Ellis Island: The Dream of America
Ellis Island: The Dream of America is a work for actors and orchestra with projected images by American composer Peter Boyer, composed in 2001-02, commissioned by the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, Connecticut. The work combines first-person narrations of seven immigrants who entered the United States through Ellis Island between 1910 and 1940, selected by Boyer from the Ellis Island Oral History Project, with Boyer’s original orchestral music. The work has received over 170 performances by more than 75 orchestras. A recording of the work released on the Naxos record label was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition in the 48th annual Grammy Awards. In April 2017, performances by Pacific Symphony of "Ellis Island: The Dream of America" were filmed for broadcast on PBS’ "Great Performances" series in the 2017-18 broadcast season.
Italian Welfare League
The IWL had offices in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Ellis Island. At the Ellis Island office, they assisted Italians who were having trouble with immigration, including hundreds who were detained on the island during World War II. The league helped Italian New Yorkers find jobs, housing, and medical care, and provided emergency aid to the needy. In response to the Americanization Movement, they helped Italian immigrants learn to speak English and conform to the social norms of Anglo-Saxon Protestant America. From 1934 to 1973, executive secretary Angela Carlozzi Rossi oversaw much of the league's activity, in addition to handling many cases personally.