Creator: Work Projects Administration (RG 60).

Collection Summary: Reporting forms inventorying naturalization documentation for individuals who were naturalized in Mississippi between 1790 and 1906, when naturalization laws changed. Prior to 1906, naturalization was a two-step process: an alien could file a “declaration of intent” to seek citizenship two years after coming to the United States, and three years following, could file a “petition of naturalization.” If the petition was granted, a certificate of naturalization was issued. This process could occur in any court of record, usually in the local county court.  The reporting forms were created between 1936 and 1941 as part of the Work Projects Administration's endeavors and cover declarations of intent and petitions of naturalization with spaces to report the individual’s name and age, country of birth, date of arrival and port of entry into the United States, the date of the naturalization proceeding, and the names of witnesses. Researchers should note, however, that many spaces were left blank by project workers and forms rarely contain all the information for which space was provided. Also, because the wives and children of naturalized citizens were granted citizenship automatically, all the forms are for male citizenship applicants. Only twenty-seven counties are represented in this series: Amite, Attala, Clarke, Clay, Coahoma, Copiah, Franklin, Grenada, Harrison, Hinds, Holmes, Itawamba, Jones, Marshall, Montgomery, Neshoba, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Panola, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tunica, Winston, and Yazoo. Files are arranged alphabetically by county.

Access Restrictions: None.

Date(s): 1936-1941.

Volume: 1.00 Cubic Feet.

Finding Aid Created By: Colby Cox in October 2024.

Related Materials: Researchers should note that images of the records were created in 2011 by FamilySearch from papers at MDAH; the images can be viewed through the MDAH online catalog record for this series. Scans are arranged alphabetically by folder description.

Record Group History: The Works Projects Administration (WPA) was a federal program established on May 6th, 1935, in order to increase employment during the Great Depression. While the WPA was a federal program, it was implemented and managed on the state level with each state having their own director and office to guide the operation of the WPA for each state. The WPA was primarily focused on employing individuals for the purpose of creating public works and infrastructure, but a small portion of its funding was devoted to cultural and artistic endeavors which the files in this collection are primarily concerned with. Two of the major cultural projects the WPA undertook were the Federal Writers’ Project and the Historical Records Survey. The Federal Writers Project employed writers to create guides, histories, and chronicles for each state and the Historical Records Survey sought to catalogue the historical records of each state.

Collection Inventory:
Box Content 

Box Number

Amite - Prentiss counties10451
Quitman - Yazoo counties10452