Hello All, Back in the pre-digital dark ages (1980s), I spent many hours in the very good Genealogical Library of the Houston Public Library, searching for the immigration arrival in the US of, among other people, my great-uncle Thomas Plunkett. I looked at reel after reel of microfilmed index records, finally found some possibilities, ordered the passenger-list microfilms, and found the passenger list I wanted. The best photocopy I could get was a very large and very dark one, which I still have. Recently I wanted to get a good, regular one-page copy that Ancestry supplies, so I did a regular search with the name, arrival date, arrival port, and ship name. Despite trying several exact and not-exact search terms, I never got a link to the record I knew existed. So I had to assume that the list I wanted had not been digitally indexed and was therefore not available at Ancestry. One of the non-productive searches I had done used the search terms NAME "Plunkett," ARRIVAL 1910 Boston, in the "Boston Passenger and Crew Lists, 18920-1943" database. Again, no correct hits. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a "Browse Individual Records >" link at the bottom of the boxed statements in the left-hand column. I took note, and moved on. As I continued the non-productive searches I followed some links like this: "Book Indexes to Boston Passenger Lists, 1899-1940 PASSENGER LISTS." Clicking such a link produced a regular transcription box with these data: Name: Thomas Plunkett, Ship Name: Carmania, Date of Arrival: 15 Apr 1923, Age: 32, Estimated Birth Year: abt 1891 (not my Tom Plunkett). Clicking the "View original image" image to the right of the transcribed data led to a five-column list with column headings NAME, AGE, LIST, NO., DESTINATION, that is, not to the full passenger list. At the time, these book indexes seemed useless to me and they frustrated me. But finally my brain clicked, and it occurred to me that Ancestry might have un-indexed passenger lists in its database after all, and that the Book Indexes were meant to aid accessing them. Since I knew the ship name and arrival date of the one I wanted, I worked my way back to a screen that showed the passenger-list "Browse Individual Records >" link, clicked the link, entered the requested information, and, Eureka!, arrived at the first page of the correct passenger list. I made a line-by-line search of the first several pages until I found the one I wanted, and copied it in the usual way. Using the Book Indexes need not be limited to cases for which the arrival data are known. They can also be used to access un-indexed lists for search hits that MAY be the one you want but require verification by looking at the passenger's detailed information on the list. I know that the steps I described above, arriving at an "All Boston Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1943 results for Plunkett" screen, produced a page with the "Browse Individual Records >" link, but screens from many of the other searches I made did not contain that link. I haven't figured out when exactly the "Browse" link does and does not appear, so I've bookmarked the page where I know I'll find it and I'll use that page in future if I need to browse. Frustrating, yes, but fun to make a good connection, also. PJ