for as far back as my earliest days of research I was told the immigration records for the 1800's to Baltimore "had burned in a fire in the 1940's" and not to expect to find the records. on a fluke today I decided to see if Ancestry had scanned the index that had been made of the immigration lists before the fire. I never got to that, because when I clicked on what I thought was the index, instead I got the original manifest! the family only has initials instead of full given names, but I know it well as it's a well documented one, and every initial and age is a perfect match, plus this family kept the arrival date as part of the family story, so I also had the date to work with. so if you have ancestors who came into Baltimore and you believe the story put out that the records burned, check Ancestry, you may be pleasantly surprised! Cornelia