Communities Minister Gordon Lyons launched a new PRONI publication titled Ulster American Treasures: The Migration Story at Belfast City Hall.

The book records stories of people who left Ulster for America and their role in the founding of the United States.

It covers events including ocean crossings, employment challenges, the American Revolutionary War, the US Civil War and the Great Famine.

Documents include accounts from Charles Thomson of Maghera, County Londonderry, who served as Secretary to the Continental Congress, and John Dunlap of County Tyrone, who printed the first copies of the Declaration of Independence.

Minister Lyons said the publication aims to highlight ongoing connections between Northern Ireland and the United States.

US Consul General James Applegate noted that a quarter of a million people left the region for America in the fifty years before the war of independence.

The book forms part of preparations for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.