Inside the Ellis Island Immigration Museum

The building of Ellis Island Immigration Museum resembles the history nearly 12 million immigrants who came here to search freedom from 1892 to 1954. The main building was restored after 30 years of abandonment and opened as a museum on September 10, 1990.

The building of Museum has three floors; one of them is actually a balcony. The exhibits occupy over 40,000 square feet of space and include museum objects, photographs, prints, videos, interactive displays and oral histories. To permanent exhibitions belongs “American Immigrant Wall of Honor” (the wall currently inscribed with 600,000 names honors America’s immigrants regardless of whether they entered the country or not), “American Family Immigration History Center” (this family history research facility contains the ships' passenger records on the over 22 million people who entered through the Port of New York and Ellis Island from 1892-1924), “The Baggage Room”(room where the baggage of immigrants was checked), “Peopling of America” (it was originally the Railroad Ticket Office, where immigrants were buying tickets to their final destinations; nowadays it contains exhibits) and finally “Registry Room” (or The Great Hall where immigrants were checked by commissioners and doctors).