Between 1892 and 1924, more than 18 million immigrants coming to America were processed at the Ellis Island immigration entry center. More than 40% of the American population can trace their ancestry to the tiny island that lies between New Jersey and New York a short distance from the Statue of Liberty. Not surprisingly, Ellis Island, now the nation's immigration museum, is one of the most popular attractions in New York.

But while visitors to Ellis Island can learn a great deal about the history of American immigration, they cannot learn much about their own families' passage during their visit. But that will change soon. Officials at Ellis Island have announced that the American Family Immigration History Center will open at the museum in 2000. It will have a computerized database of arrival records from the ships that transported passengers to their new homeland.

According to Lee Iacocca, former chairman of Daimler-Chrysler and chairman emeritus of The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, said making the ship manifests available to the public has been a goal since the foundation was created in 1982.

The records have been available on microfilm at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. for several years. Now members of the Mormon Church are involved in the major volunteer project to enter all the records into a database. Despite the major savings from having so much labor on the project donated, the Immigration History Center will still cost $15 million. All of the money will come from private fundraising.

For a small fee, visitors will be able to access one of thirty-five computer stations and search the records by name. The database will also search for similar sounding names and similarly-spelled names. The American Family Immigration History Center's design is being overseen by Edwin Schlossberg, wife of John F. Kennedy's daughter Caroline.