• Visit
    • Museum Accessibility
    • Community Access
    • Group Visits and Tours
    • Programs
      • History Café
      • MOHAI Mercantile Literary Series
      • First Thursday
      • Denny Lecture
      • Al Young Educator of the Year
      • Everyday Heroes
    • MOHAI Mercantile
    • Gourmondo at MOHAI
  • Exhibits
  • Events
  • Collections and Research
    • Collections Search
    • Themed Collections
    • Research Library
    • Image Ordering
    • Donate an Artifact
    • Curator’s Fellowship
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Membership at MOHAI
    • Gift Memberships
    • Corporate Support
  • Education
    • Field Trips
      • Self-Guided School Year Explorations
      • Creating Our Community
      • Cracking the History Code: Salish Stories
      • Cracking the History Code: Settling Around the Sound
      • Hands on History
      • Self-Guided Summer Field Trips
      • Homeschool Group
    • Portable Museum Program
    • Scholarships
    • Education FAQ
    • Primary Source Analysis
    • Online Curricula
    • Teen Programs
    • Idea Lab
    • Discovery Packs
    • Summer Camps
  • About
    • Annual Reports
    • The MOHAI Blog
    • Contact MOHAI
    • Opportunities
    • Leadership
    • Private Events
  • Donate
  • Tickets
  • Membership
HomeCollections and ResearchCollections Search

Collections Search

Explore stories in Northwest history through highlights from MOHAI’s collections. Search by keyword below or browse the entire online collection by entering the asterisk symbol (*). Filter your search by type of materials.

Download lower resolution images directly from an item page. MOHAI offers high-resolution digital reproductions of photographs and other materials from our collections for personal and professional use.

We have many more items in our collections and not everything you see online is on view at the museum. We have additional materials online at the University of Washington’s Digital Collections.

MOHAI Statement on Harmful Content

Search by Collection

Not finding what you are looking for?
Ask the MOHAI Collections Staff

177 results for: Immigration

Share:
Image of Cuban detainees watching TV at McNeil Island Penitentiary, February 1981
Photograph

Cuban detainees watching TV at McNeil Island Penitentiary, February 1981

McNeil Island is a 6.6 square mile island located in south Puget Sound, lying 2.8 miles across the water from the nearest town. The site was utilized for 142 continuous years as an island-based penal institution, beginning in 1869 with a jail built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 1909 the facility became a federal prison, the McNeil…
ID Number:2000.107.123.19.04
Date:1981
Image of Joe Garza and others outside worker housing at Golding Farms, Yakima Valley, May 1989
Photograph

Joe Garza and others outside worker housing at Golding Farms, Yakima Valley, May 1989

The Braceros program during World War II brought Mexican workers to the Yakima Valley to ease labor shortages, and even after the program ended in 1948, Mexicans and Mexican Americans continued to provide a substantial part of the Valley’s agricultural workforce. By the 1980s, the Yakima Valley was home to large communities of Mexican immigrant workers, as well as their…
ID Number:2000.107.124.38.10
Date:1989
Image of Filipino veterans Benjamin Escano, Jose Morales, and Fidel Rubias at their lawyer's office, October 30, 1990
Photograph

Filipino veterans Benjamin Escano, Jose Morales, and Fidel Rubias at their lawyer's office, October 30, 1990

During World War II, thousands of Filipinos fought for the US armed forces, including many who suffered years of poor treatment in prisoner of war camps or who continued fighting a guerrilla war after the US abandoned the Philippines. These veterans were promised US citizenship in return, but after the war many were told they were too late to become…
ID Number:2000.107.128.04.01
Date:1990
Image of Baptist missionary Hanh Nguyen with Giu Vo and her family in their apartment, Seattle, March 1982
Photograph

Baptist missionary Hanh Nguyen with Giu Vo and her family in their apartment, Seattle, March 1982

After the Vietnam War ended in April 1975 with the fall of South Vietnam to North Vietnamese communist forces, many thousands of people from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos fled violence and persecution in their home countries and sought refuge in the United States and elsewhere.This image shows a family of refugees in their apartment shortly after arriving in Seattle. Hanh…
ID Number:2000.107.132.14.01
Date:1982
Image of The Nguyens in their Pioneer Square grocery store, Seattle, December 28, 1977
Photograph

