Danish Immigration to America:
Introduction
By Lee V. Douglas
Research Guide No. 28
This bibliography contains titles
that describe Scandinavian emigrations in general, both within Scandinavia
and beyond, and that situate Danish emigration within this context.
The second section refers specifically to reasons for and means
of Danish emigration to North America. Section three describes the
Danish immigrant experience in America, and the last section lists
handbooks that are helpful for the genealogist and the historian
in tracing individual and communal Danish roots from America back
to the home country.
The works annotated here have been selected from among a vast number
of holdings and are only those that the compiler considers most
representative and most helpful; this bibliography is an aid for
beginning research in the field. Thousands of other works are available
at the Library of Congress and should be sought by using both the
bibliographies in the works annotated and the appropriate subject
headings in the Library's catalogs.
The present compilation is limited
to works that are among the holdings of the Library of Congress;
the researcher should be aware that there are other institutions,
most of them mentioned in the following pages, that have significant
collections on Danish emigration and genealogy.
Works on genealogy listed here deal almost exclusively with Danes
who have immigrated to North America. For researchers who have traced
a family or a community as far back as Denmark, the Library possesses
an enormous collection of works published in Denmark. These may
be identified in the Library's catalogs through subject searches
by family name or place name. The collection is particularly rich
in Danish family histories.
A significant source not listed in
this compilation is the FamilySearch database on CD-ROM compiled
by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This database
is particularly rich in information on Danish immigrants and may
be consulted at LDS Family History Centers throughout North America,
as well as in the Local History and Genealogy Reading Room at the
Library of Congress. Researchers in the Local History and Genealogy
Reading Room are also encouraged to ask for the vertical file folder
labeled "Denmark-- Genealogy"; it contains ephemera that
will not be found elsewhere in the Library of Congress.
This compiler wishes to express special thanks to Ms. Birgit Flemming
Larsen of the Danes Worldwide Archive in Aalborg, Denmark, for suggesting
recent titles that have significantly expanded the scope and usefulness
of this bibliography.
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