The author reviews the literature on Irish migration and shows that the story is far more complex than the Malthusian famine model. New sources and methods reveal wide diversity in migration patterns within Ireland.
The author considers how modern computerized methods could be applied to the study of migration from the Netherlands to the United States. An example is presented using data on Dutch migration from 1835 to 1880. The sources of available data in the Netherlands and the United States are reviewed.
The socio-demographic characteristics of migrants from Italy to the United States between 1880 and 1914 are analyzed. The data are from official Italian sources and ship passenger lists in the National Immigration Archives at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Characteristics considered include surname, given name, relationship with other family members, sex, age, nationality, town of origin, occupation, literacy, type of immigration, ports of embarkation and landing, and date of arrival.
Immigration from Northern Ireland to the Americas is examined, with a focus on the nineteenth century. The problems involved in identifying the Irish Catholic, Irish Protestant, and temporary Scottish migrant streams are discussed. The author stresses the need to examine migration in terms of the modernization process and its impact on migration from the whole of Ireland.
