Appalachian Collection

Eastern European Immigration in Appalachian Industry


 

 

Scope

This Pathfinder is meant to serve as a starting point for persons doing library research on Eastern European immigration to Appalachia with special regard to the place of immigrants in Appalachian industry. The Eastern European countries that were examined for the purposes of this Pathfinder include the following: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania, Yugoslavia, Slovakia, Croatia, Bosnia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Macedonia. Of the countries initially examined, some proved more relevant to the Appalachian region than others and these countries are the basis of the Pathfinder information presented here. The countries most relevant to Appalachia include Hungary, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria.


Introduction

Because the body of available literature concerning Eastern European immigration to Appalachia is focused almost exclusively on the immigrant role in the coal, steel, iron, and textile industries, the following work provides an appropriate introduction to the topic of Eastern European immigration to Appalachia.

Immigrants in Industries . United States Immigration Commission. Vol. 7 Washington D.C.: Government Print Office, 1911. APP Coll: HD8083.A137 D4


Subject Headings

There are several Library of Congress subject headings that can be applied to research on Eastern European immigration to Appalachian industry. Some of the most relevant subject headings are as follows:

Highly relevant:

  • Anthracite coal industry
  • Appalachian Region-Immigrants
  • Coal miners-Pennsylvania
  • Bulgarian Americans
  • Hungarian Americans
  • Lithuanian Americans
  • Romanian Americans
  • Serbian Americans
  • Slovak Americans
  • Slovene Americans

Also relevant:

  • Immigrants-United States
  • Appalachian Region

More general:

  • Europe, Eastern
  • Appalachian Region-History

The Appalachian Collection Clippings file heading that most closely matches this topic is "Coal Mines and Mining."


Call Numbers

The Library of Congress call numbers associated with the above topics are listed below:

  • E184.H95
  • E184.R8
  • E184.L7
  • HD8039.M615
  • HD9540-HD9559


Frequently Mentioned Monographs

Because the bulk of Eastern European immigrants to Appalachia settled in the anthracite coal communities of Pennsylvania's Appalachian counties, the works most often mentioned in connection with their immigration are about the anthracite coal region.

Salay, David L., edited. Hard Coal, Hard Times: Ethnicity and
Labor in the Anthracite Region . Scranton: Anthracite Museum Press, 1984.
APP COLL: HD8039.M62 U633 1984

Beik, Mildred Allen. The Miners of Windber: the Struggles of New Immigrants for Unionization 1890s-1930s . University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996. APP COLL: HD8039.M62 U6143 1996

Roberts, Peter. Anthracite Coal Communities . New York: Arno Press:1970.ASU MAIN: HD8039.M62U65 1970


Encyclopedias

For each of the following encyclopedias, the most relevant entries are listed with the encyclopedia in which they are found. Each entry details the basic immigration information for the ethnic group listed, including where concentrations of that group are found, and what types of work each immigrant group most frequently did. The entries listed below are especially helpful to persons examining the role of Eastern European immigrants as workers in the American coal, steel, and textile industries.

Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups . Stephan Thernstrom, ed. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press, 1980. ASU MAIN: E184.A1 H35

"Bulgarians" (p. 186-89)
"Hungarians" (p. 462-71)
"Lithuanians" (p. 665-76)
"Romanians" (p. 879-85)
"Serbians" (p. 916-26)
"Slovaks" (p.926-34)
"Slovenes" (p. 934-35)

Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America . 2 Vols. Judy Galens et al., eds. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995. ASU MAIN: E184.A1 G14 1995

"Bulgarian Americans" (p. 208-23)
"Hungarian Americans" (p. 692-709)
"Lithuanian Americans" (p. 881-94)
"Romanian Americans" (p. 1144-58)
"Serbian Americans" (p. 1211-65)
"Slovak Americans" (p. 1243-55)
"Slovenian Americans" (p. 1256-69)


Journal Articles

The number of journal articles dealing explicitly with Eastern European immigration to the Appalachian region is scarce. Journal articles that may prove helpful in an initial search include the following:

Prickard, Jerome. "Appalachia's Decade of Change: A Decade of Immigration." Appalachia 15 (1981) 24-8.

Barrett, James R. "Americanization from the Bottom Up: Immigration and the Remaking of the Working Class in the United States, 1880-1930." The Journal of American History 79:3 (Dec. 1992) 966-1020.


Bibliographies

Unfortunately, definitive bibliographies limited to Eastern European immigration to Appalachia do not exist. These bibliographies of immigration in general may prove helpful, however, if the researcher examines topics relating to the immigration from specific countries to Appalachia.

Janeway, William Ralph. Bibliography of Immigration in the United States 1900-1930 . Columbus, Ohio: H.L. Henrick, 1934. ASU MAIN: Z7164.I3 J3 1972.

Hogland, A. William. Immigrants and Their Children in the United States: a Bibliography of Doctoral Dissertations 1885-1982 . New York: Garland Publishing, 1986. ASU MAIN: Z7164.I3 H63 1986.


Reviews

McKenzie, F.A. Review of Our Slavic Fellow Citizens by Emily Greene Balch. American Journal of Sociology , 17:1. (Jul. 1911), 125-27.


Images


An excellent collection of images featuring the following immigrant groups in the Appalachian region is available from the Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America (see above citation):

"Bulgarian Americans"
"Hungarian Americans"
"Lithuanian Americans"
"Romanian Americans"
"Serbian Americans"
"Slovak Americans"
"Slovenian Americans"

Additional images of Eastern European immigrants in industry are found in the following:

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Growing Up in Coal Country . Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.

 

Compiler: Erin Casto, 10 December 2002