LibGuides: Researching Family History: Sources by Region

Region

11 facts about Hispanic origin groups in the U.S.
In 2022, there were 63.7 million Hispanics living in the United States. The U.S. Hispanic population has diverse origins in Latin America and Spain.
Bracero History Archive
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.
Cuban Heritage Collection
The Cuban Heritage Collection at the University of Miami Libraries is home to the largest repository of materials on Cuba outside of the island and the most comprehensive collection of resources about Cuban exile history and the global Cuban diaspora experience.These materials include published works such as rare and contemporary books, journals, artists books, and newspapers, as well as archival materials including personal papers, organizational records, correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, maps, works on paper, audiovisual content, ephemera, and growing born-digital and digitized collections.
FamilySearch: Hispanic Family History Resources
Includes links to online records and databases, related websites, and more.
Key Findings about US Immigrants from the Pew Research Center
Recent statistics detailing the major groups arriving in the United States.
Latin American and Caribbean Studies Digital Collections
The pages gathered here are a selective grouping of digital projects that feature Latin American & Caribbean materials that have been curated by librarians at Florida International University.
Latin American Immigration to the United States
Article written by Marta Tienda and Susana Sanchez in Daedalus from 2013 detailing Latin American immigration to the United States.
Migration Policy Institute: Central America and the Caribbean
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has established itself as a leading institution in the field of migration policy and as a source of authoritative research, learning opportunities, and new policy ideas. This is a collection of resources related to migration and Central America and the Caribbean.
Migration Policy Institute: South America
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has established itself as a leading institution in the field of migration policy and as a source of authoritative research, learning opportunities, and new policy ideas. This is a collection of resources related to migration and South America.
Puerto Ricans in the United States
Puerto Rican migrants have resided in the United States since before the Spanish-Cuban-American War of 1898, when the United States took possession of the island of Puerto Rico as part of the Treaty of Paris. After the war, groups of Puerto Ricans began migrating to the United States as contract laborers, first to sugarcane plantations in Hawaii, and then to other destinations on the mainland. After the Jones Act of 1917 extended U.S. citizenship to islanders, Puerto Ricans migrated to the United States in larger numbers, establishing their largest base in New York City.

AfriGeneas
AfriGeneas is a site devoted to African American genealogy, to researching African Ancestry in the Americas in particular and to genealogical research and resources in general. It is also an African Ancestry research community featuring the AfriGeneas mail list, the AfriGeneas message boards and daily and weekly genealogy chats.
African American Research from the Library of Congress
The National Archives holds a wealth of material documenting the African American experience, and highlights these resources online, in programs, and through traditional and social media.
Enslaved
A new and growing resource that ties together archives and datasets about people who were enslaved. One of the 5 objectives of this project is to "Build an interconnected system of services and tools that would (1) Allow individuals involved in the slave trade to be identified and recognized across all participating project databases; (2) Allow those identified and recognized individuals to be searched, explored and visualized in the Enslaved.org Hub; (3) Connect those individuals to particular events and places with a Disambiguation Tool in Enslaved.org; and (4) Create at least 25 interactive biographies of people of the slave trade as exemplary models."
Freedmen's Bureau Records
Article from the Smithsonian Magazine with link to the the newly digitized Freedman's Bureau Records that can help Black Americans trace their ancestry.
Migration Policy Institute: Africa (Sub-Saharan)
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has established itself as a leading institution in the field of migration policy and as a source of authoritative research, learning opportunities, and new policy ideas. This is a collection of resources related to migration and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Migration Policy Institute: Middle East and North Africa
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has established itself as a leading institution in the field of migration policy and as a source of authoritative research, learning opportunities, and new policy ideas. This is a collection of resources related to migration and the Middle East and North Africa.

