Ellis Island, families waiting for the telephone, 1924

black-and -white negative

PHOTOGRAPHS - NITRATE NEGATIVES
Rosenfeld and Sons
USA, NY, Ellis Island; USA, NY, New York Bay
1924-05-19
nitrate film
overall: 8 x 10 in.; 20.32 x 25.4 cm

8 x 10 nitrate negative photographed by Rosenfeld and Sons on May 19, 1924. Image taken as part of long term commissioned work and documentation for the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, ranging from 1910 through the 1940s. View of immigrants waiting at Ellis Island, NY. Image appears posed, man in telephone booth looks directly at the photographer, two children stand in the foreground looking toward the camera, one young girl appears to have amblyopia (lazy eye). Young boys appear posed and proper, wearing suits. Adults and older children each have tags pinned to their outer clothing with number and lettering. A package outside the telephone booth reads: "TRAVELLER'S FOOD BOX / PRICE ONE DOLLAR AND FIFTY CENTS / COMMISSARY CONTRACTOR / U.S. Immigration Station / ELLIS ISLAND N.Y. HARBOR". Telephone booth has Bell telephone logo reading: "AMERICAN TELEPHONE & TELEGRAPH CO. AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES / LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE / BELL SYSTEM". Typed neg. sleeve info.: "19684 / [Box] 1300-1". Handwritten on original negative sleeve: "5/19/24 / N.Y. Tel.Co. - 15 Dey St. - City. Miss James - Room 905 / Emigrant story / Ellis Island". CREDIT LINE: Mystic Seaport, Rosenfeld Collection.

1984.187.19684

Mystic Seaport, Rosenfeld Collection