Thesis (D.M.A.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 169-170).

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L’histoire d’Ellis Island, de l’ouverture de la station d’immigration en 1892 jusqu’à la restauration du site dans les années 1980 après une période d’abandon et d’oubli, reflète les interactions entre les discours sur l’immigration et la construction de l’identité politique et culturelle de la nation américaine. Le musée de l’immigration qui a ouvert sur l’île en 1990, dans le bâtiment même où sont passés douze millions d’immigrants entre 1892 et le milieu des années 1920, est devenu le lieu de mémoire de l’immigration américaine. En partant du postulat que les sociétés construisent leur représentation du passé et leur mémoire collective pour répondre à leurs besoins dans le présent, cette thèse entend montrer comment et à quelles fins la nation américaine a choisi de mettre en avant, à un moment donné, certains éléments de son histoire pour s’affirmer « nation of immigrants ». La création du musée d’Ellis Island, qui a consacré l’immigration et l’ethnicité comme composantes essentielles de l’identité américaine, était en effet aussi un choix de mémoire de l’Etat fédéral, témoignant d’une manière d’interpréter et de représenter l’Histoire. / The story of Ellis Island, from the opening of the immigration station in 1892 to the restoration of the site in the 1980s after a period of neglect and oblivion, reflects the interactions between discourses on immigration and the building of the political and cultural identity of the American nation. The immigration museum that opened on the island in 1990, in the building where twelve million immigrants were processed between 1892 and the mid-1920s, has become the site of memory of American immigration. Starting from the postulate that societies build their representation of the past and their collective memory to meet their demands in the present, this thesis aims at showing how and for what purposes the American nation chose to put forward, at a certain time, selected pieces of its history to assert itself “ nation of immigrants”. The setting-up of the Ellis Island museum, which affirmed immigration and ethnicity as essential components of the American identity, was indeed also a choice of memory by the Federal government, testifying to a way of interpreting and representing History.

Thesis advisor: David Quigley / This thesis will explore the factors that contributed to the enshrinement of the immigrant, in relation to places relevant to the Old World immigrant narrative. The chapters concentrate on the area around New York Harbor, often referred to as "the gateway," where turn-of-the-century immigrants sailed and settled and to where public memory made its return in the late sixties, seventies, and eighties. Public attentiveness to ethnic identity affected the character of historic preservation, prompting the creation of new symbols of American history. Many Americans' own Roots narratives brought them here, to the very place the immigrants began their American stories. Chapter One puts the spotlight on New Jersey, exploring how Jersey City claimed its part in the immigrant narrative, and how the state government organized its multi-ethnic character. Chapter Two opens to the national level, illustrating how the enshrinement of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty Centennial embodied the nationalism that came with the rise of conservatism. Chapter Three surveys immigrant memory in the Lower East Side, the quintessential neighborhood of nations, exploring what the Lower East Side Tenement Museum has done to pay homage to the "urban pioneers" of American history, using the past to affect contemporary immigration issues. The public memory that took shape at these historic sites resulted from not solely a revived interest in Old World ethnicity, but through a combination of factors. This thesis will also show how the ethnic revival helped draw attention to aspects of American life such as urban living, and provoked public discourse and scholarly research to attend to the people that history previously overlooked. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History. / Discipline: History Honors Program.

Chapters III and IV published also as Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 1924. / Bibliography: p. 159-163.

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