NEW YORK, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of Family History Month,
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. today announced the
official re-launch of its award-winning website -- http://www.ellisisland.org
-- featuring improved navigation, retooled and advanced search capabilities,
as well as family history research tips and forms, free to all users.
The newly revamped site, which contains 25 million ships' passenger
records covering entry through the Port of New York and Ellis Island from
1892-1924, first launched on April 17, 2001 to critical acclaim and a deluge
of traffic. To date the site has received over 6 billion hits.
New features offered include:
* Expanded and improved search capabilities that allow for a more refined
search employing the SOUNDEX system and enabling input for the following
data fields:
- First Name of Passenger
- Last Name of Passenger
- Gender
- Marital Status
- Approximate Year of Birth of Passenger
- Year Range (Expands range for Year of Birth)
- Approximate Year of Arrival
- Year Range (Expands range for Year of Arrival)
- Town/Village of Origin
- Name of Passenger Ship
- Ethnicity
* Improved and streamlined site navigation, with most features just one
mouse click away.
* Genealogy Learning Center which provides a clearing house of immigration
information including how-to articles, free downloadable genealogy
charts and forms, as well as useful tips on using the new search tools.
* Ability to easily notify the Foundation of transcription errors via an
email link on the Passenger Record page so that they can be corrected
once confirmed.
* The "Ellis Island Society Links Network" which connects visitors seeking
additional assistance with societies specializing in local genealogy,
history, ethnic and surname research.
* New content areas including background on the history of Ellis Island,
historic photos, and information on planning a visit to Ellis Island.
* Famous Arrivals Page which links the user to the fascinating information
available on the passenger manifests of famous personalities who arrived
in the Port of New York as immigrants or simply travelers.
* And the opportunity for users to purchase a new archival quality
commemorative Passenger Arrival Certificate containing up to 11 fields
of immigration information.
"We have paid close attention to the feedback we have been receiving from
the millions of people who have used our website over the past three years,"
said Stephen A. Briganti, President and CEO of The Statue of Liberty-Ellis
Island Foundation, Inc. "We are proud of the work we have done so far and
pleased to unveil these exciting new features and improvements as an extension
of our continued service to all families involved in tracing the lives of
their immigrant ancestors."
To try these new features out for yourself or for more information on The
Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, visit:
http://www.ellisisland.org
A variety of additional features are scheduled to be phased in over the
coming weeks.
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