Ancestry.com launched a new collection today of more than 1,700 recorded oral histories from immigrants who arrived in the United States through Ellis Island. To celebrate the new addition, Ancestry.com is making its entire U.S. Immigration Collection free through Labor Day.
The Ellis Island Oral Histories were captured by the National Park Service starting in the 1970s and are full of first-hand accounts recalling the lives these immigrants left behind, their often trying journey to America, and their reason for leaving their homeland. The original recordings are housed at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum - this is the first time they are available online.
One thing I find interesting is just how many of these interviews were conducted with individuals who were just children when they came to America - many as young as age 3. I wonder how many of the memories are really their own, and how many come from family stories they grew up with over the dinner table. I'm sure a lot of the information in these first-hand accounts is second-hand that way, but the interviews are still wonderful to have. If you can't find an ancestor of your own in the database, try searching for individuals who came over from the same country or town, or someone who was about the same age, or may have had the same type of experience (such as a WWII war bride).
Even better, if you're not an Ancestry.com subscriber, these Ellis Island oral history recordings, along with passenger lists, naturalization records and the rest of the Ancestry.com U.S. Immigration Collection, can be accessed for free online from now through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 6, 2010.