Augustus Sherman was 27 years old in 1892, when he was hired by the Bureau of Immigration as a clerk at Ellis Island. The small island in the New York Harbor was the first American destination of millions of immigrants from all over the world, who had left their old lives behind to start over in the new world.
Sherman liked to photograph the immigrants, particularly in traditional costumes from their native countries. He had no training but the images he captured are among the most interesting records that survive from that time. During his tenure there, which lasted until his death in 1925, he took over 200 photographs.
Nothing more is known of Sherman. These beautiful pictures are his legacy.
Lapland children
A “prosperous family” of 14
Finnish immigrants
Bavarian man
Romanian woman
Ruthenians, Ellis Island, July 12, 1913.
1908 photograph of Johanna Dykhoff with her 11 children. Eleven children!
1905 photo of a Scottish family en route to Alabama
Cossack Immigrants
Dutch children (look at their shoes!)
Family of 15
Italian woman
Guadeloupean woman
German family
Dutch women
Dutch women
Cossack immigrant
Moroccans
This 1914 photograph includes an inscription “Hamberg” and specifies the subject is vegetarian.
