These are the faces that make up 40% of today's America

Ellis Island is celebrated as the point of entry for more than 12 million immigrants that passed through when it was open from 1892 to 1954. So many immigrants passed through the tiny New York island that today we can trace 40% of the American population back to Ellis Island.

Augustus Sherman, the chief registry clerk on Ellis Island from 1892 to 1925, was an avid amateur photographer. His portraits (and labels) of people from all over the world evoke the tenacious spirit these immigrants brought to America.

The New York Public Library has archived his photos and has made them available online. Below you can see Augustus Sherman’s portraits  with the faces of immigrants who launched their dreams at Ellis Island as well as others whose dreams were cut short.

“Guadeloupean Woman,” 1911

Caption identifies woman as “Laplander’ and a ‘Sami woman from Finland,” c. 1920

“Hungarian Gypsies all of whom were deported,” 1902

“German stowaway,” 1911

“Romanian woman,” c. 1905-1914

“Alsace-Lorraine girl,” 1906

“A family of seven sons and one daughter,” 1904

“Hindoo boy,” 1911

“Romanian shepherd,” 1906

“Slovak woman and children,” ca. 1905-1914

“Girl from Rättvik, province of Dalarna, Sweden,” c. 1910

“Danish man,” 1909

“Dutch children,” 1910

“Three women from Guadeloupe,” c. 1910

“Algerian man,” c. 1910

“Dutch women immigrants, Ellis Island, New York,” c. 1910

“Ruthenian woman,” c. 1906

Albanian soldier, c. 1910

“Italian woman,” 1906

“Lapland children, possibly from Sweden,” c. 1910