Incredible Photos Of Immigrants Arriving At Ellis Island

A Clerk’s Compelling Images

Augustus Sherman was a chief registry clerk at Ellis Island in New York City from 1882 to 1925. One of his jobs was to document thousands of immigrants as they attempted to make new lives for themselves in the United States. Sherman was not a trained photographer, yet he took some incredible photos of the people who traveled from all over the world to a new place they hoped to call home.

At the time, photography consisted of bulky cameras and a lengthy process to develop the images. During his tenure as clerk, Sherman took over 200 photos, mostly of people who were detained for questioning. The curators at The New York Public Library now houses Sherman’s photograph collection.