Forgotten Ellis

New York, NY

Forgotten Ellis is a photographic documentation of the inaccessible structures and landscapes on Ellis Island.

These photos represent an ongoing collection from various visits to Ellis Island, which originally opened back in 1892 — as our nation’s first inspection station for immigration.  Ellis Island was also a medical facility, a detention center, and was completely abandoned in 1954 — before reopening as the National Immigration Museum in 1990.

“Today, many sections of Ellis Island have been restored — but most of the island remain in a state of abandonment.  Sharing this history can inspire new ways to interact with the past, present, and future of our country’s immigration story.”   

Forgotten Ellis is part of an ongoing collection of photographs since 2019 — and includes images from the Baggage & Dormitory Building (constructed in 1909) to host immigrants detained on Ellis Island — and the Abandoned Hospital (constructed in 1923) to diagnose, treat, and quarantine immigrants who were deemed medically unfit to enter the United States.