The Nguyens in their Pioneer Square grocery store, Seattle, December 28, 1977

Thuy-Ngan (left) and Hy-Van Nguyen came to Seattle in 1975 with their seven-month-old son. They were part of the large number of refugees who settled in the Seattle area after the fall of Saigon. Both in their 30s, they had held professional jobs in Vietnam: Thuy-Nan taught French at the University of Saigon, and her husband was an architect. Unable…
ID Number:2000.107.132.14.02
Date:1977
Image of Mau Duc and Cuc Nguyen working at New Saigon Market, Seattle, December 1990
Photograph

Mau Duc and Cuc Nguyen working at New Saigon Market, Seattle, December 1990

Mau Duc Nguyen and his family were among thousands of people who escaped from Vietnam after the fall of the country to the communists. Having been a South Vietnam naval officer, Mau was sent to a prison camp but managed to escape. After months of planning, he and his wife Cuc and their three children, plus various family members and…
ID Number:2000.107.132.15.01
Date:1990
Image of Tho Nguyen meeting his family at Sea-Tac airport, Seattle, July 26, 1983
Photograph

Tho Nguyen meeting his family at Sea-Tac airport, Seattle, July 26, 1983

After the 1975 fall of Saigon, Tho Nguyen, a South Vietnamese army veteran, spent a year in a prison camp. Once released, he and his wife Lachanh tried to escape from Vietnam, taking their four children and her mother in an overcrowded boat. One by one, the children and Lachanh’s mother died. The boat was intercepted by a Russian ship…
ID Number:2000.107.132.16.06
Date:1983
Image of Suzie Ordogh receiving Americanism Medal at Seattle World's Fair, September 16, 1962
Photograph

Suzie Ordogh receiving Americanism Medal at Seattle World's Fair, September 16, 1962

September 16, 1962 marked I Am an American Day at the Seattle World’s Fair. After the speeches and the naturalization of some 100 new citizens, Seattle swimmer Zsuszu (“Susanna," “Suzie,” “Susie”) Ordogh received an “Americanism medal” from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Ordogh, at age 16, was one of 40 Hungarian athletes who had defected during the 1956…
ID Number:2000.107.136.15.01
Date:1962
Image of Michael Ramos and Rafael at the Salvadoran-Guatemalan Refugee Program, Seattle, February 28, 1985
Photograph

Michael Ramos and Rafael at the Salvadoran-Guatemalan Refugee Program, Seattle, February 28, 1985

This photo was taken at the Salvadoran-Guatemalan Refugee Program office in Seattle. The program supported refugees from El Salvador and Guatemala with legal aid, assistance with getting political asylum, and paying bail bonds for refugees who were arrested. If bail was not posted within a specified time period, refugees were sent to camps in California or Arizona. On the occasion…
ID Number:2000.107.151.03.01
Date:1985
Image of Thongdy family members clearing land for family farm, April 12, 1982
Photograph

Thongdy family members clearing land for family farm, April 12, 1982

This image shows five members of the Thongdy family on an 85 acre plot of land they plan to turn into a farm. The Thongdys were from Cambodia, but the brutal Khmer Rouge regime forced them to flee. The family hid in the jungles for several months before escaping to Thailand. They spent several years in a refugee camp in…
ID Number:2000.107.151.05.01
Date:1982
Previous 1 … 3 4 5 6 7 … 18 Next

Land Acknowledgement

MOHAI stands on the historic and contemporary lands and shores of the Duwamish, Suquamish, Muckleshoot, and other Coast Salish Nations. We acknowledge the forced displacement of Native Communities from this land while honoring the endurance of the Duwamish people who still live here.
Address: 860 Terry Ave N, Seattle WA, 98109
Phone: 206 324 1126
  • Plan a Visit
  • Directions and Parking
  • Accessibility
  • Group Tours
  • About

Sign up to Receive our Newsletter

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright 2026, Museum of History & Industry. All Rights Reserved