The full content of this document is only available to subscribing institutions. More information can be found via www.amdigital.co.uk

Title Immigrants' Protective League Case Histories, 1934-1954
Date 28 Apr 1933 - 26 Dec 1949
Document Type Report; Correspondence; Periodical; Press Release
Reference MSIPL 67, Box 4, Folder 51, Series 1
Library / Archive Special Collections & University Archives, University Library, University of Illinois at Chicago
Collection Name Immigrants' Protective League Records, 1919-1967
Description Discusses topics such as naturalisation, citizenship, reunion of families, expatriation, immigration problems, the impact of the Second World War, displaced persons in the United States and deportation.
Series Description The Immigrants' Protective League was founded in 1908 as a resource for all new immigrants arriving in Chicago. The Women's Trade Union League had overseen an immigration committee for the protection of women immigrants, but the desire to expand the committee's scope led to the founding of a separate organization, the IPL. The IPL's mission was to assist immigrants in adjusting to American life, not unlike the work being undertaken at Hull House. Indeed, it was Hull House's Grace Abbott who served as the IPL's first director, a position she held until 1921. The State of Illinois briefly took over the work of the IPL beginning in 1919, but when the government retreated, the IPL carried on its activities independently once again. The Immigrants' Protective League's undertook many activities. Initially the group defended immigrants against opportunistic exploitation by porters, ticket agents, and cabbies when they first arrived, and against bad employment practices and threats of deportation once they were working. The group also advocated for improved health care, urged fewer federal immigration restrictions, and acted as an agent for re-uniting new arrivals with their families. After the passage of restrictive immigration legislation in the early 1920s the IPL spent much more time providing legal and technical services than it did on its earlier activities. During the depression, the IPL assisted immigrants in returning to their home countries, and in obtaining naturalization papers in order to benefit from New Deal programs. Then, during World War II, the IPL aided families trying to find relatives displaced by the war. In 1958, the group's name was changed to the Immigrants' Service League. It then merged in 1967 with the Travelers Aid Society of Metropolitan Chicago. The two renamed the joint group Travelers and Immigrants Aid (TIA) in 1980, then in 1995 changed the name once again to Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights. The Immigrants' Protective League records contain agendas, reports, memoranda, case histories, affidavits, legislative bills, dissertations, press releases, resolutions, photographs, maps, addresses, statements, clippings, articles, reports, published materials, divided into five series. The material spans the years 1919 through 1967.
Theme(s) Responses to Immigration; Religion, Ethnic Identity and Community Relations; Responses to Immigration; Religion, Ethnic Identity and Community Relations
Keywords emigration, immigration, advertisement, refugees, education, holidays and celebrations, child migration, female emigration, Jewish, health and sickness, deportation, naturalisation, family, marriage, legislation, regulations, border, social services, journalism, Christianity, missionaries, Second World War, election, transport, aliens, labour, YMCA, Hamburg-Amerika Line, citizenship
Language English
Document(s) linked to Immigrants' Protective League Case Histories, 1920-1933
Copyright Special Collections & University Archives, University Library, University of Illinois at Chicago