ok i got a thesis paper for history that i have to do, our group's thesis:

in the 19th century, irish immigrants became the backbone of civic jobs in the northeast united states.

what kind of primary sources could i use?

That would be kinda hard. Primary sources, if I remember correctly, are people that expierenced the event personally. Since its the 19th century any people who were alive during that event would be long dead.

I really don't know, sorry

Primary sources are things written by people who experienced it, paintings by the people in that time period any direct info on them basically.

Diaries, newspaper reports, cartoons and paintings, census info (if it exists), maybe even things like gravestones.

Well, this is a stretch, but James Joyce was an immigrant, so i guess Dubliners may count, but they mainly involve things back in Ireland...

You could use novels too. Upton Sinclair's "Jungle" is a fine example of immigrants, mainly from Ireland, who worked in meat packaging factories.

I don't think "The Jungle" would be a good resource - it doesn't focus only on Irish immigrants, plus the message is centered around the lack of hygiene, which I'm not sure would help your thesis.

I'm also not sure that it would be a good primary resource either - something written by an Irish worker himself would better suffice. I can't think of something offhand.