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7 months ago
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The Museum of the City of New York is launching a new exhibition to mark the anniversary of the busiest day ever recorded at Ellis Island on April 17, 1907.
Preservation in Progress: Picturing Immigration is an installation that offers visitors an exclusive peek into the conservation of one of the museum’s prized possessions: Samuel Bell Waugh’s monumental painting, The Bay and Harbor of New York.
The exhibition explores the painting’s significance as one of the earliest depictions of immigration to the United States and a historical document.
The museum's website states: 'The installation considers this historic painting within a larger context of (often politically charged) visual documentation of the individuals and communities who have looked to New York as a beacon of opportunity and arrived seeking freedom, safety, and a new beginning.'
Visitors can observe this exhibition until October 13, 2024.
The museum has also shared striking photos taken more than 100 years ago on that very day.
Samuel Bell Waugh’s monumental painting, The Bay and Harbor of New York provides a rare depiction of early immigration
On April 17, 1907, Ellis Island processed 11,747 immigrants
On average, Ellis Island would process 5,000 immigrants a day
In April of 1907, the Port of New York received 197 ships and more than a quarter-million passengers from around the world, per the Ellis Island Foundation
In total, 1,004,756 immigrants were processed in the year 1907
An exterior photograph of the front façade of the Ellis Island immigration inspection station, known as the French Renaissance Revival building, from 1907
Ellis Island was the gateway in New York City for 12 million immigrants passing through to start a new life in America between 1892 and 1954
Pictured: A large group of immigrants lined up outside waiting to be taken off Ellis Island, by Edwin Levick, Ellis Island, New York, 1907
Pictured: A group of women and children eating a meal on Ellis Island, the long wooden tables close together to accommodate as many people as possible in this dining hall
Today the 27.5 acre island still greets about two million tourists a year, and received a $160 million renovation in 1990 to accommodate the visitors
Pictured: The pens at the Ellis Island Registry Room (or Great Hall), all filled with immigrants
While first and second-class passengers who arrived in the US were considered wealthy enough to be examined on ships to America, the poorer passengers underwent inspections at Ellis Island
Most successfully passed through in a matter of hours, but others could be detained for days or weeks
Pictured: A Vintage USA political cartoon from 1891, 'Where The Blame Lies’ with the caption: Judge (to Uncle Sam)--"If Immigration was properly restricted you would no longer be troubled with anarchy, socialism, the Mafia and such kindred evils!"
Pictured: A family fetching all of their belongings from the boat in 1905
Pictured: Immigrants stand with trunks outdoors in front of a building on Ellis Island in 1907
A flyer marketing a viewing of one of Waugh's artworks, who was known for his lanscape and moving panorama paintings
The massive wave of immigration ended after the passage of the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the National Origins Act of 1924, which limited the number and nationality of immigrants allowed into the United States
English (US)