The records, which were found in a church in Manhattan, New York, contain the handwritten entries of each woman's name, age, county of origin and destination address, making them some of the most valuable records ever found of Irish emigration to the US.

"We have more information here than the Ellis Island records, " said Fr Peter Meehan, parish priest of Our Lady of the Rosary Church in downtown Manhattan. "These tell the stories of thousands of Irish women who came to America and were given help.

It's a great story of inspiration."

Meehan discovered the four ledgers of records in the vault of Our Lady's when he first arrived in the parish six years ago, but it was only in the last couple of years that he decided to make use of them. Since then, each ledger has been stabilised so it can be handled without damage. The most recent project is the indexing:

a team of student volunteers at Pace University are laboriously working through the lists to put each name on a computer database.

"So far we have 12,000 names and they're not in alphabetical order yet so we have a long way to go, but we're making good progress, " said the priest. He said he had received several "very generous" offers from the Mormon church and other groups who want to index the records themselves, but has so far refused them.

"I'm guarding these ledgers carefully right now until the work is done because to me this is a story of a work of great charity, " he said. "Once they're digitised and in the public arena, they'll certainly be of use to genealogists, but until then, they are not leaving here."

The ledgers originate from a charity that was set up by priests in 1883 to help the vast numbers of Irish women who were arriving unprotected and friendless in America. The organisation, also called Our Lady of the Rosary, operated out of the church, which stands near the Manhattan docks, and helped women and girls to meet up with their relatives and find work.

"At a time like this, when the church is getting terrible press, it's nice to remember that it did actually do some good and help a huge number of immigrants, " said Meehan.

"And at a time in America when so many people are hostile to immigration, I think that this place could serve as an inspiration and a reminder to them all."