This set of twenty-seven rolls records information about vessels arriving at the port of New York from foreign ports for the years 1789 –1919. This set does NOT provide names of ancestors. Rather, for a specific time period, it provides :

This set is divided into two series.

• The first series, on rolls 1 – 22, contains records for the period 5 Aug 1789 through 30 Dec 1899 which were made as the vessels came into port. The majority of these records are organized either chronologically or alphabetically by name of vessel. Three record gaps exist in the first series: 1 Sep 1796 – 25 Sep 1798; 29 July 1801 – 31 Dec 1804; and 14 Oct 1811 – 31 Dec 1815.
• The second series, on rolls 23 – 27, covers the period 3 Jan 1860 – 31 Dec 1919 and was created at a later date as a standard index to vessels arriving at New York from foreign ports. Entries are arranged alphabetically by name of vessel, then chronologically.

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Click on the image to see an example of a chronological list from Series 1.	Click on the image to see an example of an alphabetical list from Series 1.	Click on the image to see an example of an alphabetical list from Series 2.

It is important to look over this set's entire roll-by-roll listing for the needed time period before deciding which roll to check because more than one roll may contain helpful information.

The 1860-1899 time period is covered in both the 1st and 2nd series, so it is especially important for those years to determine which roll will be most helpful. While most listings are organized in chronological order or alphabetically by name of vessel, two are by name of vessel's owner and one is by type of rig or vessel.

Tips for research in 1860-1899 (years covered by both series):

• If the name of vessel is known: Use the 2nd series to determine the vessel's dates of arrival for a given year and record those dates. Then check the New York passenger arrival microfilm for each of those dates.
• If the year of arrival is known but not the name of the vessel: Check the 1st series to see if there is a chronological list for the needed year(s). If one exists, then review the listings and select the more likely vessels to search, based on the port of departure. German immigrants were more likely to have arrived on vessels coming from Liverpool, Hamburg or Bremen so vessels from those ports should be checked before ones one coming from less likely ports such as Calcutta or Shanghai.

The following is a roll by roll listing of this microfilm set: