Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America through Galveston Island

Galveston Historical Foundation is developing a comprehensive historical program for the Texas Seaport Museum, the home of ELISSA that features immigration through the Port of Galveston from the early 19th century through the middle of the 20th century.  The program includes the collection of immigrant experiences and artifacts that may be used for a long term exhibit at the Texas Seaport Museum.  Our collection of information is in cooperation with the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin and its exhibit Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America through Galveston Island that opens February 21, 2009 and continues through September 2009.  The exhibit will be placed at Moody Gardens in October 2009.  A portion of the exhibit will be based permanently at the Texas Seaport Museum in 2012.

Galveston Historical Foundation engaged the internationally renowned public artist, Mary Miss of New York, to develop a permanent installation in Galveston that recognizes the legacy of immigration through our port city.  Mary Miss’s concept is to capture the immigrants’ stories through an exhibit entitled First Steps.  First Steps is an art installation as well as an opportunity for descendants of immigrants to network with other descendants through the Texas Seaport Museum in the future.  Galveston Historical Foundation is interested in continuing to collect immigration stories and artifacts that relate to Galveston as a point of entry and allow us to interpret our rich history in future exhibits. 

Comments or inquiries may be directed to immigration@galvestonhistory.org

For more information about the exhibit: Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America through Galveston Island at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, go to http://www.forgottengateway.com.