AGENCY: District Court (Fourth District : Wasatch County)
SERIES: 10146
TITLE: Declarations of intention and naturalization record books
DATES: i 1896-1935.
ARRANGEMENT: Chronological.
DESCRIPTION: These volumes document the initial declaration of an individual's intention of becoming a U.S._citizen (1896-1935) and the final steps in becoming a citizen (1906-1935). The latter include petitions for naturalization, certificates of citizenship, and accompanying documentation. After 1906, the data are recorded on forms furnished by the Bureau of Naturalization.
The information on the declarations of intention varied over time, starting with the applicant's name, sovereign, dates, and official signatures, and increasing to include more detail about the origin of the immigrant and family members.
On the petitions for citizenship, detailed personal, family, and emigration data were recorded from 1906 on. On these also were recorded affidavits of two citizen witnesses validating the individual's petition information and declaring he was of good moral character, oaths of allegiance, and the court order admitting the petitioner to citizenship. Various corroborating documents are bound into the volumes along with the petitions, including declarations of intention filed earlier in a variety of courts, certificates of arrival, witness depositions, and occasional correspondence.
Very few of either category of documents were filed in the 1930s, so in 1935 the court relinquished jurisdiction in all naturalization matters, referring individuals instead to the U.S._Circuit Court at Salt Lake City.
RETENTION
DISPOSITION
RETENTION AND DISPOSITION AUTHORIZATION
These records are in Archives' permanent custody.
FORMAT MANAGEMENT
Microfilm master: Retain in State Archives permanently with authority to weed.
Microfilm duplicate: Retain in State Archives permanently with authority to weed.
APPRAISAL
Administrative Historical
This series is the only copy the archives holds of certain documents belonging to series 10149 (declarations of intention) and series 84156 (naturalization records).
PRIMARY DESIGNATION
Public