Collection context
Summary
- Abstract:
- The collection consists of Sacramento County court records pertaining to the legal process of an immigrant becoming a naturalized American citizen, which was done at the county level from 1850-1955. These records are drawn from Sacramento's District, County, and Superior Courts. The naturalization process is recorded in three documents: 1) Declaration of Intention; 2) Petition for Naturalization; and 3) Oath of Citizenship, which is the final naturalization record.
- Extent:
- 74 Volumes and 2.5 Linear Feet (two cartons, two manuscript boxes, one flat oversized box)
- Language:
- English and English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], MS0008, Sacramento County (Calif.) Naturalizations Records, Center for Sacramento History.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
In Sacramento County, the citizenship process was done at the county level from 1850 to 1955. This collection consists of the original naturalization records of people who became U.S. citizens while living in Sacramento County during that time. It also contains indexes to those records, stub books, fee books, and other related records, including a repatriation book.
Declarations of intent date from 1848 to circa 1951. Petitions and oaths date from 1861 to 1954; there a very small number of petitions and oaths from 1850 to 1860, which are not indexed.
This is an artificial collection created using records from three different courts that handled naturalizations in Sacramento County: County Court and District Court (up to 1879), and Superior Court (after 1879).
Naturalization records detail the process that individuals took to become a naturalized American citizen. The naturalization process is recorded in three documents: 1) Declaration of Intention; 2) Petition for Naturalization; and 3) Oath of Citizenship, which is the final naturalization record.
The information found in the records includes country of nativity, name of petitioner, arrival information, residence address, family names, and witness names. Some records also include photographs of the petitioner.
The repatriation book in this collection is of particular interest because it consists of petitions from American-born women seeking to regain their lost American citizenship after repatriation laws were changed in 1940. U.S. expatriation legislation from 1868 to 1940 said a female American citizen lost her citizenship if she married a foreign national.
Some records found in this collection were not created by the courts of Sacramento. In most cases these include declarations of intention which were created by other courts and submitted as evidence during the naturalization process. Records not created by Sacramento courts do not appear in the indexes.
- Acquisition information:
- The bulk of the naturalization records were acquired by the Center for Sacramento History from the California State Archives as part of a large transfer of government records. This transfer was assigned accession number of 1980/132.
- Processing information:
-
This collection was processed in multiple parts:
The County Court Naturalization Case Files (Accession number 1980/132 .5 linear ft.) were processed by Susan Searcy on 10-5-1981. The Superior Court Declarations of Intention to be Naturalized (Accession number 1980/132, 5.5 linear ft.) were processed by LEH on 2/23/1981 The Superior Court Declarations of Intention to be Naturalized Index (Accession number 1980/132, .25 linear ft.) was processed by LEH on 2/20/1981 The Superior Court Naturalization Records (Accession number missing, 3.5 linear ft.) which includes records from the Superior, District, and County Courts was processed by LEH in 1979. The Superior Court Naturalization Records (Accession number 1980/132, 11 linear ft.) were processed by LEH on 2/20/1981. The Superior Court Naturalization Records volume A-C(Accession number 1980/132, .5 linear ft) were processed by LEH on 2/20/1981. The Superior Court Naturalization Records volumes A-F (Accession number 1980/132, 1.2 linear ft.) were processed by LEH on 2/19/1981. The Superior Court Naturalization Records Index (Accession number 1980/132, .3 linear ft) was processed by LEH on 2/20/1981.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged into 3 series:
- Series 1. Declarations of intent, 1850-1955
- Series 2. Petitions and oaths, 1850-1955
- Series 3. Superior Court stub books, fee books, and other records, ca. 1907-1929
Records are generally arranged chronologically by volume. Petitions for naturalization volumes are arranged chronologically by petition number. Indexes are arranged alphabetically by the name of the petitioner.
In some cases, records from other courts are included in this finding aid. The dates on these records overlap with those of the records created by the courts in Sacramento.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Terms of access:
-
This collection is open for research use. No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], MS0008, Sacramento County (Calif.) Naturalizations Records, Center for Sacramento History.
- Location of this collection:
-
551 Sequoia Pacific Blvd.Sacramento, CA 95811, US
- Contact:
- (916) 808-7072