The series reproduces information from the original ship manifest schedules, or passenger lists, filed by all vessels entering U.S. ports. All volumes are arranged in chronological order by each ship's date of arrival. For every passenger list, the following information is provided: ship name, port of departure, port of arrival, date of arrival, and list of German-surname passengers. Ships that departed from German ports or carried passengers who declared themselves to be of German origin are included, with full name, age, sex, occupation, and, when this information is given, country, province or village of origin provided for each emigrant. One of the most important features of this series is the complete index of names at the end of every volume, making it easy to find a particular individual or family name.