---------- From: T. Cheatham[SMTP:cheatham@lcc.net] Sent: Thursday, October 29, 1998 8:40 PM To: RAN-CLAY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [RAN-CLAY-L] [Fwd: [BEVILL-L] Ellis Island to Get Family History Research Center] Some of you might be interested in this article from the Mormon-news. Annette Here is news on the Ellis Island extraction project from Mormon-News. >Subject: Ellis Island to Get Family History Research Center: LDS Church Press Release 28Oct98 >From mormon-news: See footer for instructions on joining and leaving this list. > >ELLIS ISLAND TO GET FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH CENTER Church is Digitizing 17 Million Immigrant Records for the Facility The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is playing a key role in the establishment of a family history research center on New York's Ellis Island, where in two years the public will have automated access to a >computerized database containing 17 million U.S. immigration records. At a news conference today on the island, Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation Chairman Emeritus Lee Iacocca announced plans for the American Family Immigration History Center, expected to open in the year 2000. During the past five years, the Church, in cooperation with the foundation and the National Park Service, has spent more than two million volunteer hours digitizing Ellis Island records. To date, some 65 percent of the >records have been extracted from microfilmed copies of the original >ledgers--passenger records and ships' manifests--which were mostly hand- written, faded and damaged. The original documents were destroyed years ago. > >The remaining 35 percent of the records will be extracted and digitized >by the opening of the center, which will be situated in the Ellis Island >Immigration Museum. The center will house state-of-the-art interactive >computer technology that will bring family documentation and genealogical exploration to visitors. > >The Ellis Island records represent some 60 percent of all U.S. immigration records. It is estimated that more than 100 million Americans today can trace their roots to immigrants who passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. > >The Family History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is a world leader in genealogical research, with more than 3,200 family history centers worldwide and the world's largest collection of >family history records, housed in Salt Lake City. >From mormon-news: Mormon News and Events >Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included --------------4235A1C3C15DF14BDF42C541-- ==== RAN-CLAY Mailing List ==== CYNDI's - http://www.CyndisList.com GEN. RESOURCES ON THE 'NET - http://members.aol.com/johnf14246/internet.html GENSERV - http://www.genserv.com/gs/genssite.htm ______________________________ --------------------