As Mr. Smith has noted in the Introduction to this work, "There is little so rare in German-American genealogy as a complete emigrant passenger list from Bremen." As most researchers know, the Bremen lists were destroyed during the fire storm of that city during World War II. In the case of this work, however, Mr. Smith was able to recover fourteen Bremen lists because they had been reprinted in the obscure weekly newspaper from Rudolstadt, Thuringia, entitled the "Allgemeine Auswanderungs-Zeitung" (which can be found in the rare-book collection at Yale University). The compiler has transcribed the names of all persons bound for America from each of the fourteen lists. The emigrants, who are arranged alphabetically, are identified by place of origin and sometimes by the number of persons in the passenger's family or the names of traveling companions.

Provides name lists from the Old Lutheran emigration in the mid-19th Century, from Eastern Germany (mainly Pomerania and lower Silesia) to Australia, Canada, and the United States.