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Electronic Records in the National Archives Documenting Immigrants to the United States
Theodore J. HullArchivistElectronic Records Archival ServicesNational Archives and Records Administration
A presentation for the Annual Meeting of the Society of American ArchivistsAugust 2011
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Introduction•Computerization of 19th Century
Passenger List Records
•“Born-digital” records of immigrants from the Immigration and Naturalization Service
•Index to Alien Case Files
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Computerization of 19th Century Passenger List Records
•1976: Microfilm original passenger lists; dispose originals by donation
•1977: Transfer original passenger lists to Temple University▫Provide a computerized index of the
passenger lists for the Port of New York
•1978: Balch Institute responsible for indexing
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Computerization of 19th Century Passenger List Records•1984: Temple-Balch Center for Immigration
Research created and indexing continues•1992: Donation of “Famine Irish” records• 1998-2003: Donation of passenger list
records of German, Russian, and Italian immigrants
•2003: AAD launch with “Famine Irish” included; other records included after 2005
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Computerization of 19th Century Passenger List Records
Immigrant Group Number of Records
“Famine Irish,” 1846-1851 604,596German immigrants, 1850-1897 4,068,907Russian immigrants, 1834-1897 527,394Italian immigrants, 1855-1900 845,368
TOTAL 6,046,265
Volume of Records Included in each Electronic File:
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First NameLast Name
Age Sex OccupationCity/Town of LastResidence
DestinationCity / Country
Information extracted from Passenger list for computerization
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KOERBER,MICHAEL,28,M,FMR,U,14,ZOCHENREUTH,BUFFALO-NY,S13,8056
Record as originally coded in the German immigrants database file:
LIST OF FIELDS1. Last Name2. First Name3. Age4. Sex code5. Occupation code6. Literacy code7. Country of Origin code8. City/Town of Last Residence9. Destination City/Country10. Transit and/or Travel Compartment code11. Manifest Identification Number
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AAD Main Page
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AAD Passenger List Page
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AAD Germans to America Passenger List Page
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AAD Fielded Search Page
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AAD Results Screen Displaying Partial Records
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Manifest Identification Number = 8056
AAD Full Record Display
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Date of Arrival Port of Departure
Ship Name
Transcribers at the Center for Immigration Research assigned the manifest for this voyage of the Augustus MID = 8056
Information extracted from Passenger list for computerization
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AAD Fielded Search Page
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AAD Results Screen Displaying Partial Records
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“Born-digital” records of the INS•1960’s: INS employs computers to assist in
compiling immigration statistics
•1978: INS identified seven permanent electronic records series
•1983-2004: INS transfers electronic records
•2009: new DHS records schedule for three permanent series, Lawful Immigrants, Naturalizations, and Removals / Returns
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“Born-digital” records of the INS
Series Title Record Counts
Aliens with a Verified Voluntary Departure from the United States File, FY 1992-FY 1997
29,420
Deportations Files, FY 1975-FY 1993 476,598Derivative Citizenship Files, 1974 – 1983 209,875Exclusions File, FY 1993 5,120Lawful Immigrants Files, FY 1972 – FY 2004
21,793,339
Naturalizations Files, FY 1972- FY 2004 11,373,311Removal of Aliens from the United States Files, FY1992 - FY1997
323,252
Required Departures Files, FY 1974 – FY 1993
627,941
Volume of records by series:
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“Born-digital” records of the INS
NameImmigration and
Naturalization Service assigned identification number ("A" Number)
AgeCountry of birthCountry of chargeabilitySexMarital statusNationalityOccupationPort of entry
State and area of intended residence
Class of admission as an immigrant or nonimmigrant
Type of immigrantYear of nonimmigrant
admissionAfter 2000:
“In care of" addressDate of green card issuanceDecision date
Lawful Immigrant record contents:
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Index to Alien Case Files
•1978: INS schedules as “Automated Master Index System”
•2010: Scheduled as the Central Index System, extract accompanied “First Scrape” of Alien Case Files
•2011: NARA accessions the Central Index System “First Scrape” with over 350,000 records
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Index to Alien Case Files
Alien Identification Number
First and Last NameDate of BirthPort of EntryDate of EntrySexCountry of BirthPrevious Field Control
Office
Date Record Entered in the Central Index System
Father's NameMother's NameNaturalization LocationNaturalization DateNaturalization CourtAlias First and Last
Name
Central Index System record contents:
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Conclusion
• NARA has long committed itself to identifying, accessioning, and preserving electronic records files documenting the immigrant experience
• Transcribed 19th century passenger list records are available through Access to Archival Databases (AAD) resource
• Researchers can use Archival Research Catalog (ARC), and soon AAD, to identify Alien Case Files
• Researchers of the future will have access to complete Statistical Reporting System (SRS) data documenting lawful immigrants, naturalizations, and other categories of aliens.
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Contacts
Theodore J. Hull, ArchivistElectronic Records Archival [email protected]
•AAD: http://aad.archives.gov/aad/•ARC:
http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/•Records Control Schedules:
http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/rcs/