52 Ancestors #43: Transatlantic Travel

Week 43 Prompt: Transportation

This week’s 52 Ancestors theme is”Transportation.” As I mentioned in my post two weeks ago, I have been focused on researching social history to put my ancestors in context based on time and place. In that post I shared several general references for learning about the times in which our ancestors lived.

Last week, I spent a great deal of time working on understanding a particular immigrant family’s voyage from Germany to the US. I came across some great references related to the voyage and transportation that I thought I’d share here.

Books

• Forgotten Doors: The Other Ports of Entry to the United States, by M. Mark Stolarik
• Strangers at the Door: Ellis Island, Castle Garden, and the Great Migration to America, by Ann Novotny
• The Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American Society, 1880-1921, by Alan M. Kraut (has a chapter dedicated to the journey)
• Ships of Our Ancestors, by Michael J. Anuta

Websites

• Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives (a.k.a. GG Archives) – Has a whole section of their website dedicated to ocean travel with tons of information and ephemera. (And don’t worry, it’s in English!)
• Norway Heritage – Has images and articles related to various immigration topics, including “The Voyage.” They images and articles are not necessarily specific to Norwegians, so the site is worth checking out. The site is a little tricky to navigate (pun intended?), so be sure to spend some time on the home page to take a look around.

As I mentioned in the last post, I have a whole list on Goodreads dedicated to the topic of social history. I also have one on immigration, which contains books not listed above. 

Do you have some favorite immigrant voyage references? I would love for you to share them in the comments!!

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