Ellis Island, Public Health and the American Workforce,1891-1924

FAIN: BH-50261-08

Save Ellis Island, Inc. (Mt. Olive, NJ 07828-1388)
Dorothy W. Hartman (Project Director: March 2008 to September 2009)

Save Ellis Island (SEI), a 501 (c ) 3 non-profit and National Park Service partner for the restoration and reuse of the U.S. Public Health Service hospitals on Ellis Island, will convene two one-week workshops investigating the impact of immigration to America in the early twentieth century. Ellis Island was the gateway to America, where 12 million immigrants first set foot America, some denied entry because of new health restrictions outlined in the 1891 federal immigration legislation. Using the power of place on Ellis Island, the workshop will examine this legislation and its impact on immigration at the time in light of contemporary economic, social and political thought . The workshop will include presentations by scholars, tours of Ellis Island's hospital buildings and Immigration Museum, field trips, and opportunities for teachers to research primary source material in the Ellis Island library and oral history collection.