Go to:  Immigrant Arrivals: A Guide to Published Sources
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Sources Cited in
They Came in Ships

by
John Philip Colletta

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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY


I. RESEARCH AIDS
Colletta, John P. "The Italian Mayflowers." Attenzione 6 (2)
  (February 1984): 30-33. A brief article explaining how to
  search ship passenger lists at the National Archives for
  Italian immigrants.

Eakle, Arlene. "Tracking Immigrant Origins." The Source: A
  Guidebook of American Genealogy. Salt Lake City: Ancestry,
  1984. Chapter 15 discusses resources, methods, and
  overviews each national group's settlement pattern in the
  U.S.

Morton-Allan Directory of European Passenger Steamship Arrivals at the Port
  of New York, 1890-1930, and at the Ports of Baltimore, Boston, and
  Philadelphia, 1904-1926. New York: Immigration Information
  Bureau, 1931. Reprint. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.,
  1979. Dates of arrival for every passenger liner, arranged by
  steamship line.

National Archives Trust Fund Board. Guide to Genealogical Research in
  the National Archives. Washington, D.C.: NATF, 1983. 2d ed.
  1985. Chapter 2, "Passenger Arrival Lists," provides a port-by-
  port description of the lists and the indexes to them.

____. Immigrant and Passenger Arrivals: A Select Catalog of
National Archives Microfilm Publications. Washington, D.C.:
NATF, 1983. 2d ed. 1991. A roll-by roll catalog of
microfilmed lists and indexes.


Potter, Constance. "St. Albans Passenger Arrival Records."
  Prologue: Journal of the National Archives 22 (1) (Spring 1990): 90-
  93. Describes National Archives records of immigration
  across the Canadian border, 1895-1954, and their indexes.

Steuart, Bradley W. Passenger Ships Arriving in New York Harbor
  (1820-1850). Bountiful, Utah: Precision Indexing, 1991. Drawn
  from National Archives microfilm M1066, Registers of Vessels
  Arriving at the Port of New York . . . .

Tepper, Michael H. American Passenger Arrival Records: A Guide to the
  Records of Immigrants Arriving at American Ports by Sail and Steam.
  Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Upd. and enl. ed.
  1993. Thorough overview not only of ship lists but other types
  of records that provide immigrant arrival information.



II. BIBLIOGRAPHIES OF PUBLISHED SHIP
PASSENGER LISTS
Filby, P. William. Passenger and Immigration Lists Bibliography, 1538-
  1900: Being a Guide to Published Lists of Arrivals in the United States
  and Canada. 2d ed. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1988. Most
  comprehensive list available of ships for which lists have
  appeared in published literature.

Lancour, Harold, comp. A Bibliography of Ship Passenger Lists, 1538-
  1825, Being a Guide to Published Lists of Early Immigrants to North
  America. New York: New York Public library, 1938. 3d ed.
  rev. and enl. by Richard J. Wolfe, 1963. This work has
  been incorporated into P. William Filby's Passenger and
  Immigration Lists Bibliography, 1538. 1900.



III. INDEXES TO ARRIVAL LISTS
Baca, Leo. Czech Immigration Passenger Lists. 4 vols. Richardson,
  Tex.: published by the compiler, 1983-1991. Czech arrivals at
  various U.S. ports between about 1847 and 1871; extracted
  from lists at the National Archives.

Boyer, Carl, ed. Ship Passenger Lists. 4 vols. Newhall, Calif: 1977-80.
  Indexes numerous published ship lists: vol. 1, National and New
  England, 1600-1825; vol. 2, New York and New Jersey, 1600-
  1825; vol. 3, The South, 1538-1825; and vol. 4, Pennsylvania
  and Delaware, 1641-1825.

Burgert, Annette K. Eighteenth Century Emigrants from GermanSpeaking
  Lands to North America. Breinigsville, Pa: Pennsylvania German
  Society, 1983 (vol. 16) and 1985 (vol. 19). Information on
  German-speaking immigrants from the Northern Kraichgau
  and Western Palatinate.

Cassady, Michael. New York Passenger Arrivals, 1849-1868. Papillion,
  Nebr.: Nimmo, 1983.Thirty-three selected lists naming about 10,200
  persons.

