Ellis Island: The Families Who Arrived
16 photos, hung as rooms. Every plaque says what the family confirmed — and what is still a guess.
About this exhibit
Between 1905 and 1920, Augustus Sherman — the chief registry clerk at Ellis Island — photographed the people who passed through his registry room. They had crossed an ocean toward family already in America, or with the family they could bring. He photographed them in the clothes they arrived in: parish dress, bridal crowns, kilts, greatcoats. Almost none of their names were written down. Three sitters on this wall have their names back; one family kept its surname through a captioned duplicate print. The rest wait. If your family passed through this hall, someone photographed like this is in your shoebox too.
The walk
16 photos
Turned away at the door: a Hungarian group, February 1905
WhenFebruary 1905
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
Printed in The New York Times that Sunday, captioned 'Hungarian Gypsies all of whom were deported.' The only photograph on this wall where we know how the story ended: the door did not open.
The Rome family, from Serbia
Whencirca 1906
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
A Serbian Romani family, photographed together. Most of Sherman's sitters lost their names at the door; this family kept theirs because a duplicate print carried a caption — the Rome family, identified a century later.
Three Russian Cossacks
When1906
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
Three men who crossed alone, photographed in greatcoats and papakhas at the registry. Names not recorded.
A Slovak mother and her two children
Whencirca 1905-1914
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
She carries one child bundled at her hip; the other wears his best hat. The record kept her village's costume and lost her name.
A mother and two daughters from Zuid-Beveland
Whencirca 1905-1914
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
Three women in the winged caps of Zeeland, Sunday best worn for the inspectors. Whoever met them on the other side of the registry never appears in these photographs.
Two children from the Island of Marken
Whencirca 1905-1914
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
Two Dutch toddlers on the Ellis Island stairs, holding religious tracts. Who gave them the tracts, and who they became, the record does not say.
Sami children, holding hands
Whencirca 1905-1914
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
They held hands for the photograph. The record says 'possibly from Sweden' — even the country is uncertain. Who is this?
Three Scottish boys
Whencirca 1905-1914
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
Three boys in kilts and glengarries, dressed for a country they had not seen yet.
A girl from Rättvik, Dalarna
Whencirca 1905-1914
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
Her parish dress says exactly where she came from — Rättvik, in Dalarna, Sweden. Nothing says who she was.
A Norwegian woman, wearing a crown
Whencirca 1905-1914
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
She packed a crown for the crossing. The record calls her only 'Norwegian woman.'
Three women from Guadeloupe
Whencirca 1905-1914
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
Among the most reproduced portraits Sherman ever made — the main building rises behind them — and still, no one wrote down their names.
A Romanian piper
Whencirca 1905-1914
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
He brought his pipes through steerage. The record holds the instrument and the costume; the name is gone.
A German stowaway
Whencirca 1905-1914
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
No ticket, no papers — Sherman photographed his tattoos instead. The only biography he carried was on his skin.
Wilhelm Schleich, miner, of Hohenpeissenberg
Whencirca 1905-1914
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
A Bavarian miner in ceremonial dress. His name survived — one of the few Sherman sitters recorded at the door.
WhoWilhelm Schleich
Reverend Joseph Vasilon, Greek Orthodox priest
Whencirca 1905-1914
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
A priest crossing to serve a congregation that had crossed before him. His name was written down — a rare courtesy on this wall.
WhoRev. Joseph Vasilon
Thumbu Sammy, aged 17
WhenApril 14, 1911
WhereEllis Island, New York Harbor
The archive filed him as 'Hindoo boy' for a century. A duplicate print carried a caption — Thumbu Sammy, aged 17, ex S.S. Adriatic — and gave him his name back.
WhoThumbu Sammy
The guest book
No lines yet. Leave the first one.
Nostalgia Curated reviews every line before it appears here.
You walked Ellis Island: The Families Who Arrived. 16 photographs, kept and named as carefully as the record allows.
You'll confirm by email first. Then at most one email a week, and only when “Ellis Island: The Families Who Arrived” actually changes. One-click unsubscribe, always.
13 families here are still unnamed. Is there a photograph in your family nobody has named?
Restore a photo free, no sign-upPrefer to do this on your phone?