Research Guides: Immigration in U.S. History: Primary Sources in Library Databases

Primary Source Databases

ProQuest Trends & Policy: U.S. Immigration This link opens in a new window
1790-present. A curated primary source collection of U.S. government documents on immigration and border security. Includes text of U.S. immigration laws and other content from the legislative branch, reports and statistics from the executive and judicial branches, and news content for additional information and context.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Search across the following historical newspapers at one time: Chicago Defender (July 1909-1975), Chicago Tribune (1849-1996), Kansas City Call (1919-2010), Los Angeles Times (1881-2014), The New York Times (1851-2016) and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (1874-2003)....more.
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Artemis is a search platform that allows searching of Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Nineteenth Century Collections Online, Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers, The Times Digital Archive, The Economist Historical Archive 1843-2011, Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises 1800-1926, and The Making of Modern Law: Trials, 1600-1926 at the same time.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Primarily 1980-present. Formerly LexisNexis Academic, Nexis Uni provides access to full-text articles from newspapers (international, national, and regional).as well as business, financial, and company information; current and historical court cases, codes, and brief legislative histories for State and United States bills that passed.
ProQuest History Vault This link opens in a new window
Provides access to millions of primary source, full-text/full-image documents on the most widely studied topics in 19th and 20th-century American history. Includes sources related to slavery, civil rights (NAACP papers), women's rights, labor, international relations and military conflicts, Latinx history, and American politics and the Catholic church (John A Ryan papers).
Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
This database brings together diverse primary source materials reflecting broad views across American history and culture from the 1700s and 1800s. Content includes newspapers, magazines, books, and county histories such as African American Newspapers, Godey’s Lady Book, and the Pennsylvania Gazette. Search across all content or select one of the collections....more.
Periodicals Index Online This link opens in a new window
1665-2005. Provides indexing for magazines and journals back to 1665. This database pairs with Periodicals Archive Online (PAO) for its available full text in the social sciences and humanities....more.
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
1789-present. Congress is interested in pretty much everything, including immigration, refugee situations, and naturalization. Congressional materials indexed (including selected full text) include U.S. legislative information such as congressional hearings, committee prints and reports, Congressional Research Services (CRS) Reports and more. Congressional Hearings include the deliberations from when law creation, as well as expert witness testimony. CRS Reports include overviews of more recent issues such as the Syrian Refugee Crises, immigration policies and enforcement.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set This link opens in a new window
Search reports, documents and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 1817-1994 (15th-103rd Congress)….more.
AAS Historical Periodicals Collection This link opens in a new window
Provides digital access to 50 thematic series of American magazines and journals published between 1684 and 1912 and collected by the American Antiquarian Society...more.
Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records & Briefs, 1832-1978. This link opens in a new window
Provides U.S. Supreme Court Records and lawyers' briefs (a statement of a case, including its factual and legal arguments) from 1832-1978. Courtesy of the Immel Law Library….more.
ProQuest Supreme Court Insight This link opens in a new window
Supreme Court Insight, 1975-2016, is a complete online collection of full opinions from Supreme Court argued cases, including per curiam decisions, dockets, oral arguments, joint appendices and amicus briefs. more.

Research Tip

When searching primary source library databases, make sure you're searching for keywords and phrases that were used during the time period you're researching.