New to the Library: Migration to New Worlds

I’m happy to let you know that the Library now has access to the fascinating online resource Migration to New Worlds due to a collaboration between Jisc and the publishers Adam Matthews.

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You can access Migration to New Worlds via the Databases A-Z list.

This unique collection brings together varied primary source material recounting the many and varied personal experiences of migration from the ‘Century of Immigration’ (1800-1924), though you will find some material from pre-1800 and post-1924.

The ‘Century of Immigration’ was a period when hundreds of thousands of migrants left their homelands in Great Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe, India, China, Japan and other Asian countries to start new lives in the United States, Canada and Australasia.

Migration to New Worlds includes personal diaries and travel journals, ship logs and plans, Colonial Office files on emigration, printed literature, objects, watercolours, and oral histories.

Anchor Line Poster and Plan of the 'City of Rome' – Voyage to New York from Glasgow and Liverpool, 1882. [screenshot from Migration to New Worlds]

Anchor Line Poster and Plan of the ‘City of Rome’ – Voyage to New York from Glasgow and Liverpool, 1882. [screenshot from Migration to New Worlds]

Topics covered include: motives for emigration; conditions and organisation of ports; ships and shipping lines; journey conditions; religion, ethnic identity and community relations; legislation and governance related to emigration and immigration; settlement and remigration.

The collection is easily searchable and can also be browsed. While the scanned digital documents can be viewed or downloaded from the site.

As well as the vast collection of primary source material Migration to New Worlds offers some more interactive features to help with your research.

The migration map shows immigration and emigration to the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand over time. Once you have selected a destination country you can either click “Play All” to see how immigration changes over time or you can select a specific year and see the total number of immigrants for each year. Interactive pie charts and graphs allow you to see the continents and countries immigrants were coming from in each year and how many.

[SCM]actwin,0,0,0,0;Migration - Google Chrome chrome 22/03/2016 , 13:11:50

You can also explore the floor plans and see pictures of the Tenement Museum Appartments in New York and the Start of India Emigrant Ship. And you can take a narrative tour of Grosse Île, Québec, the most significant entry point for emigrants to Canada for much of the nineteenth century.

You can access Migration to New Worlds via the Databases A-Z list. Access is only available to current staff and students at University of Edinburgh.

Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for History, Classics and Archaeology