Beyond the Web: Immigration History Research Center

I have to admit that I enjoy sitting at home in my pj's doing genealogical work online. Still, there are many repositories with one-of-a-kind records. One of these is here in Minnesota. The Immigration History Research Center is part of the University of Minnesota.

This repository focuses on the history of American immigration with materials on 24 ethnic groups from eastern, central, and southern Europe and the Near East. It includes newspapers, periodicals, church records and histories, photos, personal papers, genealogies, business papers, records of ethnic fraternal organizations, and oral histories. Some of the groups covered are Czech, Finnish, Polish, Italian, Greek, Hungarian, Jewish, Russian, Slovak, and Ukranian people. It is not limited to those who settled in Minnesota. Many of the records are in the native languages.

The IHRC website provides many details. A 1991 publication, Immigration History Research Center: A Guide to Collections described many collections (Susanna Moody and Joel Wurl, eds., Greenwood Press, 1991.) The website also has descriptions of many collections.

Some examples of records at the IHRC:

• Order Sons of Italy in American, Alabama Grand Lodge Records 1923-1987

• Holy Ghost Greek Catholic Church, Cleveland Ohio, Marriage Records 1909-1967

• Milford Finnish Relief Committee Records, 1939-1941 [Milford, New Hampshire]

• New York City P.S. 20 Alumni Association Records, 1958-1972

• Jarven Kukka Temperance Society, Sparta and Gilbert, Minnesota, Records 1897-1921