Searching for IHRC Collections Online
In addition to the possibility of using the commercial Internet search engines such as Google and Yahoo for locating materials in the IHRC collections, other specialized online databases and tools are available for finding information about the Center's collections.
IHRC's library books (and selected periodicals as well as manuscript collections catalogued before 1991) can be accessed also in the University of Minnesota Libraries' database, MNCAT. Keyword searches are usually the most productive way of searching for IHRC materials. Some keywords you might want to use include: 'immigration', 'migration', 'ethnicity', and 'emigration'. Or, you might try "_________ Americans' (where you fill in the blank with the ethnic group of your inquiry.) To narrow your search to just unpublished manuscripts, go to the ADVANCED SEARCH screen, and then in the LIMIT BY MATERIAL TYPE box select ARCHIVAL MATERIALS. There is online help for qualifying and truncating searches. To search for items (books and archivalia) from the IHRC holdings only, select "Immigration History Research Center" in the "LOCATION" box drop-down menu, also on the ADVANCED SEARCH page.
Our collections can also be located in the RLIN (Research Libraries Information Network) database and in the OCLC Worldcat database. Please see your local reference librarian for assistance.
Since the above databases do not include our most recent acquisitions, many newspapers or serials, the most complete and up-to-date online information about the IHRC collections is accessible at the IHRC website, in the Research Collections section. (For archival/manuscript collections only, search the IHRC's VITRAGE.
