William Williams Documents Ellis Island Immigrants

William Williams Documents Ellis Island Immigrants — page 9
Immigrants could see the New York City skyline from Ellis Island but they would only reach the city if they were approved by Williams’s inspectors become Americans Approximately 40 percent of US citizens today can trace at least one relative to Ellis Island 2 During the site’s heyday in the early 1900s Williams used his position as commissioner to improve processes and procedures He also set the standards for what made a new arrival acceptable But Williams did more than that In his photo collection he documented a unique part of US history and preserved special moments in people’s lives The newly arrived individuals in these portraits have become the faces of Ellis Island 12