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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; published in the New York Times Feb 1905 (pre-1930 US publication); NYPL marks no known restrictionsOpen source, citation, and stable link
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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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (NYPL Digital Gallery strucID 481279) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created ca. 1906; NYPL marks no known restrictionsOpen source, citation, and stable link
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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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1906; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
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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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1905-1914; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
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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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1905-1914; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
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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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1905-1914; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
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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?
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1905-1914; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
Tap the face you recognize
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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1905-1914; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
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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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1905-1914; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
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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.'
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1905-1914; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
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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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1905-1914; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
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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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1905-1914; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
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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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1905-1914; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
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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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1905-1914; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1905-1914; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
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.
Source & rightsAugustus Francis Sherman · Wikimedia Commons (DPLA / University of Colorado Boulder contribution; NYPL original) · Public domain (Commons-verified)Rights basis: Photographer died 1925; created 1911; NYPL/DPLA mark public domainOpen source, citation, and stable link
WhoThumbu Sammy
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