Italian Family Seeking Lost Baggage, Ellis Island
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image/paper: 34.2 × 26.8 cm (13 1/2 × 10 9/16 in.)
Classification
gelatin silver (developing-out-paper) pr
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
93437
Art Historical Context
### Italian Family Seeking Lost Baggage Ellis Island Captured in 1905 by pioneering documentary photographer Lewis Wickes Hine, this gelatin silver print offers a poignant glimpse into the immigrant experience at Ellis Island, America's busiest entry point for newcomers from 1892 to 1954. Hine, a key figure in the Era's social reform movement, the arrivals of families like this Italian group amid the chaos of lost baggage claims. Their anxious expressions and huddled postures convey the vulnerability and determination of those pursuing the American Dream, highlighting the human stories behind...
About the Artist
Lewis Wickes Hine · 1874–1940
Lewis Wickes Hine (1874–1940) was born on September 26 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to Douglas and Sarah Hine, who ran a coffeehouse and restaurant on Main Street. After his father's accidental death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound around 1892, the teenage Hine supported his widowed mother and sisters through various jobs while pursuing education. He attended Oshkosh Normal School, where he met ment...