Filby, P. William, with Mary K. Meyer, eds. Passenger and Immigration
  Lists Index: A Guide to Published Arrival Records of More Than
  1,775,000 Passengers Who Came to the New World between the Sixteenth
  and the Early Twentieth Centuries. Detroit Gale Research Co., 1981-
  present Originally three volumes. Supplemental volumes
  published annually and gathered every few years into
  "cumulative supplements." Hundreds of thousands of names
  appearing in published ship lists and other types of arrival
  records.

Glazier, Ira A., ed. The Famine Immigrants: Lists of Irish Immigrants
  Arriving at the Port of New York, 1846-1851.6 vols. Baltimore:
  Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983. Since New York arrivals of
  1847-1896 are not indexed at the National Archives, this is a
  very helpful work.


____, and P. William Filby, eds. Germans to America:
Lists of Passengers Arriving at U.S. Ports. Wilmington, Del.:
Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1988-present 28 vols. Ongoing. For
18501855, reproduces entire lists of ships with a minimum of
eighty percent German surnames. For 1856-1872, lists German
passengers only from all ships. Indexed.

____. Italians to America: Lists of Passengers Arriving
at U.S. Ports, 1880-1899.2 vols. Wilmington, Del.:
Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1992-present Ongoing.

Haury, David A., ed. Index to Mennonite Immigrants on U.S.
  Passenger Lists, 1872-1904. North Newton, Kans.: Mennonite
  library and Archives, 1986. Nearly fifteen thousand
  Mennonite passengers, mostly Germans from Russia, in
  chronological order of ship arrival. Indexed.

McManus, J. Comal County, Texas, and New Braunfels, Texas,
  German Immigrant Ships, 1845-1846. St Louis: F. T. Ingmire,
  1985. Passengers of forty-one ships are enumerated and
  indexed.

Mitchell, Brian, comp. Irish Passenger Lists, 1847-1871. Baltimore:
  Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Lists of passengers sailing
  from Londonderry to America on ships of the J. & J. Cooke
  Line and McCorkell Line.

Norlie, Olaf Morgan. History of the Norwegian People in America.
  Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1925. Reprint New
  York: Haskell House Publishers, 1973. Traces to the sixth
  generation the descendants of the fifty-two/fifty-three
  Norwegians (one born at sea) who came in 1825 on the ship
  Restaurationen. Not indexed.

Olsson, Nils William. Swedish Passenger Arrivals in New York,
  1820-1850. Chicago: Swedish Pioneer Historical Society, 1967.
  Covers all Swedes for port and period, with additional
  biographical information for about one-third of them.

____. Swedish Passenger Arrivals in U.S. Ports, 1820-1850 (Except
New York). St Paul: North Central Publishing Co., 1979.

Owen, Robert Edward, ed. Luxembourgers in the New World. 2 vols.
  Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg: Editions-Reliures Schortgen,
  1987. A re-edition based on Nicholas Gonner's Die Luxemburgen
  in der Neuen Welt, published in Dubuque, Iowa, 1889. Names
  thousands of immigrants and where they settled.

"Passenger Arrivals at Salem and Beverly, Massachusetts, 1798
  1800." New England Historical and Genealogical Register 106
  (1952): 203-209. Transcribes nine original passenger lists
  found in Record Group 36 at the National Archives.

Prins, Edward. Dutch and German Ships. Holland, Mich.: published by
  the compiler, 1972. Passenger lists of many ships carrying Dutch
  and German immigrants to Atlantic ports, 1846-1855, especially
  those who settled the Holland colony in Michigan. No index.

Rasmussen, Louis J. San Francisco Ship Passenger Lists. 4 vols.
  Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1978. Original San
  Francisco arrival lists prior to 1893 were destroyed by fire.
  Rasmussen "reconstructs" them by using other contemporary
  sources, 1850-1875.

Rieder, Milton P., and Norma Gaudet Rieder, eds. New Orleans Ship
  Lists. 2 vols. Metairie, La: 1966 and 1968. Indexes New Orleans
  lists, January 1, 1820, through June 23, 1823, on microfilm at
  the National Archives.

