Finding Passenger Lists and Immigration Records 1820-1960s

New York 1820-1962 (includes the Castle Garden, Barge Office, and Ellis Island years)

• Online Database: New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 (at Ancestry/requires payment) name index plus passenger list images from the National Archives microfilm - includes the Barge Office, Castle Garden and Ellis Island years
• New York Passenger Lists Research Guide 1820-1962
• Article: Ellis Island? Castle Garden? Which One? And When? includes a timeline for when New York's immigrant processing centers were operating

New York 1820-1897 - Additional Finding Aids

• Germans to America 1850-1897 (books and online database)
• Irish to America 1846-1851 (books and online database)
• Italians to America 1880-1904 and 1855-1900 (books and an online database)
• Russians to America 1834-1897 includes Russians, Finns, Poles and Germans from Russia
• Dutch Immigrants in U.S. Ship Passenger Manifests 1820-1880 (books or online database)
• Registers of Vessels Arriving at the Port of New York 1789-1919 lists of New York ship arrivals by name of ship and date of arrival (no passengers are listed)
• Miscellaneous Sources: Armenian Immigrants, Czech Immigrants, Greek Immigrant Passengers, Luxembourg Immigrants, Swedish Immigrants to New York
• United Kingdom Books: Emigration from the United Kingdom to America: Lists of Passengers Arriving at U.S. Ports, 1870-1881, Edited by Ira A. Glazier; Scarecrow Press (2006-2012), 18 Volumes. This series includes the names of English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish immigrants who arrived at the Port of New York between 1870 and 1881. Available at some genealogy libraries.
• Online Database: New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891, index and images (free with registration) at FamilySearch
• Microfilm (now digitized): Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, 1820-1846 (NARA & FHL Microfilm Numbers) (NARA Publication M261; 103 rolls)

New York 1897-1957 - Additional Finding Aids

• Online Database: Ellis Island Database 1820-1957
  • Ellis Island Database Tips and Information
• Microfilm (now digitized): Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, June 16, 1897-June 20, 1902 (NARA & FHL Microfilm Numbers) (NARA Publication T519; 115 rolls)
• Microfilm (now digitized): Index (Soundex) to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, July 1, 1902-December 31, 1943 (NARA & FHL Microfilm Numbers) (NARA Publication T621; 755 rolls)
  • What Do Those Funny Numbers on My Soundex Card Mean?
• Microfilm (now digitized): Index (Soundex) to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, 1944-1948 (NARA Microfilm Numbers) (NARA Publication M1417; 94 rolls)

Baltimore 1820-1964 (with gaps)

• Online Database: Baltimore Passenger Lists Online Index 1820-1948 and 1954-1964 (at Ancestry/requires payment)
  includes digitized images of the passenger lists from the National Archives microfilm

• For a detailed guide about finding Baltimore passenger lists see: Baltimore Passenger Lists Research Guide 1820-1960s

• Microfilm (now digitized): Index (Soundex) to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore, MD, 1820-1897 (NARA & FHL Microfilm Numbers) (NARA Publication M327; 171 rolls)

• Alternate Microfilm Index (now digitized): If your ancestor arrived at Baltimore from 1833-1866 and you did not find anything in the main index listed above, then you could also try searching this index, which is for the separately kept Baltimore City Passenger Lists... Index (Soundex) to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore, MD (City Passenger Lists), 1833-1866 (NARA & FHL Microfilm Numbers) (NARA Publication M326; 22 rolls)

• Microfilm (now digitized): Index (Soundex) to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore, MD, 1897-1952 (NARA & FHL Microfilm Numbers) (NARA Publication T520; 43 rolls)

Boston 1820-1963 (with gaps)

• Finding Passenger Records at the Port of Boston, Massachusetts 1820-1963

Galveston, Texas

• Finding Galveston, Texas Passenger Records

New Orleans 1820-1963 (with gaps)

• Online Database: New Orleans Passenger Lists Index and Images 1820-1963 (at Ancestry/requires payment) some years are missing

• For a detailed guide about finding New Orleans passenger lists see: Finding Passenger Arrival Records at the Port of New Orleans, Louisiana

Philadelphia 1800-1962 (with gaps)

• Online Database: Philadelphia Passenger Lists - Index and Images 1800-1962 (at Ancestry/requires payment) includes digitized images of the passenger lists from the microfilm; July 1, 1948 to November 30, 1954 is missing

• For a detailed guide about finding Philadelphia passenger lists see: Philadelphia Passenger Lists Research Guide

Other Ports

• Various Ports (1820-1873): Miscellaneous Atlantic, Gulf Coast and Great Lakes Ports 1820-1873 (with links to indexes, online and off)
• Various Ports (1890s-1940s): Miscellaneous Atlantic Ports Passenger Lists 1890s-1940s Online index and digitized images of the passenger lists (at Ancestry/requires payment) includes the following ports...
  • Bridgeport, New Haven, and New London, Connecticut 1929-1959
  • Gloucester, Massachusetts 1906-1942
  • New Bedford, Massachusetts 1901-1942
  • Portland, Maine 1893-1943 (plus 1 list from 1891)
  • Providence, Rhode Island 1911-1943
  • Savannah, Georgia 1906-1945
• Charleston, South Carolina Passenger Lists
• New Bedford, Massachusetts Index 1902-1954 (microfilm catalog numbers; includes passenger lists 1902-1942)
• Portland, Maine Index 1893-1954 (NARA & FHL Catalog Numbers; includes passenger lists 1893-1943)
• San Francisco, California Index to Passenger Lists 1893-1953
• Savannah, Georgia Passenger Lists 1906-1945 with index information
• Seattle, Tacoma and Port Townsend, Washington Passenger and Crew Lists 1882-1957 online index and images (at Ancestry/requires payment)
• Various Southern Ports: Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Ports in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina 1890-1924 (NARA & FHL Catalog Numbers)
• Smaller Ports: U.S. Ports of Entry and their Available Passenger Lists (includes many ports not listed here)

Don't Know Which Port?

Ancestry's Immigration Records Collection

• Online Database: Ancestry's Immigration Records Collection (requires payment) Includes ship passenger indexes (many with online digitized images from the microfilm) for New York (1820-1957), Boston (1820-1943), Baltimore (1820-1948 and 1954-1957), Philadelphia (1800-1945), New Orleans (1820-1945), San Francisco (1893-1953), and many smaller ports, plus some Canadian passenger lists and border crossings, and some US naturalization records.

FamilySearch's Immigration and Naturalization Records Search

• Online Database: Search Historical Records at FamilySearch (free with registration) Click on "More Options," then click on "Type," then check the "Immigration and Naturalization" box.

Supplementary Resource

• Passenger and Immigration Lists Index (at Ancestry/requires payment) a Guide to Published Arrival Records of...Passengers Who Came to the United States and Canada in the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries; edited by P. William Filby; Published by Gale Research Co, Detroit, MI (1981-ongoing); Originally published as a book series in 3 volumes with annual supplements, this database indexes numerous sources of some passenger arrivals, naturalizations and other immigrant resources. You may be able to find the books at a library.

• If you don't know when or where your ancestor arrived you should first do some basic genealogy research. Use this website's Basic Research Outline. Talk to your relatives. Compile as much information as you can. Then research church, census and vital records. These kinds of records can give you clues as to when your immigrant ancestor arrived and sometimes where he or she came from. Post-1906 Naturalization Records almost always give arrival details for the person. You can usually find the year of immigration for someone in the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 US Federal Census Records. Be aware that sometimes census records contain errors.