New Jersey State Library

The New Jersey State Library has the World War I Draft Registration files for the men who registered in the State of New Jersey. The importance of these records is found in the information collected in them. The data collected include physical description of the registrant, occupation, where employed and next of kin.

In April 1917 the United State of America entered the war in Europe. On May 18th 1917, the Selective Service Act was passed, authorizing the President to increase temporarily the military establishment. The Selective Service System was made up of 52 states (or territory) offices, 155 district boards, 1319 medical advisory boards, and 4648 local boards. The average district board had jurisdiction over approximately 30 local boards, each with an average registration of 500 men. The following groups of men were included in the draft:           

1. All male citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 years of age.           
2. Male aliens (excepting some groups) between the ages of 18 and 45 years of age, and who had already declared their intention to become citizens.
   

The microfilm collection is from the National Archives and Records Administration. The original paper forms are housed in The National Archives Office in Georgia. The collection takes up 126 reels of microfilm. The records are microfilmed in a small format, and many are hard to read due to the deterioration of the paper before they had been reproduced in microfilm. There is no index. The film is organized alphabetically by local draft board starting with Atlantic City, New Jersey. The men are then listed alphabetically within the local draft board.

The sequence of the draft boards on the film is a combination of larges places, such as Atlantic City, Camden City, Jersey City, Newark and Trenton and county names, such as Camden, Essex and Salem counties. The large metropolitan areas contain many draft boards. To find a specific person, you will need to browse the alphabetical list of men for each local draft board. You will find the following geographic break downs: Atlantic City, Atlantic County, Bayonne City, Bergen County, Burlington County, Camden City, Camden County, Cumberland County, East Orange City, Elizabeth City, Essex County, Gloucester County, Hoboken City, Hudson County, etc.

The reels are considered reference, and therefore, do not circulate. The reels are available to the public for research during normal library hours. The microfilm will not be searched by staff.

For those who cannot get to the New Jersey State Library, you have at least 2 options:

1. rent a copy from the National Archives
2. The National Archives Branch in New York City has a copy of the draft for New Jersey.