Immigration: Select Documents and Case Records

Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Very Good. 1924. First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [front hinge starting, other than that quite a decent copy with only light external wear]. (The University of Chicago Social Service Series) Series From the Preface: "This is not a book of 'readings.' It is a source book, compiled to make available for students of immigration a collection of published documents and hitherto unpublished case records that will throw light on some of the historical, legal, and social aspects of the subject." The author goes on to credit her sister, Grace Abbott, "who was from 1908 to 1921, except for an occasional leave of absence, in charge of the work of the Immigrants' Protective League and the Immigrants' Commission. Many of the social case records I have used were selected for me by my sister, and I have also had the benefit of her suggestions and criticisms." (Both Abbott sisters, by the way, rate pretty extensive Wikipedia entries. And both were born in Grand Island, Nebraska -- just a bit up the road from where I was raised.) The material is presented under three broad headings: (1) The Journey of the Immigrant; (2) The Admission, Exclusion, and Expulsion of Aliens"; and (3) Domestic Immigration Problems. The administrative nuts and bolts of the individual case records make for fascinating reading. (I'm not kidding.) ***This book is among the nearly 150 items offered in ReadInk's new Catalog Number 4, "Booking Passage: Books on the Immigrant Experience." You can access this catalog and its contents in any one of three ways: (1) email us to request a PDF to be emailed to you; (2) view or download the catalog from the link on our website's main page; (3) browse the books individually (including a few that didn't make the cut for the catalog) on our website under these two subject headings: "Immigration: Fiction" and "Immigration: Non-fiction." .