Toward a Better Life is a celebration of all immigrants who have come to America seeking freedom and a better way of life. In it, you will read the firsthand accounts of America's “new immigrants” who have come to America since Ellis Island closed in 1954. They tell their stories in their own words. The book also includes the stories of immigrants from the Ellis Island era to illustrate how America's diverse multicultural landscape has changed over the decades and generations.

To reflect this transformation, the Ellis Island Immigration Museum is making changes of its own. More than two million people visit Ellis Island annually, and some have said that they did not see a reflection of their own family's experience as immigrants to America.

That is about to change.

In 2012, the Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation and the National Park Service will unveil the new Peopling of America Center on Ellis Island. This exciting new center, being built at a cost of $20 million, is a significant expansion of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and will tell the complete story of immigration to America and the important role immigrants have played across the generations in the making of this great nation.

This is significant because there is no other place where this story is told. There are museums of great art, of natural history, and of many other topics, but there is no other museum that tells the total story of the populating of America, as this one will.

The center will be on Ellis Island to complement the Ellis Island story and because, in the mind's eye of America, Ellis Island stands as the symbol of welcome, freedom, and opportunity—even though there were other ports and other periods of immigration.

This expansion significantly broadens the scope of the museum's content. It will start with the days of the Native Americans and early Europeans and will continue through the establishment of the nation, the Civil War years, and into the existing exhibits on the Ellis Island era itself (1892–1954). Then we will encounter those people who came to America after Ellis Island closed, millions of people whose arrival has had an enormous impact on our nation and its future. Their stories will now be told, and as a result, Ellis Island will remain a relevant and evolving center for chronicling the ongoing story of the peopling of America. To reflect this expanded mission, upon completion of the center, the museum will be renamed Ellis Island: The National Museum of Immigration.

We are confident that it will be an enriching educational experience. The people who visit Ellis Island are not just Americans but come from all over the world and are often emotionally moved when they find information about the American side of their family. Ellis Island is a place of discovery—a place to discover the rich story of this nation that was built on the immigrant experience, as well as your own family story and the part it played in the creation of the diverse and unique tapestry that is America.

In Toward a Better Life you will meet many of the remarkable people who became part of that tapestry. In particular, you will meet America's new immigrants and get a rare look inside their lives—and perhaps a glimpse into our future.

Stephen A. Briganti
President and Chief Executive Officer
The Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.