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Chapter 8 includes includes a large selection of original source materials on the American immigrant experience from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. These materials are described below along with their web inks.
Teaching Immigrant Students
Alice Boardman, Barre, Vermont
Alice Boardman was an elementary schoolteacher in Barre, Vermont. The interview below is excerpted from an oral history conducted after she retired sometime between 1936 and 1940 as part of the Federal Government’s American Life Histories. It is included in the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection. To read the interview in its entirety go online to the following address and using the page’s search engine type in the name of the interviewee:
American Life Histories
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html
Immigrant Voices
Steve Commeau, French Canadian Immigrant
Steve Commeau was a French Canadian who immigrated to Maine in 1896. The interview below is excerpted from an oral history conducted in 1938 as part of the Federal Government’s American Life Histories. It is included in the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection. To read the interview in its entirety go online to the following address and using the page’s search engine type in the name of the interviewee:
American Life Histories
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html
Immigrant Voices
Andreas Ueland, Norwegian Immigrant
The following excerpts are taken from Chapters 6, 7, and 40 of the book Recollections of an Immigrant ( New York, Minton, Balch & Company, 1929) in which the Norwegian author, Andreas Ueland, recounts his immigration experience. Son of a farmer and politician, Ueland as a teenager left for America in 1871. The full text from which these excerpts are taken are included in the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection. To access all of Ueland’s book go online to the following address and using the page’s search engine type in the his name:
Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/umhtml/umhome.html
Immigrant Voices
Hilada Polacheck’s Essay Describing the Russian Immigrant Jacob Saranoff and his Family
Hilda Polacheck conducted oral history interviews in Chicago for the Federal Government as part of the Federal Government’s American Life Histories during the 1ate 1930s. The following description written by Polacheck of the Saranoffs, a Russian Jewish immigrant family, was titled "Dust." Polacheck describes some of the dreadful living and working conditions many immigrant families faced. To read her essay in its entirety go online to the following address and using the page’s search engine type in the name of the essay “Dust.”
American Life Histories
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html
Immigrant Voices: Roland Damiani Italian Immigrant
Merton Lovett, a federal researcher interviewed the Italian immigrant Roland Damiani in 1938 at the latter's home in Beverly, Massachusetts. The interview is included in American Life Histories, 1936-1940, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection. To read the interview in its entirety go online to the following address and using the page’s search engine type in the name of the interviewee:
American Life Histories
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html
Mark Twain’s Comments About Chinese Immigrants in California
The following excerpt by from Mark Twain’s (Samuel Langhorne Clemens’s) 1872 novel Roughing It describes his perception of Chinese immigrants in California. The full text from which these excerpts are taken are included in the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection. To access a complete copy of Twain’s book go online to the following address and using the page’s search engine type in his name:
“California as I Never Saw It:” First person Narratives of California’s Early Years, 1849-1900
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/cbhtml/cbhome.html
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Immigration, Education, and Multiculturalism