As each alien passenger stepped off the ship and entered the United States port or a Canadian port (when U.S. was the final destination), an immigration officer received information about the alien. The alien’s data were recorded in a list or manifest. These alien manifests were subsequently transferred from the Immigration and Naturalization Service to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC.
The five major U.S. arrival ports for immigration in the 19th and 20th Centuries were: New York, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New Orleans. New York was by far the most commonly used port, followed by the others.
