The New York Public Library, Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division

Edwin Levick

Between 1900 and 1914, European immigrants, like those arriving at Ellis Island in New York City, came at a rate of over one million a year. But in 1915, 198,000 had arrived and a year later, only 146,000 while the total number of immigrants was under 300,000. By 1918, only 31,000 Europeans had come and almost as many had left the country.