Rockett, Charles Whidock. Some Shipboard Passengers of Captain John
  Rockett (1828-1841). Mission Viejo, Calif: published by the
  compiler, 1983. About 1,500 passengers aboard ships from Le
  Havre to New York. (A portion of at least one list -- the Nile's--
  was missed by the compiler.)

Southern Historical Press. Ships Passenger Lists, Port of Galveston,
  Texas, 1846-1871. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press,
  1984.

Strassburger, Ralph Beaver, comp., and William John Hinke, ed.
  Pennsylvania German Pioneers: A Publication of the Original
  Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808.
  3 vols. Norristown, Pa.: Pennsylvania German Society, 1934. First
  volume indexes lists of 1727-1784; second contains facsimiles of
  passenger signatures found in lists of 1727-1775;
  third indexes lists of 1785-1808.

Swierenga, Robert P., comp. Dutch Immigrants in U.S. Ship Passenger
  Manifests, 1820-1880: An Alphabetical Listing by
  Household Heads and Independent Persons. 2 vols. Wil-
  mington, Del: Scholarly Research, Inc., 1983. Dutch arrivals taken from
  lists in the National Archives. Fills gaps in National Archives indexes.

Tepper, Michael H., ed. Emigrants to Pennsylvania, 1641-1819: A
  Consolidation of Ship Passenger Lists from the Pennsylvania
  Magazine of History and Biography. Baltimore: Genealogical
  Publishing Co., 1975.

____. Immigrants to the Middle Colonies. Baltimore: Genealogical
Publishing Co., 1978.

____. New World Immigrants: A Consolidation of Ship Passenger
Lists and Associated Data from Periodical Literature. 2 vols. Baltimore:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1979. Deals with arrivals during the colonial period.

____. Passenger Arrivals at the Port of Baltimore, 1820-1834: From
Customs Passenger Lists. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982.
Transcription of portion of a National Archives index.

____. Passenger Arrivals at the Port of Philadelphia, 1800-
1819: The Philadelphia Baggage Lists. Baltimore: Genealogical
Publishing Co., 1986. Transcription of portion of a National
Archives index.

Yoder, Don, ed. Pennsylvania German Immigrants, 1709-1786: Lists
  Consolidated from Yearbooks of The Pennsylvania German
  Folklore Society. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1980.

Zimmerman, Gary J., and Marion Wolfert, comps. German
  Immigrants: Lists of Passengers Bound from Bremen to New
  York. 4 vols. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985-93.
  Lists of emigrants sailing from Bremen were destroyed. This
  work "reconstructs" lists of some German passengers on ships
  from Bremen to New York, 1847-1871, using arrival lists in the
  National Archives.



IV. INDEXES TO EMIGRATION LISTS
Coldham, Peter Wilson. Bonded Passengers to America. 9 vols.
  Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983-85. Names of
  thousands of English and Irish criminals sent to the colonies as
  bonded passengers.

Dobson, David. Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America,
  1625-1825.6 vols. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1984.
  Based on published sources and documents in British archives,
  names thousands of Scottish emigrants.

Ferguson, Laraine K. "Hamburg, Germany, Gateway to the
  Ancestral Home." German Genealogical Digest 2 (1) (First
  Quarter 1986): 10-14. Hamburg emigration lists, 1850-1934,
  and their indexes: what they are, where they are, and how to
  use them.

Hall, Charles M. Antwerp Emigration Index. Salt Lake City:
  Heritage International, 1986. Lists 5,100 emigrants from
  Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, France, and the
  Netherlands who embarked from Antwerp during 1855.

Register and Guide to the Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934.
  Research Paper Series C, no. 30. Salt Lake City: The
  Genealogical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of
  Latter-day Saints. Explains the lists and their indexes, which are
  available on microfilm in the LDS church Family History
  Library.

Schenk, Trudy, and Ruth Froelke, comps. The Wuerttemberg
  Emigration Index. 6 vols. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1986-93.
  About 84,000 persons who applied to emigrate from
  Wuerttemberg, 1750-1900, with intended destination of each.

Schrader-Muggenthaler, Cornelia. Alsace Emigration Book. 2 vols.
  Apollo, Pa: Closson Press, 1989-91. Lists about 21,500
  emigrants who left Alsace in the late eighteenth through late
  nineteenth centuries.

