New York Passenger Lists: Book Indexes
By Walter Hickey

Book Indexes, National Archives and Records Administration Microfilm Publication T612

Before continuing with the saga of the various card indexes to New York Passenger Arrival Records, let’s take a look at another, little known set of records.

Beginning in 1906, each passenger vessel arriving at New York was required to turn in two books. The first, and most important to the researcher, was the Passenger Manifest. The second was a much smaller listing of the passengers. This second is the Book Index. In it, the passengers are grouped by the first letter of their surname.

The Book Indexes are arranged by Year, then by Shipping Company, and finally by Date of Arrival. To use them efficiently, you must know the Year of Arrival and the Shipping Company or Port of Departure. For example, you have checked the card indexes to no avail . . . there is simply no card for the person you are looking for. However, you do know that she arrived in 1908, and that she left from Hamburg. Sailing from Hamburg, the ship would have belonged to the Hamburg-American Company. The Book Indexes for that company are usually on four or five rolls of film. Each roll may contain twenty to thirty indexes. Do not let these numbers deter you. Although you may have to look through each roll of film, you are not looking at or reading every single page. In each book, you are looking only at the letter of the alphabet with which her last name begins. If you do not find it on the first roll, continue with the remainder of the rolls. When you finally locate the name you will see two numbers next to it. These are the Page and Line numbers on the Manifest. Copy these numbers, and then turn back to the cover of the book you are in. Although often difficult to read, the cover provides the Name of the Vessel, the Date of Arrival, and the Volume Number. The only item you actually need is the Volume Number.

With that information, go to the catalog of ship’s arrivals, look up the volume number to get the roll of microfilm on which that ship is filmed.

If you do not know the port of departure, then you have to make an educated guess, as in the following tale. A couple of years ago, one of our volunteers was looking for her mother in the New York index. Her name was Regina Paradofska, who came from Poland in 1914. There was only one index card under that name, and it was for the wrong person. She did not know the port of departure of her

mother. Since she was from Poland, she probably sailed from a German or North European port. The biggest port of departure was Bremen (North German Lloyd Lines), followed by Hamburg (Hamburg-American Lines). The researcher started by looking through all the Book Indexes from Bremen . . . looking only at the letter “P” in each book. After looking through all five rolls . . . nothing. Next, she did the same for Hamburg. Again, five rolls, again . . . nothing!

What next? Simply coming across Northern Europe, she looked at the vessels from Rotterdam (Holland-American Lines) and Antwerp (Red Star lines). Finally, on the thirteenth roll of film, Regina was located! With the page and line number and the Volume Number, within five minutes she was looking at the record of her mother’s arrival into the United States.