Steamship ticket purchase ledgers, 1890-circa 1950s
The steamship ticket purchase ledgers, produced by four different “immigrant banks” or steamship agents (M. Rosenbaum and Co., M. L. Blitzstein and Co., Pennsylvania Company for Banking and Trust, formerly Lipschutz & Wurzel and People’s Bank and Trust, and Rosenbluth Brothers), document the purchase of tickets for passage to and from America from 1890-1950 and give details about the purchaser and the ticket holder. Details often include dates, names, ages, addresses, points of origin and destination, and ship lines. There are over 140,000 ticket purchase entries contained within these ledgers. Also ask for our “FAQ Immigrant Banks” OR search the ledgers page in the digital collection for detailed descriptions about the steamship agents/immigrant banks, the contents of the ledgers, and how to access the online indexes available through JewishGen and Ancestry (SCRC does not have full access to these indexes.) The steamship ticket purchase ledgers are series 1 in the HIAS Pennsylvania Records collection.
Ledgers produced by Lipshutz & Wurzel and People’s Bank (formerly the Pennsylvania Company for Banking and Trust) between October 1906 and May 1923 are not available in the digital collection. SCRC staff have access to low resolution PDFs created from microfilm and can fulfill requests for this material. But the low quality of the images precludes us from adding them to the digital repository. Patrons are limited to ~4 entries* for a researcher, annually. SCRC staff will provide low resolution digital copies of each entry to email to researchers. Researchers interested in acquiring more than ~4 entries from the immigrant bank ledgers per year should visit the reading room to perform the research themselves.
*Different names listed under the same order number/same ledger page are considered 1 entry.
Arrival records, naturalization forms, and case files
Arrival records include compiled arrival records, 1884-1952 and ship’s passenger lists, 1884-1921 created by HIAS at the port of Philadelphia. Both these and the port of entry tend to duplicate what is found in the ships passenger lists found at National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (and available online through familysearch.org or ancestry.com), but in the event there are gaps in coverage or missing records, HIAS’ compiled records may be a good resource. Naturalization forms and service cards document different steps in the naturalization process and are NOT the final form on file with the government and available at NARA. Case files, brief records, 1930-1988, document details about services provided including the naturalization process, sponsorship of a relative’s immigration to the United States, employment assistance, social services, and other legal assistance. Location service files, 1952-1984, document HIAS activities helping individuals to find estranged relatives and friends. Case files, brief records, and location service files are restricted for a period of 75 years from the date of creation. Arrival records are series 2; naturalization forms are series 3; brief records are series 6; case files are series 7; location service files are series 8 in the HIAS Pennsylvania Records collection.
