Washington, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1882-1965

This database is an index to passenger and crew lists of ships arriving at ports in Washington state. In addition, the names found in the index are linked to actual images of the passenger and crew lists, copied from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm (see Source Information for specific series and roll information). See the browse menu for details on the lists included in this database.

A variety of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) forms were used to record information about the passengers and crew members. Different forms could be used depending on whether the individual was a passenger on a plane, passenger on a vessel, crew member, citizen, alien, etc. Forms may have simply changed over time as well. Due to the variety of forms, the amount of information available for an individual in this database will vary according to the form used and the questions asked on it. The type of information that is generally contained in this database, though, includes:

• Name


• Age


• Birth date


• Birthplace


• Gender


• Ethnicity/nationality


• Last residence


• Vessel or airline name


• Port of departure


• Port of arrival


• Date of arrival

Additional information about an individual may be recorded on the original document and may be obtained by viewing the corresponding image. Many of the bulleted items listed above may be used to search the index in the search template above.

The microcopies of these lists found at NARA are arranged chronologically by arrival date. If you do not wish to search this database using the search template, the images may be browsed following the chronological arrangement.

To learn about researching in passenger records consult John P. Colletta’s book, They Came in Ships (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1993).

Updates:
22 Feb 2024: NARA Series A4052, A4049 and M1364 were removed from this collection and will be moved to