Struggling to do research for my M.A. thesis in History

Hi all,

I am a new member on these discussion boards, and my question seemed most relevant to the Humanities section, so hopefully I’ve directed it to the right place.

I am struggling mightily to find primary source material for my research topic. My topic was - broadly speaking - about Chinese immigration. Since physical archives are closed my advisor suggested that I write about the Magnuson Act/Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943, and try to prove that the current scholarship is missing something about how/why it passed.

I have looked through the Congressional record on the act but have not found many articles, essays, or books on the topic. Part of my problem is that I barely even know where to look for essays and articles, and how to use proper search terms. Worst of all, the act is known by various names/titles so that adds an extra layer of difficulty.

If anyone has any suggestions specifically around finding essays and articles about my topic (again, the Magnuson Act of 1943/Chinese Exclusion Repeal Act of 1943) then I would be incredibly grateful. My professor even doubts that I will be able to complete my thesis by mid-December when the semester ends.

Lots of archives are starting to reopen, or may be able to provide copies of material for you.

Surely your university has a library- and even if the stacks and archives are closed, there are librarians who are accessible via email?

Using the proper search terms is something they specialize in… as is framing the right questions to get the right documents…

The California State Library