Resources
The National Library of Scotland holds a wealth of manuscript and printed collections relating to Scottish emigration.
The manuscript collections mostly consist of personal correspondence, journals of voyages and photographs. They also contain correspondence and other documents more generally related to the subject of emigration.
Although the best represented countries are Canada, USA and Australasia, we also hold some significant material relating to Scots who emigrated to Argentina and Chile.
The printed collections consist of published accounts of Scots who went abroad:
- Migrants' guides, especially to the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand
- Posters
- Pamphlets relating to emigration. There are also many individual histories of Scottish families who emigrated.
Scots Abroad databases – emigrants' letters and guides
The Scots Abroad databases provide access to brief descriptions of the collections of emigrants' correspondence, emigrants' guides and personal accounts. You can search these databases by keyword (including personal and place name) and browse by date.
See also:
- Family history resources
- Maps
- Films in the Moving Image Archive (formerly Scottish Screen Archive)
Scottish emigration resources outside the NLS
Heritage organisations – Scotland and rest of UK
- National Archives of Scotland guide to emigration records
- National Museums of Scotland
- Scottish Archive Network – Digital Archive: emigration records
- Glasgow University Archives (passenger lists) (PDF)
- Glasgow University Archives (shipbuilding) (PDF)
- The National Archives, Kew
- Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool
- National Maritime Museum
Heritage organisations – Overseas
- Immigration to the United States (Harvard University Open Collections Program)
- Hocken Collections, Otago University Library
- Scottish Studies Collection, Guelph University: Emigration
- Fr Charles Brewer Celtic Collection, St Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia
- Scottish Heritage Center, St Andrew's University, North Carolina
- An Clachan Gaidhealach (Highland Village Nova Scotia)
- Immigration Museum, Melbourne
- Migration Museum, Adelaide
- Immigration History Research Center, Minnesota University
- Pier 21 (Canadian Museum of Immigration)
- Ellis Island (New York)
Genealogy and family history resources – Scotland and UK
- Ancestral Scotland – emigration
- Rampant Scotland Directory – Scots at home and abroad
- Scottish Association of Family History Societies
- The Scottish Genealogy Society
- FindmyPast:Passengers' lists online
Please note: FindmyPast also is available outwith the National Library of Scotland if you join the Library and have a Scottish residential address: more about FindmyPast in eResources - The Scottish Emigration Database, Aberdeen University
- The Gazetteer for Scotland
- The ships list
- Maritime timetables images
- Scots family
- The Golden Bridge: Child Migration from Scotland to Canada, 1869-1939
- British Home Children Scheme, Library and Archives Canada
- Material Histories: Scots and Aboriginal Peoples in the Canadian Fur Trade (University of Aberdeen)
Genealogy and family history resources – overseas
- Canadian Genealogy Centre
- Ship arrival database (Canada)
- National Genealogical Society (USA)
- New Zealand Society of Genealogists
- Family history and historical societies in Australia
- Convict transportation registers database
- Association of European Migration Institutes – addresses
Higher education institutions – Scotland and UK
- Edinburgh University Centre for Global History (incorporating the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies)
- Celtic and Scottish Studies, Edinburgh University
- Research Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, Aberdeen University
Higher education institutions – overseas
- Scottish, Studies, Guelph University
- Scottish Studies Foundation (Canada)
- Simon Fraser University
- University of North Carolina
- University of Otago
- St Francis Xavier University
- St Andrew's University, North Carolina
Reference and education resources – Scotland and UK
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- SCRAN
- Undiscovered Scotland
- BBC Bitesize: Migration and Empire
Reference and education resources – overseas
- American National Biography Online
- Australian Dictionary of Biography
- Dictionary of Canadian Biography
- Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
Scottish societies and associations overseas
- Comunn Gàidhlig Bhioctoria – Scottish Gaelic Society of Victoria
- Comunn Gàidhlig Astràlia – The Scottish Gaelic Association of Australia
- Bradan Press: Gaelic publishers of Nova Scotia
- An Comunn Gàidhealach Ameiriaganach – The American Scottish Gaelic Society
- An Comann Luchd Ionnsachaidh Thoronto – Toronto Gaelic Learners' Association
- Celtic Connections (North America)
- Scottish Australian Heritage Council
- Slighe nan Gael (Washington State)
- National Tartan Day Society of Washington
Publications of interest to Scots abroad
General websites about Scots abroad