Start Your Genealogy Research
We have arranged the Genealogy section of the website by research topics, or types of records available to search.
From the Research Topics pages, you will find links to pages throughout the website with articles, finding aids, and other helpful information to help you prepare for your genealogical research at the National Archives.
The records in our holdings that are most commonly used by genealogists include:
- Census Records
- Military Records
- Immigration Records (Ship Passenger Lists)
- Naturalization Records
- Land Records
View Videos from our Beginning Family History Workshops
Videos from our genealogy workshops are also available, with many topics on how to get started using NARA records:
- Videos from our "Know Your Records" series
- Videos and handouts from our Virtual Genealogy Fair
What Records You Can Find Online
We provide digitized images of many of our records through the National Archives Catalog. We also provide you with research tools, such as microfilm indexes, as well as resources, such as finding aids, articles and information on where to find the records, how to access them, and how to conduct in-person research.
Here's a list of some of our online records that might help you with genealogy.
What are some of the Genealogical Records we have online?
- Casualty lists for the Korean and Vietnam Wars
- Selected Chinese exclusion lists
- Fugitive Slave Case Papers, 1850 - 1860 and Petitions Filed Under the Fugitive Slave Act (Fugitive Slave Petition Book), 1850-1860, Search in the National Archives Catalog
- Fort Smith, Arkansas: 50,000 Criminal Case Files, Search in the National Archives Catalog
- Appointments and Oaths of U.S. Marshals and Deputy Marshals, 1864-1912, Search in the National Archives Catalog
- Alien Registration Affidavits from the U.S. District Court, Phoenix Division, Search in the National Archives Catalog
- Chinese Exclusion Act files, Search in the National Archives Catalog
- Sample Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, ca. 1800 - ca. 1900, Search in the National Archives Catalog
- Records of Death and Interment at Camp Nelson, KY, 1864-1865, Search in the National Archives Catalog
- Sample Case Files of Members, Battle Mountain Sanitarium, 1907-1934, Search in the National Archives Catalog
- Spanish-American War Compiled Military Service Records for 1,235 "Rough Riders", Search in the National Archives Catalog
- State Summaries of War Casualties for the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard during World War II, 1946, Search in the National Archives Catalog
- World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel, 1946, Search in the National Archives Catalog
- Dawes Rolls Index and Final Rolls, Search in the National Archives Catalog
- Casualty lists for WWII, Korean War and Vietnam War, Search in AAD (Access to Archives Databases)
- Prisoner of War lists from WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War, Search in AAD
- Passenger lists into the Port of New York, 1846-1851, the "Famine Irish data files", Search in AAD
- Japanese-American Internee File, 1942 - 1946, Search in AAD
- Records of Duty Locations for Naval Intelligence Personnel, 1942 - 1945, Search in AAD
- Index to the Gorgas Hospital Mortuary Death Records, 1979 - 1991, Search in AAD
- Records of Awards and Decorations of Honor During the Vietnam Conflict, 10/1968 - 12/1972, Search in AAD
Note: The National Archives has a subscription to Ancestry and Fold3, which have digitized many of NARA's holdings with genealogical interest, and made them available online. There is unlimited access to these services, free-of-charge, from any NARA facility nationwide. Please see our Digitized by Partners page to see which records they have digitized.