May 31, 2006
Ellis Island database expanding but remaining free
The free online database operated out of Ellis Island has been expanding, with more people correcting inaccuracies and creating easier ways to search for your ancestors. The American Family Immigration History Center even has a list of famous people who came through Ellis Island, including Cary Grant, Bela Lugosi, Woodrow Wilson, Sigmund Freud, Giacomo Puccini and the Ringling brothers.
Although a recent fundraising letter from The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation Inc. warns that costs are increasing and that the non-profit is "at something of a crossroads," there is no imminent plan to start charging for access to the records, Peg Zitko, the organization's vice president of public affairs, told NewYorkology.
 However, the database is expensive to operate and "the day could come that we would have to charge," she said.
Until then, it's free to use online. You can get a lot of information with as little as a poorly spelled last name and first initial, if the name isn't too common. You can also purchase copies of manifests ($25 and up,) as well as pictures of the ships your relatives arrived on. (All suitable for framing, of course.)
If you take the ferry to Ellis Island to use the database, there is a small fee, but you get the benefit of the on-site staff who can help explain what you're looking at and can print and frame your documents while you wait.
Zitko said the staff at the Immigration History Center is also asking people to help them correct errors in the database, but only when it appears there's been an error in deciphering handwriting. "Some people are asking for changes in the historic record," she said -- something they just don't do, no matter how mangled great granny's name may have appeared written on the passenger manifest.
Earlier: Ellis Island gets closer to opening Ferry Building
Exploring secret Ellis Island during Open House NY
Celebrating the era of grand ocean liners
Shuttered Ellis Island buildings could open to public
NewYorkology Basics: Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island
May 31, 2006 11:36 AM in History, Museums, Techology
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