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Where to Find LDS Family History Library Microfilm Roll Numbers for Passenger Records
First you should go to this webpage for a list of links to the microfilm roll numbers arranged by port of arrival... Microfilm Roll Numbers for USA Passenger Records (arrivals at US ports from Europe) You should trying using the listings at the above link first. Or if you want to look up the microfilm roll numbers in the FHL catalog yourself then use the instructions on this page. These are basic instructions for how to find passenger lists and their indexes on microfilm in the Family History Library Catalog. You can then order the rolls you find from any Family History Center. While these steps are designed for the online catalog, you can also use this as a basic guide to finding the lists and indexes in the CD-Rom version of the catalog (at a local Family History Center). basic steps... Go to the Family History Library Catalog Do a place search for the port where your ancestor landed, such as New York, New York; Baltimore, Maryland; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, etc. Select the "Emigration and Immigration" topic Look through this topic for the passenger lists in the time frame you are searching Find the specific roll of microfilm for the date you are searching Write down the title and roll number of the microfilm to be ordered at any Family History Center detailed steps... I'm going to use passenger arrival records (and indexes) at the port of Baltimore as an example... Go to the Family History Library Catalog. This link will open in a new window so you can return to this window to continue with these instructions. You can toggle back and forth between the two windows or you can print these instructions out. Click on "place search." On the next screen that comes up type "Baltimore" (without the quotation marks) into the "place name" box and "Maryland" (without the quotation marks) into the "part of (optional)" box. Then click the "search" button. On the next screen click on "Maryland, Baltimore (Independent City)." The next screen will show a list of topics for Baltimore. You want the topic labeled "Emigration and Immigration." You may have to click on "[View next set of matching topics]" to get to this listing. Click on "Emigration and Immigration." (See the note for the separate topic, "Emigration and Immigration - Indexes" below.) You will then see a list of subtopics. For Baltimore passenger lists you would click on... "Passenger lists of vessels arriving at Baltimore, 1820-1921 ; Quarterly abstracts of passenger lists of vessels arriving at Baltimore, 1820-1869 United States. Bureau of Customs" For the Baltimore indexes 1897-1952, you click on... "Index (Soundex) to passenger lists of vessels arriving at Baltimore, 1897-1952" (See the note below for two other indexes.) First you will be shown a basic description of the microfilm rolls. Click on the "view film notes" button and you will be presented with a list of all the microfilm rolls of passenger lists for Baltimore. This list will be quite lengthy. You may need to click "[Next film notes]" several times to get to the roll(s) you want. Record the roll numbers you want, along with the title of the record, and you can then order them from a Family History Center. Note: if you choose the "Emigration and Immigration - Indexes" topic, you will be presented with these two choices... "Index to passenger lists of vessels arriving at Baltimore, 1820-1897 (Federal passengers lists) United States. Bureau of Customs" "Index to passenger lists of vessels arriving at Baltimore, 1833-1866 (city passenger lists)" These are passenger list indexes for Baltimore. You should search the Federal index first, and then if nothing is found, try the City index. The city of Baltimore kept separate "city lists" for 1833-1866. The index for these lists is separate from the Federal index, but the passenger lists themselves are included with the other Baltimore passenger lists. As we've already seen, the Baltimore indexes for 1897-1952 are included in the "Emigration and Immigration" topic covered above. This is a discrepancy that comes up often in the library catalog. The above process works bascially the same for Philadelphia, Boston, New York and other ports. For New York you will find there are hundreds of rolls of microfilm available so it may take some time to find the one you want. You can also use these basic guidelines to search for these microfilm roll numbers at a Family History Center using their CD-Rom version of the Family History Library Catalog. Follow the same basic procedure -- start with a place search (Baltimore, Maryland; New York, New York; etc.) and then you will find the passenger lists under the "Emigration and Immigration" topic. Sometimes the indexes will also be listed under this topic, and sometimes they will be under "Emigration and Immigration - Indexes." If you are looking for passenger list indexes try both topics. The passenger lists themselves will always be listed under "Emigration and Immigration." A Note on the New York Microfilm1897-1943After doing a place search for New York, New York and clicking on the "Emigration & Immigration" link, this is the title of the record you click on next for NY arrivals 1897 to 1943..."Index to passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York, June 16, 1897 - June 30, 1902; Index (soundex) to passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York, July 1, 1902-December 31, 1943; Passenger and crew lists of vessels arriving at Ne (note the way the title is cut off here) United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service" This listing contains over 7000 microfilm rolls. It is very difficult to locate individual rolls in the online version of the catalog. You may want to try using the CD-Rom at your local Family History Center. Or use the Jewishgen.org website. 1820-1897For 1820-1897 you click on this title..."Passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York, 1820-1897; index to passenger lists of vessels arriving in New York, 1820-1846 United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service" For help with New York passenger lists and a listing of online indexes see... New York Passenger Lists Quick Guide A Note on National Archives MicrofilmThe US National Archives (NARA) uses their own numbering system for each microfilm roll. These numbers are different than the system used by the Family History Library Catalog. However, the microfilm rolls themselves are generally the same. If you would like to obtain microfilm numbers for passenger lists and indexes from NARA then see Microfilm Roll Numbers for Passenger ListsThe National Archives rolls are available from some of NARA's branches. They can also be found at some large libraries. |
