Since 1790 all naturalizations have been performed pursuant to federal law, under a provision of the U.S. Constitution (Art. I, Sect. 8). Until 1906 any state or federal court of record (a court having a seal and a clerk) could naturalize aliens. (In New York the courts of record included the Supreme Court and the county- and some city-level courts, but not the lower- level city, town, or village justices' courts.) An alien intending to be naturalized first files a declaration of intention to become a citizen (the declaration has been voluntary since 1952).

The New York State Constitution of 1777 (Art. 42) authorized the Legislature to naturalize aliens. A few legislative acts of naturalization were passed between 1782 and 1789. They are found in Laws of the State of New York [1777- 1800], 4 vols. (Albany: 1886-87). There is no name index to these naturalizations performed under State law.

Naturalization is a grant of the full legal rights and privileges of a native-born individual to a non-native foreigner. In England, in the American colonies, and in the United States, naturalization has been granted by special legislative act, or by court proceedings authorized by legislation. The Assembly of New York Colony occasionally passed acts naturalizing aliens. In addition, under a British statute of 1740, an alien who had resided in a colony for at least seven years could be naturalized by swearing an oath of allegiance before a local magistrate.

Naturalization and related records help document New York's ethnically and racially diverse population over the past three centuries. The records are useful for family history, because they indicate when immigrant ancestors arrived in America and became naturalized. Since 1790 naturalization proceedings have been a function of the federal government, which may be performed by either a state or federal court.

The New York State Archives must respect the copyright owner's statutorily-protected interest. Section 106 of the Copyright law defines exclusive rights granted to a copyright owner:

by Richard Andress

In addition to the case files that were established for each film reviewed by State censors, the Archives also holds a variety of other records related to the Motion Picture Division and its activities. These include the following:

I. The Film Censorship Records in the New York State Archives

The most important of the censorship records at the New York State Archives are the case files that were established for each film reviewed by State censors. The case files contain the following information.

The New York State Archives preserves the largest collection of film scripts in the world. These scripts can be used to research the history of censorship in New York State and trace the shifting of American attitudes toward sex, religion and morality over the period.

Search the Motion Picture Division Film Script Index (1921-1965)

Request a copy of a script

You can download copies of the annual IMF by clicking on the links below.
Each file was compressed using WinZip.