New York, Book Indexes to Passenger Lists - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States  New York

What is in the Collection?
The collection "New York, Book Indexes to Passenger Lists, 1906-1942" consists of images of books of indexes to passenger manifests for the port of New York. The indexes are grouped by shipping line and arranged chronologically by date of arrival. This collection corresponds to NARA Publication T612: Book Indexes to New York Passenger Lists, 1906-1942. and is part of Record Group 85 Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. This collection partly indexes NARA Publication T715 Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957."Additional images will be added as they become available.

Collection Content
These records may contain any of the following information:


 * Full name of immigrant
 * Name of person accompanying immigrant
 * Number on manifest sheet
 * Number on manifest
 * Port of embarkation
 * Passenger class
 * Port of entry and date of arrival
 * Name of ship
 * Age, gender, race and occupation of immigrant
 * Nationality of immigrant
 * Last permanent residence (town, country)
 * Destination

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know the full name of your ancestor and the approximate date of immigration. If you do not know this information, check the census records after 1900.

Search the Collection
To search the collection by name: Fill in the requested information in the boxes on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the individuals in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at the information on several individuals comparing the information about them to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:
 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

To browse by image: To search either collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒ Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒ Select the appropriate 'NARA Roll Number - Contents' which will take you to the images.

For either collection, look at the images one by one comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. For example, use passenger lists to:


 * Learn an immigrant’s place of origin
 * Confirm their date of arrival
 * Learn foreign and “Americanized” names
 * Find records in his or her country of origin such as emigrations, port records, or ship’s manifests.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * If your ancestor had a common name, be sure to look at all the entries for a name before you decide which is correct.
 * Continue to search the passenger lists to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who may have immigrated at the same time.
 * If your ancestor has an uncommon surname, you may want to obtain the passenger list of every person who shares your ancestor’s surname if they lived in the same county or nearby. You may not know how or if they are related, but the information could lead you to more information about your own ancestors.
 * Arrival lists was used by legal authorities to gather personal information about immigrants prior to the person being allowed to live in the United States.
 * The information was supplied by the immigrant or a traveling companion (usually a family member). Incorrect information was occasionally given, or mistakes may have been made when the clerk guessed at the spelling of foreign names.
 * Please note that when you select an image to view, sometimes the manifest includes more than one page, and when you use the "click to enlarge manifest" link, the image that appears is not always the first page of the record. You may need to click on the "previous" or "next" links to view the remaining pages of the full manifest.

What If I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking For?

 * Check for variant spellings of the name.
 * Look for other indexes. Records are often indexed by local historical and genealogical societies.
 * Search the passenger lists year by year.
 * Search the indexes of other port cities.

Citing This Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

Collection Citation:

Image Citation: