Northeast Region, New York City

Court Records at the National Archives Northeast Region - New York

Researcher note on the dates of court records

Please note that your options for obtaining access to court records depend on whether a case has been legally transferred into the custody of the National Archives - New York office, or whether it still legally belongs to the court. Cases and related records are transferred into NARA custody according to our records disposition schedule; however the actual date of transfer can vary depending on the type of case and particularly how long it went on in the courts. Cases that began in the same year will not necessarily be transferred into NARA custody at the same time, for these reasons.

Cases from the mid-1970s and after
We suggest that researchers interested in cases filed in the mid-1970s and after contact the court where the case was heard before contacting us. The court will have indexes to indicate whether the material has been transferred to the National Archives, and they can locate cases that have not yet been transferred to us. The National Archives does not have access to these indexes for cases that still belong to the courts.

Federal Court Records, up to ca. late 1970s (Records in National Archives Legal Custody)

The National Archives Northeast Region - New York has legal custody of records filed in the Federal Courts located in New York, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico. We also have a selection of pre-Federal court records.

Please see our Finding Aid: NARA Northeast Region-New York Federal Court Records for detailed information about these records and how you can research them. The Finding Aid provides a description of the records including a Brief Administrative History of the Courts; a list of our holdings (with date ranges) including Pre-Federal Court Records, U.S. Circuit and District Court Records, and Records of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; and information on requesting/researching the records.

The Finding Aid also lists some notable cases in our records including the Alger Hiss and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg espionage cases, the prosecution of Susan B. Anthony for illegal voting, the trial of Marcus Garvey for mail fraud, and copyright cases involving Charlie Chaplin, Cole Porter, and Oscar Hammerstein, and the song "Happy Birthday."

Pre-Federal Court Records

The earliest court records at the National Archives Northeast Region - New York are those of the Vice Admiralty Court for the Province of New York (1685-1775) and the Court of Admiralty of the State of New York (1784-1788).

Records of the U.S. District Courts

Researcher note: The Federal District Courts are organized according to the United States Code, the codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States:

United States Code
TITLE 28--JUDICIARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE
PART I--ORGANIZATION OF COURTS
CHAPTER 5--DISTRICT COURTS
Sec. 110. New Jersey
Sec. 112. New York
Sec. 119. Puerto Rico

Please see our page listing the Federal courts in New York, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico and the areas they cover.

Common types of District court records at the National Archives Northeast Region - New York include Admiralty, Bankruptcy, Law, Equity, Civil, Criminal, and Habeas Corpus cases.

Records of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Researcher note: The Federal Courts of Appeal are organized according to the United States Code, the codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States:

United States Code
TITLE 28--JUDICIARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE
PART I--ORGANIZATION OF COURTS
CHAPTER 3--COURTS OF APPEALS
Sec. 41. Number and composition of circuits

The records of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, New York City document appeals of lower Federal court decisions in Connecticut, New York, and Vermont.

Finding Aids

There are docket books available for most of the court records described in our
Finding Aid: NARA Northeast Region-New York Federal Court Records. Many docket books are indexed by the names of the parties in the case and provide the docket or case number.

Requesting Court Records

Mail, Fax, or E-mail

The staff of the National Archives and Records Administration Northeast Region - New York will do a search for a case file and related court records in response to written, facsimile, or e-mail requests. To facilitate a search, please provide the following information when you submit your request:

  • The names of the parties involved (individual, company, organization, etc.)
  • The nature of the litigation (civil, criminal, bankruptcy, admiralty, etc.)
  • Approximate time period when the case was heard

You can send your request to:

National Archives and Records Administration
Northeast Region (New York City)
201 Varick Street - 12th Floor
New York, NY 10014

You can also send a fax to 212-401-1638 or e-mail us at newyork.archives@nara.gov.

Please provide your mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail address (optional) in your request. If records are found you will be notified of the size of the file and the cost for photocopies. However, if the file is voluminous, you might be required to hire a document service to photocopy the file, or visit our research room and copy the file yourself.

Request and Order Online

You can also submit a research request online. The search is free, and you will be given a price quote for any charges for copies should we find a record you want. If the file is voluminous, you might be required to hire a document service to photocopy the file, or visit our research room and copy the file yourself.

To place an order, you can go directly to the U.S. Courts page.

