Massachusetts, Suffolk, Boston Crew Lists, 1917-1944

What is in This Collection?

Massachusetts, Boston, Crew Lists, 1811-1921:
Filmed at the National Archives and Records Administration’s(NARA) Northeast Regional Facility in Boston, Massachusetts, the images in this collection are crew lists from ships arriving at Boston between 1811–1921. The lists are arranged chronologically and may contain images of passenger lists. The records in this collection correspond with NAID 4672201. Record Group 36: Records of the U.S. Customs Service, 1745-1997. For the years 1860–1873 and 1919–1920 there are no records.

Massachusetts, Boston Crew Lists, 1917-1943: Filmed at the NARA Central Plains Regional Facility, the images in this collection are crew lists from ships arriving at Boston, Massachusetts between 1917–1943." The collection corresponds with NARA microfilm publication T938: Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, 1917-1943 from Record Group 85 Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service

General Information About Crew and Passenger Lists

On 28 February 1803, Congress pact an act to protect American seaman from impressment (enforced service on a foreign ship). The act required American ships arriving from or departing on a foreign voyage to file crew lists at the ships port of entry. Impressment ended after the War of 1812; however, crew lists continued to be filed into the 20th century. Crew lists were prepared by the master of a ship and show the full names, nationality, passport or discharge book number, rank, description, and age of every officer and crew member serving on a ship. The crew list was one of the ship's essential documents. The list was always requested to be handed over to the customs and immigration authorities when the ship arrived at the port authority. The passenger list is also requested by customs and immigration authorities.

Passenger arrival lists, or customs manifests, date back to 1820. The first official emigration station for New York was Castle Garden, located at the tip of lower Manhattan. Congressional action in 1891 resulted in federal immigration officials recording the immigrant’s arrival. After January 1892, passengers arriving in New York debarked at Ellis Island, located east of Manhattan in the New York Harbor. From 1892 to 1924, almost all immigrants entered the United States through the port of New York. When passengers arrived at Ellis Island, they were asked a series of questions designed to determine whether they would be able to support themselves and did not have any health problems. The information was supplied by the immigrant or a traveling companion (usually a family member). Only 2% of immigrants were denied entry into the United States. Incorrect information was occasionally given, or mistakes may have been made when the clerk guessed at the spelling of foreign names. These indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned. The passenger lists are usually two typed pages divided into columns and rows. When you select an image to view, sometimes the manifest includes more than one page, and when you use the "click to enlarge manifest" link, the image that appears is not always the first page. To view the other page, use the "previous" or "next" links. (last paragraph used only if images function in this manner)

Read more about it in "Twentieth-Century Vessel Crew Lists", Claire Prechtel-Kluskens. NGS Magazine 33 #2(April-June, 2007): 35-38.

Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

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  1917 Crew List