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Comparable in many ways to census records, naturalization records are a mine of priceless information and include such items as place and date of birth, foreign and current places of residence, marital status, names, ages and places of birth of other family members, occupation, port and date of entry into the U.S., and more. Since any court of record can process naturalization papers, records relating to naturalization can be found in a bewildering variety of courts; until the appearance of this guide, however, there was no practical means of locating these widely scattered records, nor any reference tool that even made an attempt at centralizing information.

State by state, county by county, city by city, the Guide to Naturalization Records identifies all repositories of naturalization records, systematically indicating the types of records held, their dates of coverage, and the location of original and microfilm records. The Guide also pinpoints the whereabouts of federal court records in all National Archives facilities. But perhaps the most unique feature of the Guide to Naturalization Records is that it identifies every single piece of information on naturalizations that is available on microfilm through the National Archives or the Family History Library System, including the call numbers used by each institution. Records that are available on microfilm through other facilities have also been included.

Other special features of this work include an overview of the history of naturalization and citizenship, a special appendix on Native American tribal citizenship records, hard-to-find information on the records of Japanese and Chinese Americans, and records of internment of American citizens by the U.S. Government.


EDITORIAL REVIEWS

"The author must be commended for the diligent and time-consuming work performed to assemble this source. It is an outstanding reference work."--AMERICAN REFERENCE BOOKS ANNUAL (1998).

"Indispensable as a beginning point for research into naturalization records, this book is essential for biographical or genealogical research."--COLONIAL LATIN AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, p. 350.

"...Ms. Schaefer's Guide can help lead the researcher to needed citizenship records throughout the country."--THE AMERICAN GENEALOGIST, Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 157-158.

"Schaefer took on an extremely ambitious project. She has succeeded in bringing together an enormous amount of disparate information of practical use to researchers...It appears that the major portion of the book is accurate and reliable, and a credit to author and publisher."--NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY, Vol. 84, No. 4, pp. 113-115.

"Schaefer provides a well-organized and comprehensive guide to naturalization records held at the local, state, and federal levels...Recommended for libraries serving clientele interested in genealogy."--CHOICE.