What’s in a name? Quite a lot, it turns out, if you are searching for a petition for naturalization and do not know the court of naturalization or petition number. And if you’re in the midst of family or historical research, you’re probably already looking for these records (or you soon will be!). Even though petitions for naturalization filed prior to October 1906 typically contain less information than those filed after that date, these records can be an invaluable resource and remain some of our most requested records at the National Archives at New York City. 

This series of Petitions for Naturalization, newly added to the Catalog, contains copies of naturalization records for individuals who filed in Federal, state and local courts in New York from 1790 through 1906. As a general rule, the National Archives does not hold naturalization records created in State or local courts. However, because this series of records is comprised of copies of the originals, our New York office maintains petitions for naturalization filed through Federal, state, and local courts in New York City for the years 1794-1906.

Still not convinced you need to track down these records? Well, that’s where the Catalog comes in! This significant part of our naturalization collection was recently added to the Catalog. The entire series of petitions for naturalization filed through Federal, state, and local courts in New York City prior to October 1906 (over 598 records!) are available in the Catalog in their entirely--the whole record! The records contain the petitioner's name, age, place of birth, occupation, date and place of emigration, as well as date and place of arrival in the United States.

These records are not yet searchable by name in our Catalog, but that’s where you come in! Help us make these records more searchable by tagging the records with the petitioner’s name, or go a step further and transcribe the entire record.  

Here is an example of a petition for naturalization. Look for the names of the petitioners within the record and type the names you see in the Tag field. This now makes the record searchable by name!

We love finding gems to feature on our Today's Document accounts. Have you ever wanted to be the one digging through our Catalog? Here's your chance!