Primary Sources
New York Times Article
Students can read this article to find out more about the first immigrant registered on Ellis Island and then write a response about who, what, when, where, why, and how? Students then can develop interview questions that they would have asked Annie Moore, if they were news reporters during this time.
Students can read this article to find out more about the first immigrant registered on Ellis Island and then write a response about who, what, when, where, why, and how? Students then can develop interview questions that they would have asked Annie Moore, if they were news reporters during this time.
APA Citation: (1892, January 2) Landed on Ellis Island new immigration buildings opened yesterday. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/Annie_Moore.asp
Ellis Island Passenger Record Archives
In the Passenger Record Archive, you'll find:
Students can interview relatives about their family history to discover if anyone in their family arrived in America through Ellis Island. After the interview, students can use this archive to find the original manifests with the passenger information. Students can also look up other individuals that arrived in Ellis Island. They then can examine the country where the individual came from and the year that the individual arrived and research historical events that were taking place in that individual's country at the time. Using the researched information, students could make inferences about why this individual may have come to America.
APA Citation: The Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Foundation. (2010) Passenger search. Retrieved from http://www.ellisisland.org/search/passSearch.asp
In the Passenger Record Archive, you'll find:
- passenger records, giving passenger name, date of arrival, ship of travel, age on arrival, and more
- original manifests, showing passenger names and other information
- ship information, often with a picture, giving the history and background of each ship that brought the immigrants
Students can interview relatives about their family history to discover if anyone in their family arrived in America through Ellis Island. After the interview, students can use this archive to find the original manifests with the passenger information. Students can also look up other individuals that arrived in Ellis Island. They then can examine the country where the individual came from and the year that the individual arrived and research historical events that were taking place in that individual's country at the time. Using the researched information, students could make inferences about why this individual may have come to America.
APA Citation: The Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Foundation. (2010) Passenger search. Retrieved from http://www.ellisisland.org/search/passSearch.asp
Exploring Immigration Through the Lens of Photography
Students can analyze photographs to visualize first hand details about immigrants experiences at Ellis Island and to help them better understand what immigrants experienced passing through Ellis Island. Using the photographs there are several questions that you can discuss with students. Some include:
Below are several photographs from The New York Public Library's Digital Collection of photographs from Ellis Island.
Students can analyze photographs to visualize first hand details about immigrants experiences at Ellis Island and to help them better understand what immigrants experienced passing through Ellis Island. Using the photographs there are several questions that you can discuss with students. Some include:
- What are your first impressions?
- What is happening in the photograph?
- What objects do you see in the photograph? How may these objects be of importance?
- What kind of clothing is being worn?
- Is there any lettering on signs or buildings?
- What do you think happened just before the picture was taken?
- What do you think happened just after the picture was taken?
- What does this photograph suggest to you?
- What questions do you have about this photograph? How could you try to answer them?
Below are several photographs from The New York Public Library's Digital Collection of photographs from Ellis Island.
APA Citation: New York Public Library Digital Collection (n.d.) Ellis Island. Retrieved from http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?keyword=ellis+island