____. Baden Emigration Book. Apollo, Pa: Closson Press,
1992. Lists about seven thousand eighteenth- and nineteenth-
century emigrants who came to America from Baden and
Alsace.

Smith, Clifford Neal. Reconstructed Passenger Lists for 1850:
  Hamburg to Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, and the United
  States. 4 vols. McNeal, Ariz.: Westland Publications, 1980.
  "Reconstructed" lists based on Hamburg Emigration lists.



V. SAILING VESSELS AND STEAMSHIPS
Anuta, Michael J. Ships of Our Ancestors. Menominee, Mich:
  Ships of Our Ancestors, 1983. Photos of 880 ships that
  brought immigrants to the U.S., 1819-1960. Bibliography on
  ships and shipbuilding.

Bonsor, N.R.P. North Atlantic Seaway. 4 vols. London: T.
  Stephenson and Sons, 1955. Supplement 1960. Enl. and rev. ed.
  by Douglas, David and Charles, Vancouver, Canada, 1975.
  Illustrated history of the passenger services linking the Old
  World with the New.

Kludas, Arnold. Great Passenger Ships of the World. 6 vols.
  Translated from original German edition of 1972-74 by Charles
  Hodges. Cambridge, England: Patrick Stephens, 1975.
  Information and photos of all major passenger ships, arranged
  chronologically, 1858-1975.

Maxtone-Graham, John. The Only Way to Cross. New York:
  Macmillan Co., 1972. Steamships: their construction, grandeur,
  and mystique.

Smith, Eugene W. Passenger Ships of the World. Boston: George
  H. Dean Co., 1978. Thumbnail sketches of ships arranged by
  geographic area in which they operated.



VI. THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE
Carmack, Sharon DeBartolo. The Ebetino and Vallarelli Family
  History. Anundsen Publishing Co., 1990. An excellent
  example of a turn-of-the-century immigrant family's story.

Guillet, Edwin C. The Great Migration: The Atlantic Crossing by
  Sailing Ship Since 1770. Rev. ed. Toronto: University of
  Toronto Press, 1963. A vivid account of what the voyage was
  like. Includes a rich bibliography on the subject.

Handlin, Oscar. The Uprooted: The Story of the Great Migrations
  that Made the American People. New York: Grosset & Dunlap,
  1951. Describes the immigrants' encounter with American
  society: how it affected them and how they adjusted.

____ed. Immigration as a Factor in American History.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1959. A selection of
readings from many authors. Explores what immigration has
meant to America over the years.

Hansen, Marcus Lee. The Atlantic Migration, 1607-1860. Rev. ed.
  Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1951. Describes
  emigrants leaving their European homelands. Pages 172-198
  discuss which ports of embarkation in Europe and which ports
  of arrival in the United States were used by various national
  groups in the nineteenth century.

Hinchliff, Helen. "Michael Mumper of Pennsylvania: Reconstructing
  the Origins and Circumstances of an Immigrant Ancestor."
  National Genealogical Society Quarterly 77 (1) (March 1989): 5-
  21. A superb account of how to research and write an eighteenth-
  century immigrant ancestor's story.

Hopkins, Albert A. The Scientific American Handbook of Travel.
  New York: Munn & Co., 1910. Photographs and information
  about crossing the Atlantic in the early twentieth century: fares,
  menus, what to pack, etc.

Jones, Hank Z, Jr. More Palatine Families: Some Immigrants to the
  Middle Colonies, 1717-1776, and Their European Origins.
  SanDiego: the author, 1991. Exemplary research in linking
  American colonists to their European origins and ancestry. Author
  has done others.

Kraut, Alan M. The Huddled Masses: The Immigrant in American
  Society, 1880-1921. Arlington Heights, Ill: Harlan Davidson, Inc.,
  1982. A reevaluation of how immigrant groups adjusted to
  American society. Challenges stereotypical images of immigrants.

Novotny, Ann. Strangers at the Door. Riverside, Conn.: The
  Chatham Press, 1971. The immigration process at New
  York's Castle Garden (1855-1890), Barge Office
  (1890-1891), and Ellis Island (1892-1934).


Wittke, Carl F. We Who Built America: The Saga of the Im-
  migrant. Cleveland: Western Reserve University Press, 1964.
  Superb account of immigration by period and national
  group. A classic in the field.

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