Ellis Island in the New York Harbor, in front of Manhattan, was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the site of the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 to 1954.
Prior to 1890, the individual states (rather than the Federal government) regulated immigration into the United States.
These early immigrants came from nations such as England, Ireland, Germany and the Scandinavian countries and constituted the first large wave of immigrants that settled and populated the United States.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson declared Ellis Island part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
Starting in 1984, Ellis Island underwent a major restoration, the largest historic restoration in U.S. history.
The Main Building was reopened to the public on September 10, 1990 as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Today, the museum receives almost 2 million visitors annually.

This document, an article published in the Time Magazine of December 15th, 1980 is an autobiographical account of Sophie Wolf, a German immigrant who came to Ellis Island in 1923. It was written by Anastasia Toufexis.

In the early 20's inflation and unemployment in Europe gave rise to a wave of emigration, particularly to the United States because, as Sophie says: "America Was the Thing."
At that time the emigrants were leaving to the U.S. by the transatlantic liner. They landed on Ellis Island, where there was a Federally-operated immigration station.
The great registry hall was where all immigrants were processed, then sorted. Sophie relates that it was “so impersonal”.
The emigrants were subjected to legal and medical examinations.
The American authorities controlled the political tendencies of the immigrants, their employment situation and their health in order to reject those who represented a potential menace or unwanted charge.
The inspectors asked 29 questions to the new comer like: “Are you an anarchist?” or “Do you have a job?”. It was