FamilySearch announced that Ellis Island Immigrant Records 1820-1957 are now online and free to access on FamilySearch.

Check out the “Great Wave” of immigration (1880s–early 1920s) among the complete collection of Ellis Island passenger lists.

According to the announcement:

Ship passenger lists can teach you more than you might think about your traveling ancestors. Earlier records may include a full name, age, gender, occupation, nationality, intended destination (country), name of ship and date of arrival. Later records may also name traveling companions and relatives “back home” or in the United States. You may also learn a relative’s marital status, physical description, last permanent residence, or birthplace. Any of these details can help you build your family tree and connect with your immigrant ancestors.

Personally, I’ve found surprising information tucked into passenger logs and immigration records on my own ancestors.

The collection includes:

• New York Passenger Lists (Castle Garden) 1820–1891
• New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island) 1892–1924
• New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists 1925–1957

The records of Ellis Island (and Castle Rock) were originally preserved on microfilm, a technology FamilySearch and others are quickly digitizing with the help of many FamilySearch volunteers. The announcement of the joint project between Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation and FamilySearch noted that it took 165,590 online FamilySearch volunteers to convert and transcribe the 9.3 million images of records totaling 63.7 million names, “including immigrants, crew, and other passengers traveling to and from the United States through the nation’s largest port of entry.”

Luckily for us, all of these records are free to access through FamilySearchch, though registration to log into FamilySearch is required.