Northeast Region, New York City

Court Records at the National Archives Northeast Region - New York

Federal Court Records, up to ca. 1960s (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.

Follow these steps:

You can also go directly to the U.S. Courts page

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 four 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. 1970s and After (Records in Courtesy Storage - Not in National Archives Legal Custody)

Off-Site Storage at the Federal Records Center

Closed business and personal bankruptcy case files, and civil and criminal case files from Federal courts in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands dating from ca. the 1970s to the present have not yet been transferred into the legal custody of the National Archives. We do not have access to the indexes to these records, and you must address any questions or concerns about the records to the court in question.

Access to the Records

As a service to the courts, the National Archives stores these records at our Federal Records Center 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. You can also request to have these files shipped to our office in New York where you can come in to view the records in person.

Contact the Court for Case Information

The first thing you must do is contact the court where the case you are interested in was filed. Obtain from them the following information:

  • 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/

Viewing Records at the New York Facility

As a courtesy service to the courts and the court's customers, the National Archives New York will arrange to have the files shipped to our office where you can come to view them. We cannot provide research services or mail order copies for these records that still belong to the court.

Step 1: Obtain case information from the courts

We do not have access to the indexes to these court records, so the first thing you must do is contact the court where the case was filed and obtain all the information we need -- case #, case name, transfer #, box #, location -- to have the cases sent here.

Step 2: Fax your request to us

Once you obtain the required information from the court, please fax your request to us at 212-401-1638. Fax is strongly preferred. Be sure to include your contact information, particularly a daytime phone #. When we receive your request, we will arrange to have your case file(s) shipped via FedEx to our office in New York at no cost to you.

Please limit your requests
We are not able to handle excessive numbers of orders from one party, or single orders of excessively large volume (numbers of boxes), at one time. If the court tells you that one case is in several boxes, and you require only selected documents, we ask that you consult again with the court to see if they can determine which boxes you actually need. If you are unable to narrow it down, we must limit your order to approximately 6 boxes at a time. When you have come to our facility and finished with those, we will order the next 6, and so on.

Step 3: Schedule an appointment to view the records at our facility

When we receive the case files in our office in New York, we will contact you to notify you that your records are available for review. At that point we will schedule an appointment for you to visit our facility. Walk-ins are discouraged as we have limited research space and copying facilities, and we schedule appointments primarily to ensure access to our copiers. If you do not have an appointment, we cannot guarantee access to our copiers.

Step 4: Visiting our facility

Please see our New York facility home page for visitor information including directions and hours of operation. If this is your first visit, you will be required to show a valid ID (driver's license, etc.) and complete a short registration process. We will issue a researcher card that is good for one year. Please also note that we allow loose papers and pencils only in our research room -- no notebooks, folders, or briefcases, for example. We provide free, secure lockers where you can store your belongings during your visit. You can bring laptops, digital cameras, or portable scanners to use in the research room, and we have electrical outlets for your convenience.

You can send someone to do this work on your behalf; our only requirement is that they must show valid photo ID, register as a researcher, and follow our research procedures. You can also hire a document services company or legal service. There are many such services in Manhattan, though we can't recommend any one over the others.

If you have any questions, you can call us Monday - Friday, 8 AM to 4:30 PM, toll-free at 866-840-1752.

Step 5: Research/Obtaining copies at our facility

As previously stated, the National Archives does not have legal custody of these court records that are in Federal Records Center courtesy storage, and we are generally unable to assist you as you look through the files. If you have any questions about the content of the case files, you must contact the court where the case was filed.

Self-service copies
Self-service copies at our facility are $.20 per page. Our copy machine takes coins or small bills. Alternatively, we can put you on a counter, and you can pay at the end of your visit by cash, check, or credit card.

Certified copies
If you require certified copies, please notify us of this when we initially call to schedule your research appointment. You still must come in to view the records, but National Archives staff must make the copies. During your visit, you will mark the items you need copied and certified and discuss this with staff. We cannot promise to complete the copies and certifications while you wait, particularly if it is a large quantity of material. We can mail the copies to you at a later date. Certified copies are $.75 per page with an additional charge of $15 per certification.

Step 6: After your visit

We have limited storage space in our New York facility and send these files back to the Records Center as soon as possible after the customer is finished with them. At the end of your visit, you will discuss with staff whether you need to return for further work, or if you are done entirely and we can send the material back.

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