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Family Heritage Project
Lindell Library has a number of books relevant to your research for this course.
The search su:United States, Minnesota Minorities (just paste it into the search box above and limit to "Books") will turn up a number of books on the history of various ethnic groups in Minnesota: Norwegians, Hmong, German, Irish, Chinese, etc.
You can also use Mexican Americans, Hispanic Americans (use this instead of "Latino", "Chicano", etc.), German Americans, Laotian Americans, Polish Americans, Somali Americans, etc., and the variant Italians -- United States, etc., which may turn up different results.
Here are some additional sample catalog searches. These are just examples: mix, match, and modify the suggested terms to suit your own cultural heritage research topic.
- ojibwe minnesota history
- african americans minnesota biography
- norway immigration united states
- minnesota emigration and immigration
- women immigrants social conditions
- immigrants minnesota social life and customs
- iron ranges minnesota history
Choose to limit by place to Augsburg Only if you want to limit the results to things in our own collection, but remember that even if we don't own it we can get it for you in about a week. Use the Libraries Worldwide option to see a wider range of resources you can request through Inter-library Loan.
For Native American resources, also see our American Indian Studies Research Guide
Books
Browsing the book stacks is an excellent way to find things you may not have thought to look for. You'll find books about various state and ethnic histories in the following sections, all close together on the 3rd floor of the library:
- Minnesota (F600-615)
- Wisconsin (F576-590)
- North Dakota (F631-645)
- African-American History (E184-185)
- Native American History (E75-99)
- General Immigration and Migration, including to the US (JV6403-7127)
Here are a few general reference works that are worth taking a look at:
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They Chose Minnesota by Call Number: F615.A1 T45 REF and Oversize CollectionISBN: 0873512316Publication Date: 1981Based on ground-breaking research, this book describes the unique concerns of individual ethnic groups and delves into their personal Minnesota stories: farmers and factory workers, families and single people, idealists and pragmatists, people who were devout or irreligious -- those who cut ties with their homeland and formed part of Minnesota's ethnic saga.
Because this was published in 1981, it is an excellent resources for 19th and early 20th century immigrants, but less useful for more recent decades. -
The New Americans: A Guide to Immigration Since 1965 by Call Number: View Ebook JV6455 .N49 2007ISBN: 9780674044937Publication Date: 2009The United States has always been a nation of immigrants, shaped by successive waves of new arrivals. This comprehensive guide, edited and written by an interdisciplinary group of prominent scholars, provides an authoritative account of the most recent surge of immigrants. Based on the latest U.S. Census data and scholarly research, The New Americans is an essential reference for anyone curious about the changing face of America. -
Bring Warm Clothes by Call Number: F606 .B837 3rd LevelISBN: 0873516397Life stories of ordinary people of Minnesota, through the form of letters, diaries, & photographs. Every day life from the beginning of the 19th century to the dawn of World War II. -
One Day for Democracy by Call Number: View EbookISBN: 0821442244Publication Date: 2007-01-01A look at how the immigrants from eastern and southern Europe who had settled in mining regions of Minnesota formed a subculture that combined elements of Old World traditions and American culture. -
The World Comes to America by Call Number: JV6455 .D48 2014ISBN: 0195384784Publication Date: 2012-12-21The World Comes to America provides an overview of the groups of immigrants who arrived in the United States after World War II ended in 1945. Authors Leonard Dinnerstein and David M. Reimers examine the groups who came to America, explaining their reasons for immigrating, noting where theysettled, and discussing how they fared once they arrived. The authors cover conflicting American attitudes towards welcoming strangers and the different policies that congress pursued to aid - or to delay - the entry of foreigners to America. -
Braceros by Call Number: View Ebook JV6455 .N49 2007ISBN: 9780807899670Publication Date: 2011-02-15At the beginning of World War II, the United States and Mexico launched the bracero program, a series of labor agreements that brought Mexican men to work temporarily in U.S. agricultural fields. In Braceros, Deborah Cohen asks why these migrants provoked so much concern and anxiety in the United States and what the Mexican government expected to gain in participating in the program. Cohen creatively links the often-unconnected themes of exploitation, development, the rise of consumer cultures, and gendered class and race formation to show why those with connections beyond the nation have historically provoked suspicion, anxiety, and retaliatory political policies.
Journal Articles
The library search box at the top of the page is a good source for scholarly/academic journal articles if you limit to "peer-reviewed" in the results screen.
However, that searches a lot of different types of sources and can show a lot of hits that aren't relevant to this assignment, such as medical or scientific research. If you find that too hard to navigate, you might have better luck searching in the Academic Search Premier database, which is a more manageable collection.
Use the same types of searches above and limit to "scholarly/peer-reviewed journals".
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Academic Search PremierPopular A multi-disciplinary database containing full-text for thousands of journals in nearly every subject area, including: computer science, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts and literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies, and many more.
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Minnesota History IndexThe index of Minnesota History, a peer-reviewed journal that publishes articles about the history of Minnesota. Search for topics alphabetically.
Online Resources
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Minnesota’s Immigrants ProjectA project of the MDL, you are able to research Immigration Browse by Origin, Destination, Exhibits, and Collections. " Immigration continues today, more recently with the Hmong, Somali, Korean and Latino entrants to the state. In sharing these immigrant stories we seek to share with the world a broader view of what it means to be Minnesotan."
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MN Digital LibraryThe Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) supports discovery and education through access to unique digital collections shared by cultural heritage organizations from across the state of Minnesota. Our contributors include libraries, historical societies, museums, and archives.
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MN Historical Society Collections OnlineDiscover Minnesota history through Collections Online! Search for photographs, three dimensional and archaeological objects, artwork, oral histories, moving images, maps, and more
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MN Historical Society ResearchHeritage encompasses a wide range of inherited objects, monuments, traditions, and cultures. Scholars in those fields now recognize the many connections in concepts of culture and nature, social memory, and history, past and present.
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MNOpediaA resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events, and things in Minnesota history. Detailed categories including Women, Cities and Towns, Immigration, Religion and Belief, and American Indians.
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Research Guides at the MNHS LibraryWe suggest you begin with the Family History subject guide. This site also includes video demonstrations and other useful resources for researchers using the Minnesota Historical Society's Gale Family Library.
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UMN Duluth: Regional HistoryResources of the Duluth region, including the Northeast Minnesota Historical Center Collections, The Duluth Public Library and The Iron Range Research Center.
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Umbra: Search African American HistoryUmbra contains over 400,000 primary sources on African American History!
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Wilder Foundation Immigration PublicationsDescribes characteristics of Minnesota's immigrant population; economic, social, and cultural effects of immigrants; policy considerations, and more. Commissioned by The Minneapolis Foundation, this report was completed to help promote constructive dialogue on the issue of immigration in Minnesota.