The Municipal Archives of New York City offers a searchable inventory spreadsheet to locate marriage contracts from the years 1901-1967.
The majority date from 1902-1907 (date of marriage contract). Though there are marriage contracts for people from all five boroughs of New York City, the contracts are arranged by a sequential number assigned by the City Clerk’s Office, numbers 1 to 8616. Most contracts were filed within a few days of the marriage but the 8600 numbered contracts were filed a few months or sometimes years after the marriage. Marriage contracts before 1908 pre-date the marriage license requirement.
Information on the contracts include the name and address of the persons getting married; names and residences of the witnesses; name of the notary public; signatures of all involved, plus the date the contract was received by the City Clerk. Sometimes the place of birth of the bride and groom is also listed.
To search the inventory spreadsheet, go to: https://a860-collectionguides.nyc.gov/repositories/2/archival_objects/917128 and click on external documents.
