Ellis Island Immigration Center

On April 17, 2001, the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. opened an exciting family history research facility, the American Family Immigration History Center, at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and on the Internet at www.ellisisland.org. It provides visitors with advanced computer and multimedia technology for investigating immigration history, family documentation and genealogical exploration.

In this part of the center, the records of more than 22 million immigrants, passengers and crewmembers who entered through the Port of New York and Ellis Island from 1892—1924 are available for the first time in an electronic database for easy access on 41 computer terminals. The information from these valuable documents covers 11 fields including:

• Immigrant's Given Name

• Immigrant's Surname

• Ethnicity

• Last Residence (Town and Country)

• Date of Arrival

• Age of Arrival

• Gender

• Marital Status

• Ship of Travel

• Port of Departure

• Line Number on Manifest

Printouts of the above information are available, as well as scanned reproductions of over 3.5 million actual manifest pages and pictures with historic information on over 800 passenger ships that carried immigrants to America.

More in-depth exploration of family history is offered through a software program called, "The Immigrant Experience." Visitors have access to state-of-the-art computer terminals and electronic scanning and audio recording equipment to create their own family history scrapbook. For more information, write the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box Ellis, New York, NY 10163; for reservations, call (212) 561-4500; or visit www.ellisisland.org.