U.S. History: Primary Source Collections Online

This digital collection of historical materials from Harvard's libraries, archives, and museums documents voluntary immigration to the United States from the signing of the Constitution to the start of the Great Depression.

The Bracero History Archive collects and makes available the 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)

[UPDATE: As of Sept 2023, temporarily closed, visit https://collections.mnhs.org/about/feedback for updates] Oral histories from various immigrant groups, including Latino/Hispanic, Karen, Hmong, Khmer, Tibetan, Korean, Filipino, Chinese, Somali, and more. (Minnesota Historical Society)

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)