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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
Ellis Island first began welcoming immigrants to the United States in 1892, but a fire destroyed the old building in 1897. On December 17, 1900, the new Immigrant Station opened on Ellis Island for receiving and processing thousands of newcomers to our shores. The New-York Tribune described the new facility as "spacious and well-lighted," showing contrasting photos of the old Barge Office and the new building. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| 1890 | Congress appropriates $75,000 to build an immigration station at Ellis Island. |
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| January 1, 1892 | The immigration station at Ellis Island officially opens. |
| June 15, 1897 | Fire destroys station and records of immigrants back to 1840. |
| December 1900 | The new and currently standing main building opens at a cost of $1.5 million. |
| 1907 | Ellis Island has peak number of immigrants arrive. |
| 1954 | Ellis Island ends immigration operations. |
