North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories

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A unique and personal view of what it meant to immigrate to America and Canada. With more than 100,000 pages of personal narratives, including letters, diaries, pamphlets, autobiographies, and oral histories, the collection provides a rich source for scholars in a wide range of disciplines. Much of the material is previously unpublished and available only through Alexander Street Press. Several thousand pages of Ellis Island Oral History interviews, indexed and searchable for the first time, are included, along with thousands of political cartoons.

The materials begin around 1840 and extend to the present, focusing heavily on the period from 1890 to 1920. People from many countries are represented, including more recent waves of immigrants from Latin America and Asia. In selected cases, audio files will let users hear the actual voices of the immigrants, and facsimile images will show pages of their scrapbooks.

 Access open only to UBC students, faculty, staff and on-site Library users (other restrictions may apply)

Permitted Uses
Research or Private Study? Yes
Linking? Yes
Learning Management System? Yes
Text and Data Mining? No
Alumni Access? Yes
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Canadian Studies; History

Primary Sources