In 1819, the United States Congress enacted legislation to regulate the transport of passengers from foreign ports to the United States. As a provision of this act, ships' captains were required to submit a list of passengers to the collector of customs in the district in which the ship arrived. These passenger lists comprise the vast majority of immigration records. The content of passenger lists has changed significantly over the years and information is sparse on earlier lists. Passenger lists typically include these types of information:

• Name
• Age
• Occupation
• Place of origin
• Destination in the United States
• Name and type of ship
• Port and date of departure
• Port and date of arrival
  

Naturalization is the legal procedure by which an alien becomes a citizen of a state or country. Every nation has different sets of rules that determine citizenship. Under the Basic Naturalization Act of 1906, naturalization forms became standardized and were sent to the U.S. Bureau of Immigration (later the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS]) for examination. The formalized process required that a prospective citizen file a declaration of intention in which he or she renounced allegiance to foreign sovereignties. Following a waiting period of five years, an immigrant could then petition a federal court for formal citizenship.

• Applicant's name
• Birth date and place
• Port and date of departure Port and date of arrival
• Last foreign address
• Court location and date of petition or oath of allegiance
• Physical description

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