Guide to Immigration Records and Ship's Passenger Lists-Section 7.0

Immigration and Ships Passenger Lists Research Guide
Section 7.0 - Last updated Sept 2011

Return to Main Table of Contents Section 7.0 - BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Interactive Table of Contents (click on any link to view) 7.1 General Passenger List References
7.2 Pre 1820 References
7.3 1820 to circa 1891 References
7.4 Post circa 1891 References
7.5 Reference for Ship's Pictures and Information

The following subsections include links to on-line references followed by listings of applicable books and other publications. The "Section" numbers following the link description refer to the section of this Guide where this link is first described.

7.1 General Passenger List References

Cyndi Howe's List of Immigration and Passenger Lists - Probably the most extensive listing of related on-line resources (Section 2.0)

The NARA "Immigrant and Passenger Arrivals" web site - Main site describing all holdings relating to pasenger lists of the National Archives (Section 2.0)

NARA Archival Research Catalog (ARC) - A project of the National Archives which will enable anyone connected to the Internet to search descriptions of NARA's nationwide holdings and view copies of its most popular documents. (Section 2.0)

The "Soundex Machine" - Converts the surname to the Soundex coding (Section 2.0)

Colleta, John P. "They Came in Ships" - A good general guide to researching passenger lists

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7.2 Pre 1820 Research References

Bolton "Immigrants to New England 1700-1775"

Boyer, Carl 3rd. "Ship Passenger Lists for New York and New Jersey (1600 -1825)" - Edited and Indexed by Carl Boyer 3rd - 1978. LDS Library Fiche No. 6048671. Includes index of names with a compilation of various records pertaining to immigration of early people to the New York and New Jersey area. (Also includes 3 other volumes covering other areas.)

Coldham, Peter Wilson. "The Complete Book of Emigrants". 4 volumes. Surry, England: Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore 1987. Comprehensive listing compiled from English Public Records of those who took ships to America (1607-1660, 1661-1699, 1700-1750)". Also available on CD ROM John Witaker.

Filby, P. William. "Passenger and Immigration Lists Bibliography, 1538-1900: Being a Guide to Published Lists of Arrivals in the United States and Canada". Detroit: Gale Publishing Co., 1988. Compilation of ships for which lists have appeared in published literature.

Filby, P. William with Mary K. Meyer, "Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, A guide to Published Arrival Records of Passengers who came to the New World between the Sixteenth and the Early Twentieth Centuries". (multiple volumes with new ones added yearly) Detroit: Gale Research Co. 1981-84. Compilation of indexes of numerous immigration lists that are in print.

Bartis, Peter, and Mary Hufford. "Maritime Folklife Resources: Directory and Index". Washington DC: American Folklife Center, 1980. Lists finding aids, collections, and publications.

Hotten, John Camden, Ed. "The Original List of Persons of Quality who went from Great Britian to American Plantations, 1600-1700". Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1974 .

Lancour, A. Harold. "A Bibliography of Ship Passenger Lists of Ships coming to North America, 1538-1825, Being a Guide to Published Lists of Early Immigrants to North America". New York, New York Public Library, 1938. Contains bibliography of early passenger lists.

"The Customs-House Records in Massachusetts as a Source of History." Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings 54 (1921): 324-330. Includes location of cargo manifests, shipping registers and custom records for ports in Massachusetts.

"Maritime Museums: How to Search Them for Your Family's History." Family Heritage (Oct. 1978): (141-145). McWilliams, Jerry, and Waverly Lowell. Includes discussion of research aids and how to use them.

Schenk, Trudy, Ruth Froelke and Inge Bork. "The Wuerttemberg Emigration Index". 6 volumes. Ancestry Incorporated, Salt Lake City, 1986. 60,000 persons who made application to leave Germany from the late 18th century to 1900 at Wuerttemberg.

Tepper, Michael. "New World Immigrants: A Consolidation of Ship Passenger Lists and Associated Data from Periodical Litature". 2 volumes. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1979. A consolidation of information from the NEHG Register. Includes arrivals during the colonial period.

Tepper, Michael "Passengers to America" publ in 1980. A consolidation of Ship Passenger Lists from the NEHG Register

Yoder, Don. "Pennsylvannia German Immigrants, 1709-1786". Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. 1980. Lists consolidated from yearbooks of the Pennsylvannia German Folklore Society.

