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Ellis Island Ferry Building Exhibit
July 29, 2002

The Ferry Building - the first of the buildings on the portion of Ellis Island under New Jersey sovereignty to be restored, physically links the current Immigration Museum to the un-restored buildings on Ellis Island's South Side. The exhibit will explain the history of the South Side Hospital Complex and the role the activities undertaken in these buildings played in the immigrant arrival experience and in public health, beginning in the late 19th century through the closing of Ellis Island in 1954. The exhibit will show the intersection of immigration policy and public health, specifically how immigration policies and public attitudes affected the health services on Ellis Island. The exhibit will also raise public awareness about the preservation and restoration plans, which include such reuses as historical and educational facilities.

The research project will make use of the extensive archives on Ellis Island, the artifact collection maintained by the National Park Service on Ellis Island, photographs in the Library of Congress and information in the archives of the National Public Health Service in Washington, DC. Additionally, contemporary photographs of the buildings on the South Side before stabilization work began will be incorporated into the exhibit.

The exhibit will interpret immigrant health inspection and treatment on Ellis Island as it intersected with, and informed, immigration policy in the late 19th century and early 20th century being the first venue to complete the story of Ellis Island by focusing on the medical inspection and public health aspect of the immigrant arrival experience.

This project will link New Jersey history, through its sovereignty over the South Side hospital buildings, to national events surrounding immigration and its impact on society and culture. The proposed project will also expand public understanding and awareness of historic resources by introducing the public to the buildings on Ellis Island's South Side and the plans for their restoration and reuse.