The history of Ellis Island is the history of immigration in America, a time when new arrivals were not only welcomed, but also treated for their infirmities so they could remain.
Sue Kaufmann has always loved telling stories. These days, she’s charged with telling 1.2 million of them—the stories of the men, women, and children who arrived at Ellis Island and were sent to the immigration intake center’s hospital complex for medical treatment, for injuries and infectious diseases incurred during their arduous overseas odyssey. They’re also the stories of the medical personnel who worked zealously to treat the ill and injured. For seven years, Kaufmann DC’86 has volunteered as a docent for the nonprofit Save Ellis Island, guiding visitors on Hard Hat Tours (so called for the tours’ requisite headgear) through the sprawling, largely unpreserved, and little-known complex of more than two dozen buildings where so many American stories began. The French artist JR is the inspiration behind the current exhibition Unframed—Ellis Island, an installation of life-size historical photographs of Ellis Island immigrants featured on the interior walls and windows of the buildings that are featured on the tour of the hospital complex.
VIEW A VIDEO OF SUE KAUFMANN DISCUSSING HER ROLE AS A GUIDE AT ELLIS ISLAND, WHERE SHE LEADS TOURS OF ITS LITTLE-KNOWN HOSPITAL COMPLEX.
Kaufmann has developed an enormous respect for the doctors and nurses who worked in the complex. During the six decades when Ellis Island was an active intake center (1892 to 1954), it took in 12 million people. Ten percent of those, or 1.2 million prospective immigrants, received medical treatment, but only 1 percent were sent back to their countries of origin. “The reason that the other 9 percent got through,” says Kaufmann, “was because of the diligence of the people who worked in the hospitals.”
For Kaufmann, the best part of her tour is when people realize that they could owe their very citizenship to those workers. “My personal goal,” she says, “is to make sure that visitors then feel that they should go out and tell other people.” It’s that ability to spark understanding “that makes it so important for us to preserve these spaces.”
To learn more about the museum, visit saveellisisland.org.
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