"How To" Research Passenger Lists and Naturalizations
- Olive Tree GenealogyA "must see" website.
- Free Research Guides (Ancestry.com)Includes guides for various ethnic groups.
- TheShipsListHas a section for Passenger lists, but there are very few there. The site is mostly interesting for its eclectic collection of news and for ship information.
- Searching Passenger Lists (Ancestry.com)Part of Ancestry Support Search & Records.
Explore History of immigration in the United States
History of immigration in the United States
Official listing of immigration in the U.S. began in 1820
History of a country, region, or group
Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups by Call Number: Reference E184.A1 H35- Arriving in Delaware: The Italian-American Experience byCall Number: F175 .I8 T46x 1989
A History of Russia by A History of Russia covers the entire span of the country's history, from ancient times to the post-communist present. Keeping with the hallmark of the text, Riasanovsky and Steinberg examine all aspects of Russia's history--political, international, military, economic, social, and cultural--with a commitment to objectivity, fairness, and balance, and to reflecting recent research and new trends in scholarly interpretation.
Records Indexes & Bibliographies
Passenger and Immigration Lists Index (PILI) by Call Number: Reference CS68 .P36 1981Abbreviation PILI. Also called Filby. Covers published lists. Description: "A Reference Guide to Published Lists of about 500,000 Passengers Who Arrived in America in the Seventeenth, Eighteenth & Nineteenth Centuries." The most important source for ship and immigration list information. It is a name index to thousands of passenger lists which have been published in books or articles. Covers passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The cumulative supplements contain thousands of additional records:1982-85 Supplement, 4 vols.; 1986-1990, 3 vols.; 1991-1995, 3 vols.; 1996-2000, 3 vols.; 2001-2005, 3 vols. Use the index and supplements to identify a published source. Note: do not neglect the supplements; they cover newly published resources. Once a published source is identified, use DELCAT Discovery to see if the source is available in this library.
See PILI Example.
The Passenger and Immigration Lists Index (PILI) is available online in the paid subscription to Ancestry.com. It is not available in Ancestry Library Edition.
- Passenger and Immigration Lists Bibliography, 1538-1900 (PILB)Call Number: Reference CS47 .F54x 1988This is a list of several hundred published ship and passenger lists which have not yet been indexed in the Filby PILI. These lists will be indexed as more PILI supplements are published. Index includes places and ethnic or national groups. Describes the Swedish passenger lists included in Scharf History of Delaware.
Finding Books in Catalogs
- passenger list*
- italians passenger
- Scottish Americans genealogy
- alsace genealogy
- Quakers genealogy
- ships passenger lists united states
* searches for any words beginning with that root word; example: list, lists, listing, listings
Immigrant Arrivals in the United States
1887. Woodcut. Immigrants on deck of steamer "Germanic." Illus. in: Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, 1887 July 2, pp. 324-325. From Library of Congress.
For information about ship passenger lists, research guidelines, and resources, see
in The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy
Immigration Records
Typical immigration records are:
- Passenger lists
- Citizenship (naturalization) papers
- Oaths of allegiance
- Alien registrations
Other records include:
- immigrant aid societies
- ethnic and heritage societies
Multiple Sources Give Clues
In addition to immigration sources, other sources may give important clues for immigration research.
Immigration Research Approaches (online in Ancestry.com wiki) provides a list of many of these sources. (In The Source, print in library)
The census is an excellent example of this kind of source. Census schedules may help pin down a date and a country.
Census questions have asked questions about naturalization/immigration from 1880 to 1930. 1850 to 1870 asked the birthplace of each person.
- 1850 to 1870 has every person’s country or state of birth
- 1880 to 1930 has birthplaces of both parents
- 1920 has the year of naturalization
- 1930 has year of both immigration into the United States and naturalization, if applicable
Genealogy Resources at the University of Delaware Library
Although not aimed at genealogy and family history, the collections of the University of Delaware Library (Morris Library) include materials useful to genealogists and family historians.
This Genealogy Research Guide is provided as a service for genealogists. It presents topics and resources to assist researchers.
The UD Library does not specialize in genealogy and does not have staff responsible for genealogy. Library staff cannot conduct research.
For questions about library resources and holdings, use the Ask the Library service.
For questions about getting research assistance, see the suggestions on the home page of this guide or on the topic/resources pages.
Handbooks
Finding Italian Roots: The Complete Guide for Americans by Call Number: E184.I8 C62 2003
Tracing Your Irish Ancestors: The Complete Guide by Call Number: Reference CS483 .G74 1999
Italian Genealogical Records: How to use Italian Civil, Ecclesiastical & Other Records in Family History Research by Description only: not at University of Delaware Library. Available through Interlibrary Loan and through the Delaware Public Libraries.
Your Swedish Roots by A step-by-step handbook to for researching your Swedish ancestors. Includes information on Swedish naming practices.
Description only: not at University of Delaware Library. Available through Interlibrary Loan and through the Delaware Public Libraries.
Ships
From "Passenger Ships and Images," Ancestry Library Edition.
Morton Allan Directory of European Passenger Steamship Arrivals for the Years 1890 to 1930 at the Port of New York and for the Years 1904 to 1926 at the Ports of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore by Call Number: Library Annex HE945 .A2 D5 1987A directory of ships, giving arrivals, departures, port of embarkation, and more. Arrangement is by year and steamship company.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers (New York Times) This link opens in a new windowSearchable digital images of the New York Times from 1851 to 3 years ago. Good place to look for ship arrivals (names of ships). Useful search term: "marine intelligence". Can search or limit by date.
- Ancestry Library Edition This link opens in a new windowSelect "Immigration & Travel" from the Ancestry home page, then select "Ship Pictures & Descriptions."
- Ellis Island and the Statue of LibertySearch Port of New York Immigrant Arrival Records. Includes Ship Search.