for you!