Citizenship-related Reference Reports

The National Archives holds records pertaining to various aspects of U.S. citizenship. Since 1790, naturalization records have documented the process by which foreign-born persons (aliens) became American citizens, while passports, protection certificates, and other maritime records were used by U.S. citizens and merchant seaman to verify and safeguard their American nationality while traveling abroad. During the Civil War, both the Federal Government and the Confederate States government compiled records relating to Southern civilians, or Confederate citizens, including amnesty records to restore U.S. citizenship to former Confederates once the war was over.

Citizenship Reference Reports describe research strategies using Federal naturalization records, State Department passport applications, and seamen’s protection certificates and vessel crew lists from the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The reports also cover more specialized topics, such as U.S. citizens who died overseas, as well as certain rights and activities enjoyed by U.S. citizens, such as submitting private claims to Congress and the Southern Claims Commission, participating in New Deal public relief programs during the Great Depression, and attending significant national events such as the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876.

Click on the title to view a PDF version of the reference report. For additional topics, please see Immigrant Records at the National Archives.

• American State Papers: Public Lands and Claims
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Accident Reports, 1933-1942
• Citizenship and the American Merchant Marine: Seamen's Protection Certificates, 1792-1940
• Records of the U.S. Congress Relating to Private Claims
• Citizenship and the American Merchant Marine: Vessel Crew Lists, 1803-1954
• The Accompanying Papers File of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1865-1877
• District of Columbia Naturalization Records, 1802-1926
• The Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876: The Centennial Commission's Final Report
• Impressed American Seamen, 1789-1815
• Records of the Department of State Relating to Deaths of U.S. Citizens in Foreign Countries, 1789-1974
• Early Congressional Private Claims in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1789-1817
• Early Congressional Private Claims in the U.S. Senate, 1797-1811
• Confederate Citizens during the Civil War, 1861-1866
• Passport Applications, 1795-1925
• Presidential Pardons and Congressional Amnesty to Former Confederate Citizens, 1865-1877
• How to Order Copies of Passport Applications, 1795 - March 31, 1925
• The Central Correspondence Files of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) and its Predecessors, 1933-1944
• Research Guide to Selected Bureau of Naturalization Case and Correspondence Files, 1906-1946
• Southern Claims Commission: Approved Case Files, 1871-1880
• Southern Claims Commission: Barred and Disallowed Case Files, 1871-1880
• Online Naturalization Records, 1790-1995
• Major United States Laws Relating to Immigration and Naturalization, 1790-2005