The News from Ellis Island

Museums Aim to Stir Debate on Modern Immigration

As the ferry from Manhattan sidles up to the dock at Ellis Island, the imposing arches and grand towers of the main building make it almost impossible for visitors not to feel like they are among the huddled masses who passed through here a century ago on their way to a new life in America.

But now, the National Park Service's Ellis Island museum and other institutions across the country want to do more than re-create the immigrant experience of the past.