Or follow these steps:

Registration
At some point in the process, you will be asked to either register as a new user or log in, if you already registered to use the system at some point.

Naturalization Records
Naturalization records up to 1991 are court records, and you can use this system to request a search for naturalization records. Please see our researcher pages on Naturalization Records for more information on our holdings and procedures.

Self-service Copies

Self-service copies, made by researchers at our facility, are $.20 per page.

Copies by Mail

For mail order service, copies are $.75 per page with a $15 minimum charge. If you require certified copies, there is an additional charge of $15 per certification. When you make your initial research request, please be sure to specify if you need certified copies.

Certified Copies

Certified copies of records are $.75 per page with an additional charge of $15 per certification. National Archives staff must make the copies. We can provide certified copies through the mail; however, you may still be required to come to our facility if the research involved is time-consuming or the files are voluminous. When you make your initial research request, please be sure to specify if you need certified copies.

Special Note on the Location of Our Court Records

All of the U.S. District Court records in the custody of NARA's Northeast Region - New York City, with the exception of those filed at the U.S. District Court in New Jersey, are stored off-site at NARA's Federal Records Center in Lee's Summit, Missouri. The cases filed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit are also stored at that facility.

We can have files sent to our office at no charge to the researcher. It usually takes three to five business days for a case to arrive at our research room.

Please note that because these records are in the legal custody of the National Archives - New York office, we must recall them to our facility in New York either for you to come view them or for us to provide reference service. You can't view them in the Records Center in Missouri, nor can the Records Center staff provide reference service.

Further Information on Court Records in the National Archives

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Federal Court Records, ca. late 1970s and After (Records Not in National Archives Legal Custody)

Researcher note on Court of Appeals records not in NARA legal custody

Please note that the following information applies to cases filed in the U.S. District Courts located in New York, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico only.

If you are interested in a Court of Appeals case (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit) dating from the late 1970s and after, you should contact the 2d Circuit Court of Appeals directly before contacting us, to determine whether a case has been legally transferred to the National Archives or whether it is still in the custody of the 2d Circuit.

The National Archives is not able to provide access to these Appeals Court records that have not yet been transferred into our legal custody, either through our New York office or the Federal Records Center.

Access to the Records in New York

Closed business and personal bankruptcy case files, and civil and criminal case files from Federal District courts in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands dating from ca. the late 1970s to the present have not yet been transferred into the legal custody of the National Archives. We do not have access to these records here at the National Archives - New York office.

As legal owners of these records, the courts may provide access to these records through their offices in the New York area. You must contact each specific court directly for more information.

Off-Site Storage and Access at the Federal Records Center

The National Archives stores these records for the courts at our Federal Records Center (FRC) in Lee's Summit, Missouri and makes them available for review. You can contact the Federal Records Center and discuss obtaining copies through the mail, or you can visit their facility to view the records and make copies.

Contact the Court for Case Information

Before contacting the Federal Records Center, you must contact the court where the case you are interested in was filed. You can discuss with them any options they provide for obtaining access to the records in New York. You must also obtain from them the following information, before contacting the Federal Records Center to access the records through the FRC:

  • Case # (also known as case docket #)
  • Case name (not necessarily required)
  • Transfer # (also known as accession #)
  • Box # (or #s)
  • Location (shelf location where records are stored in the Federal Records Center)

Viewing Records/Obtaining Copies from the Federal Records Center

With the information you obtained from the court, you can request certain mail order copy services from the Federal Records Center in Lee's Summit, Missouri. You can do this by mail, delivery service, or fax using forms available from their web site on Access to Bankruptcy and Other Court Case Files in Lee's Summit, Missouri. You can also visit their facility to research the files and make copies in person.

You can also order copies online. Please see the Federal Records Centers' web notice, Court Records Available via NARA's online system, for more information.

Please see the Lee's Summit facility's web pages on Access to Bankruptcy and Other Court Case Files in Lee's Summit, Missouri for more information, or contact them as follows:

National Archives Central Plains Region
200 Space Center Drive
Lee's Summit, MO 64064-1182
phone: 816-268-8100
fax: 816-268-8159
e-mail: leessummit.reference@nara.gov
web: www.archives.gov/central-plains/lees-summit/

Further Information on Court Records in Courtesy Storage

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The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001
Telephone: 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272