Record Search update for New Zealand and Argentina

FamilySearch's Record Search has just published the New Zealand, Immigration Passenger Lists from 1871 to 1915. The records contain images only and are further described in the FamilySearch Wiki as follows:

The passenger lists include immigrants arriving mostly from the British Isles, and also from Western Europe, Asia, and the Polynesia. Many people immigrated to New Zealand to form colonies and settle for a better life. From 1840 until the 1970s, Britain was the main source for immigrants; all ships carrying passengers in or out of any British port were required by law to present their passenger lists to the relevant port authorities. Other immigrants came from Western Europe, some from Polynesia, and Asia. Prior to 1900 there were various classes of immigrants; the largest groups were the assisted immigrants and paying passengers. Beginning in 1871 the New Zealand Government began to offer assisted passages to selected immigrants and those people nominated by relatives. The migration of the 1870s was the most significant in New Zealand history. In the year 1874 thousands of assisted immigrants arrived in New Zealand, this was the greatest level of migration ever. Almost half of the new immigrants came with government assistance. Three-quarters of these sailed directly from the United Kingdom. Because of economic difficulties in the later 19th century assistance was finally terminated. In the year 1891 New Zealand received the last small group of assisted migrants. However, assisted migration was restored in 1904, when the economy of the country returned to prosperity, making it once more an attractive country to new immigrants. During the early 20th century one-third of the immigrants came from Australia, and two-thirds from the United Kingdom. Because of the multi-cultural nature of the immigrants, New Zealand became a multi-cultural community from the outset.

An extensive discussion of New Zealand immigration and emigration is also found in the FamilySearch Wiki. Users of the FamilySearch Wiki still need to be careful in following links or trying to find resources since the cross-references between articles are frequently missing. Since the Wiki is a user generated resource, please take the time to add in these valuable cross-reference connections as you find them needed in your interest areas. For example, if you start with the main page of the Wiki and then click on the link to see all the records, you can find a link to New Zealand in the alphabetical link to all the countries. However, when you go to the New Zealand page, there is a link to "Emigration and Immigration" but that link does not connect with the new records page containing the actual records. It is entirely unclear how many of these orphan pages are out there now in the FamilySearch Wiki.

Record Search also announced that it combined the Argentine Catholic Church records for Resistencia and Tucuman and that the Santa Fe Diocese has been added to that collection.