The Center for Volga German Studies
The Center for Volga German Studies at Concordia University actively collects the folklore, songs, literature, objects of art and craft which illustrate and document the style and mode of life, conditions, events and activities, forms and style of worship and government of the Volga Germans while living in Russia as well as after emigrating to the Western hemisphere and the cultural, material, and aesthetic contributions of Germans from Russia or their descendants to the culture and social order of the Western Hemisphere.
Ellis Island Passenger Search
There were more than 22 million immigrants who came to America through the port of New York at Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. Searches are free but copies of the actual record are not. Information includes immigrants' given names, surnames, ethnicity, last place of residence, date of arrival and age, ship of travel, port of departure and line number on the manifest. To make the best use of this website, it is necessary to register. There is no registration fee.
Immigration History Research Center Archives
The Immigration History Research Center Archives is a renowned archives and library for the study of immigration, ethnicity, and race and part of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Sources document a broad range of immigrant and refugee experiences, and strengths are first and second generation immigrants and displaced persons who came to the USA from central, eastern, and southern Europe; the eastern Mediterranean (formerly called the “Near East” region of the Middle East and North Africa); and late-20th and early 21st century immigrants and refugees. Collections vary from print to manuscript to born-digital. They include personal papers as well as organizational records of ethnic and immigrant-formed groups, and of social service providers.
Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930
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. By incorporating diaries, biographies, and other writings capturing diverse experiences, the collected material provides a window into the lives of ordinary immigrants.The collection also includes contextual information on voluntary immigration and quantitative data.
Migration Policy Institute: Europe
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has established itself as a leading institution in the field of migration policy and as a source of authoritative research, learning opportunities, and new policy ideas. This is a collection of resources related to migration and Europe.
PBS: Destination America
Utilize this resource if your family migrated from Europe or Russia to the United States. If you do not have flash enabled on your computer, you are able to click on the pictures on the left side of the screen to see different regions, migration patterns, and how they fit within the context of your story.

Immigration History Research Center Archives
The Immigration History Research Center Archives is a renowned archives and library for the study of immigration, ethnicity, and race and part of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Sources document a broad range of immigrant and refugee experiences, and strengths are first and second generation immigrants and displaced persons who came to the USA from central, eastern, and southern Europe; the eastern Mediterranean (formerly called the “Near East” region of the Middle East and North Africa); and late-20th and early 21st century immigrants and refugees. Collections vary from print to manuscript to born-digital. They include personal papers as well as organizational records of ethnic and immigrant-formed groups, and of social service providers.
Migration Policy Institute: Middle East and North Africa
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has established itself as a leading institution in the field of migration policy and as a source of authoritative research, learning opportunities, and new policy ideas. This is a collection of resources related to migration and the Middle East and North Africa.
Periods of Arab American Immigration: Arab American Museum
Description of four different periods of Arab American immigration from the Arab American National Museum, first and only museum in the United States devoted to documenting and sharing Arab American contributions that shaped the economic, political and cultural landscapes of American life located in Detroit and affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.

Documenting the Southeast Asian American Experience
SEAAdoc is an educational resource of the Southeast Asian Archive at the UC Irvine Libraries focusing on post-1975 refugees and immigrants from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam and the communities they have developed in the United States. It contains 1,500 visual images and 4,000 pages of searchable text selected from the Archive.
Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930
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. By incorporating diaries, biographies, and other writings capturing diverse experiences, the collected material provides a window into the lives of ordinary immigrants.The collection also includes contextual information on voluntary immigration and quantitative data.
In Their Own Words: Asian Immigrants' Experiences Navigating Language Barriers in the United States
Report from the Pew Research Center focusing on the current wave of Asian migrants to the United States, both those that speak English and those that do not.
Key Findings about US Immigrants from the Pew Research Center
Recent statistics detailing the major groups arriving in the United States.
Migration Policy Institute: Asia and the Pacific
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) has established itself as a leading institution in the field of migration policy and as a source of authoritative research, learning opportunities, and new policy ideas. This is a collection of resources related to migration and Asia and the Pacific.
Online Collections Focused on the Asian American Experience
Guide to Online Primary Sources: Asian Americans curated by the University of California San Diego library.
Subject listings of primary sources available online: free web collections as well as UCSD subscription-based resources. Many of the collections are focused on asian immigrants to California.