The most useful surviving lists are those made in the country of arrival, not of departure. National Archives staff in Washington. DC, will only search the immigration passenger lists up to 1954 if an inquirer can give the full names and ages of the passenger and of accompanying passengers, the port of entry, the vessel, and exact date of arrival. Requests for searches should be made on NATF Form 81, Order for Copies of Ship Passenger Arrival Records. You can do-it-yourself at the local Family History Centers, especially on the unindexed New York lists. The FHL has acquired 99% of National Archives passenger records. Not all persons who entered the United States appear on the available passenger lists. Some lists were lost. Some ship captains probably did not record all passengers on the lists for one reason or another. Indexers do not always spell names correctly, often because the original version of the name was illegible. Since no index is 100% accurate, the only way to be certain whether or not a name is in the actual record is to search the record itself. Go to the following for a Guide to Research: Immigration and Ship Passengers Lists http://home.att.net/~arnielang/shipgide.html Here is the url for The National Archives, with links to information available on all ports and the appropriate microfilm series. http://www.nara.gov/publications/microfilm/immigrant/immpass.html#portindex Here are the Family History Library Catalog numbers. Index to passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York, June 16, 1897-June 30, 1902 ; Index (soundex) to passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York, July 1,1902 -December 31, 1943 ; Passenger and crew lists of vessels arriving at New York, 1897-1924.( T0621) (T0715) (T0519) FHLC# 0543449 Index (soundex) to passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York, July 1, 1902-December 31, 1943 (T0621) FHLC # 1379501 Passenger and crew lists of vessels arriving at New York, 1897-1924. (T0715) FHLC# 1403751 Register of vessels arriving at the Port of New York from foreign ports,1789-1919. (M1066) FHLC# 1415143 Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, NY, 1820--1897. (M237) FHLC # 0002246 Passenger and crew lists of vessels arriving at New York, 1897-1924.(T715) FHLC # 1403751 Passenger lists of vessels arriving at New York, 1820-1897 ; index to passenger lists of vessels arriving in New York, 1820-1846.(Microcopy 237) ( Microcopy 261) FHLC # 0350204 Book indexes to New York City passenger lists, April 1906-September 1920.(T612) FHLC# 1463601 Ellen enaliboff@home.com