Mayor's Council Armenian Group, Hartford, 1920

Mayor’s Council Armenian Group, Hartford, 1920 – Connecticut Historical Society and Connecticut History Illustrated

A mixture of agriculture and heavy industry in Connecticut has routinely provided employment opportunities for immigrants throughout the state’s history. Waves of primarily northern European immigrants arrived on Connecticut shores during much of the 19th century. A shift in economic circumstances in Europe brought large populations of southern and eastern European immigrants well into the 20th century. Among the opportunities Connecticut offered to newly arrived immigrants was the chance to work on farms, in brass and textile mills, in iron foundries, and in firearms factories. Today, new populations arriving from all over the world, especially Latin America, have helped expand Connecticut’s cultural diversity and given rise to vibrant ethnic communities throughout the state.

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Early 19th-Century Immigration in Connecticut

Numerous factors contributed to the growth of Connecticut in the decades following American independence. …[more]

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Websites

Connecticut State Library. “Genealogy Resources,” 2017. Link.
“The Connecticut Irish American Historical Society,” 2017. Link.

Videos

International Festival of Arts & Ideas. Refugee Resettlement - A Noble American Tradition Under Attack, 2018. Link.

Places

“Greenwich Historical Society,” 2017. Link.
Gunn Memorial Library & Museum. “Gunn Historical Museum,” 2017. Link.
“Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford,” 2017. Link.
“Middlesex County Historical Society,” 2017. Link.
“Mystic Seaport,” 2017. Link.
“New Britain Industrial Museum,” n.d. Link.
“The Litchfield Historical Society,” 2017. Link.
“Weston Historical Society,” 2017. Link.
The Mill Museum. “Windham Textile & History Museum,” 2017. Link.

Documents

Central Connecticut State University, Elihu Burritt Library. “Connecticut Polish American Archives,” 2017. Link.
Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford. “Finding Aid to Immigration,” 2017. Link.
UConn University Libraries, Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. “Finding Aid to the Bisaillon Collection of French Canadians in Connecticut,” 2017. Link.
Stave, Bruce M. “Finding Aid to the University of Connecticut, Peoples of Connecticut Project Records: 1979.0014.” UConn University Libraries, Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, 2017. Link.
Connecticut Digital Newspaper Content. “Guide to Digitized Newspaper Content - Hungarian Immigrant Lives in Connecticut, 1909-1922,” 2017. Link.
Connecticut Digital Newspaper Project. “Guide to Digitized Newspaper Content - Polish Immigrant Lives in Connecticut, 1909-1922,” 2017. Link.
UConn University Libraries, Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. “Guide to The Immigrant Experience in America,” 2015. Link.
UConn University Libraries, Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. “Guide to the Waterbury (CT) Area Immigrant Oral History Collection, University of Connecticut Urban and Community Studies Program, 2003-2011,” 2017. Link.

Books

Hoffman, Betty N. A History of Jewish Connecticut: Mensches, Migrants and Mitzvahs. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2010.
Glasser, Ruth, and Connecticut Humanities Council. Aquí Me Quedo: Puerto Ricans in Connecticut. Middletown, CT: Connecticut Humanities Council, 1997.
BetGivargis-McDaniel, Maegan. Assyrians of New Britain. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2007.
Shuldiner, David Philip, Thomas R. Beardsley, and Connecticut Humanities Council. Connecticut Speaks for Itself: Firsthand Accounts of Life in the Nutmeg State from Colonial Times to the Present Day. Middletown, CT: Connecticut Humanities Council, 1996.
Meyer, David R. From Farm to Factory to Urban Pastoralism: Urban Change in Central Connecticut. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1976.
Anderson, Ruth O. M. From Yankee to American: Connecticut, 1865-1914. Chester, CT: Pequot Press, 1975.
Koenig, Samuel, and Federal Writer’s Project for the State of Connecticut. Immigrant Settlements in Connecticut: Their Growth and Characteristics. Hartford, CT: Connecticut State Department of Education, 1938.
Clouette, Bruce, and Connecticut Centennial Commission for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Immigrants: Connecticut’s Diverse Ethnic Heritage. Hartford, CT: Connecticut Centennial Commission for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, 1987.
Mayer, Henrietta Mello. South of the Cannons: Portuguese Families of Stonington: A Genealogy and Chronology. Stonington, CT: The Stonington Historical Society, Inc, 2011.
Gesualdi, Louis J. The Italian Immigrants of Connecticut, 1880 to 1940. New Haven, CT: Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1997.
Buel, Richard. The Peopling of New Connecticut: From the Land of Steady Habits to the Western Reserve. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2011.

Articles

Woodward, Walter. “Immigrants All….” Connecticut Explored, Fall 2013. Link.
Close, Stacey. “Southern Blacks Transform Connecticut.” Connecticut Explored, Fall 2013. Link.
Glasser, Ruth. “Tobacco Valley: Puerto Rican Farm Workers in Connecticut.” Connecticut Explored, Fall 2002. Link.
Schlund-Vials, Cathy. “Wartime Relocation Brings Japanese Americans East.” Connecticut Explored, Fall 2013. Link.