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7.3 1820 to circa 1891 References

National Archives web site for Record Group 36 - National Archives site detailing the holdings of passenger lists for 1820 to circa 1891 (Section 3.0)

Castle Clinton National Monument - Information about Castle Clinton (Section 4.0)

Castle Clinton: Landing place for Immigrants - Further information about Castle Clinton (Section 4.0)

The following index may be useful to locate the origin of an ancestor leaving from Bremen during the unindexed years:

Zimmerman, Gary J. and Marion Wolfert ; German immigrants; lists of passengers bound from Bremen to New York 1847-1871. 4 volumes. Baltimore : Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985-1993. Abstracted from National Archives microfilm of passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York. Only those passengers are included in this work for whom a specific place of origin is listed - this amounts to about 21% of those leaving Bremen.

The following indexes may help find an ancestor if the nationality is known:

Baca, Leo. Czech Immigration Passenger Lists. 4 volumes. Richardson, Tex. Czech immigrants between 1847 and 1871.
Cassady, Michael. New York Passenger Arrivals, 1849-1868 : passenger lists / transcribed by Michael Cassady ; Sylvia Nimmo, editor., Papillion, Nebr., c1983. Contains records with index of passengers arriving on 33 ships from England, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, France, Holland, Sweden and Switzerland.
Glazier, Ira A. and P. William Filby. Germans to America: Lists of Passengers Arriving at US. Ports, 1850 to 1887. Multiple volumes Wilmington, Del, Scholary Resources, Inc. 1988. . For 1850-1887, entire lists of ships with a minimum of 80% Germans, are included. Later, German immigrants from all ships are indexed.
Glazier, Ira A. and Michael Tepper. The Famine Immigrants 1846-1851. 7 volumes. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983. List of Irish immigrants arriving at the Port of New York.
Glazier, Ira A. Italians to America: Lists of Passengers Arriving at US Ports, 1880-1899. 2 volumes. (additional years are being added when completed). Wilmington, Del, Scholary Resources, Inc. 1992. Indexed lists of Italian passengers.
Olsson, Nils William. Swedish Passenger Arrivals in New York, 1820-1850. Chicago, Swedish Pioneer Historical Society, 1967. Lists, including biographical information of some of Swedish immigrants to New York.
Swierenga, Robert P. Dutch Immigrants in US Ship Passenger Manifests, 1820-1880: An Alphabetical Listing by Household Heads and Independent Persons. 2 volumes. Wilmington, Del, Scholary Resources, Inc. 1992. List of Dutch immigrants.
The following indexes may help when the name of the ship, or the name of the steamship line, and the approximate date is known:
Steuart, Bradley W. Passenger Ships Arriving in the New York Harbor. Bountiful, Utah : Precision Indexing, c1991. Extraction of all passenger vessels arriving at the port of New York 1820-1850 compiled from National Archives films. This is listing of ships and not a list of passengers.
Morton-Allen Directory of European Passenger Arrivals at the Port of New York, 1890-1930, and at the Ports of Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia, 1904-1926. New York: Immigration Information Bureau. Provides dates of arrival for every passenger ship, arranged by steamship line.

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7.4 Post circa 1891 References

Microfilm numbers for Passenger Arrivals - Site detailing the holdings of passenger lists for post circa 1891 (Section 5.0)

The Passenger List/Manifest web site - A search tool for the post 1891 time period for the Port of New York. It includes a surname-to-soundex conversion tool, and contains the indexes to passenger manifests that can be searched by shipping line, or by date of arrival. (Section 2.0)

Ellis Island Wall of Honor - Information about the wall and how to have your ancestor listed (Section 5.0)

Search the Wall of Honor - Search the Wall of Honor for your ancestor's name on the Web (Section 5.0)

Morton-Allen Directory of European Passenger Arrivals at the Port of New York, 1890-1930, and at the Ports of Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia, 1904-1926. New York: Immigration Information Bureau. Provides dates of arrival for every passenger ship, arranged by steamship line.

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7.5 References for Ship's Pictures and Information

Mystic Seaport Museum - Home page (Section 6.0)

Mariners Museum - Home page (Section 6.0)

Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum - Home page (Section 6.0)

Immigrant Ships - Louis S. Alfano - Extensive collection of ship descriptions and histories which are are available online.

Anuta, Michael J. "Ships of our Ancestors" - Baltimore, MD; Genealogical Publishing Co., repr. 1993; Menominee, MI; Ships of our Ancestors, Inc. 1983 - Covers 900 ships that transported immigrants 1860 - 1950.

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