15 Powerful Portraits of Ellis Island Immigrants

Ellis Island was the point of entry for millions of immigrants arriving in the United States between 1892 and 1954. Opening day on January 1, 1892, saw the entry of 17-year-old Annie Moore from Cork, Ireland. She was the first of 700 people that day who would step off ships, pass through the checkpoints on the island and start their new lives in America.

Wealthy passengers in first and second class were examined onboard their ships before getting sent on their way. Poor passengers were considered more likely to become a burden on the state. They had to undergo medical and legal examinations on the island for hours before their release. Those that were detained had to wait for money or for someone to come and collect them. One of the factors that allowed immigrants to stay was if they had some money on them and a place to stay.

Immigrants from certain countries were considered more desirable. People from Northern and Western Europe, for example, had fewer problem with entry. Then, in the 1920s, there was a limit placed on the number of Southern and Eastern Europeans allowed entry.

Amateur photographer Augustus Sherman worked as the Chief Registry Clerk on Ellis Island from 1892 until 1925. During his tenure, he took amazing photos of detainees in their traditional clothes as they were waiting for final clearances.

Many were turned away.

1. Hungarian Gypsies, all of whom were deported.

Photo Credit: Flickr

2. Group photograph of newly-arrived immigrants in native costumes, some with turbans, some with fezzes.

Photo Credit: Flickr

3. Scottish boys

Photo Credit: Flickr

4. Dutch woman.

Photo Credit: Flickr

5. Alsace-Lorraine girl.

Photo Credit: Flickr

6. Bavarian man.

Photo Credit: Flickr

7. Guadeloupean woman.

Photo Credit: Flickr

8. Danish man.

Photo Credit: Flickr

9. Bavarian man.

Photo Credit: Flickr

10. German stowaway.

Photo Credit: Flickr

11. Girl from Rattvik, province of Dalarna, Sweden.

Photo Credit: Flickr

12. Norwegian woman.

Photo Credit: Flickr

13. Lapland children, possibly from Sweden.

Photo Credit: Flickr

14. Laplander.

Photo Credit: Flickr

15. Russian Cossacks.

Photo Credit: Flickr

There exists approximately 97 portraits of people from around the world proudly wearing traditional clothing and sitting for their portrait as they waited to become residents of the United States. For more of these beautiful images, see Flickr Creative Commons. All images are housed by the New York Public Library.

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Are You Always Running Late? Here Are 8 Ways to Be on Time.

If you are ALWAYS late, then you may only vaguely know how much you’re annoying your friends, family, co-workers and bosses.

Sometimes lateness is truly out of your control, but when it starts to be a habit, it’s clear you need some strategies.

Scroll through this list of 8 tools that will get you on the road and showing up on time.

1. Never explain why you’re late.

Only apologize for the trouble your lateness caused. Soon, you’ll begin to see how many excuses you were throwing out for your constant tardiness, which can make you more aware.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

2. Think about how someone constantly being late affects you.

Late people are irritating, and that’s how people see you.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

3. Give yourself the grace of being somewhere first by at least 5 minutes.

That few minutes is a gift to give yourself. Check your email or social media on your phone with your newfound free time – or just get yourself ready for whatever it is you need to do.

Photo Credit: Pexels

4. Wake up an hour early and get a jump on your morning routine.

You’ll get to work on time and you’ll have already crossed off a few things on your to do list.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

5. Set different named alarms to prompt you through your morning routine.

That way, you’re not lingering over your breakfast or in the shower longer than you wanted.

Photo Credit: Needpix

6. Use music to get out the door on time.

Make a playlist with a song for stretching, a few songs for breakfast, some for showering and dressing and then a final energetic tune to get you on the road.

Photo Credit: Pexels

7. Add a few minutes to travel time to account for last minute searches for keys, sunglasses or your other shoe.

You’ll be grateful too for a few extra minutes to find a parking spot or wait for the train.

Photo Credit: Flickr

8. Pack your stuff up in the evening and have it ready by the door.

If you have everything ready to go the night before, then you won’t waste precious minutes searching for it.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

All of these steps are totally easy. Incorporate some of them and you’ll find life a little less hectic and a lot more productive.

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These 10 People Believe They Can Sell Lame Stuff on the Internet for Big Bucks

Have you ever looked at your old junk and thought someone could probably use that? You sure as hell aren’t going to throw away a perfectly good, but stained and smelly armchair. Hey, one man’s trash is another’s treasure, right?

If so, you may be delusional like these folks. Scroll past these 10 things that other delusional people are trying to unload on the internet and judge for yourself what you think your crap is still worth.

I think you may change your mind.

1. Air IS essential to our survival.

ah yes, air.. from delusionalcraigslist

2. Vintage is French for “jack up the price.”

3. Get that screen fixed and it’s good as new.

4. Keeping dryer drums and broken chairs out of landfills.

5. Sure, price your used dress higher than what you paid.

View post on imgur.com

6. $18?? Maybe for fire sauce.

7. Have any Coke?

8. It seems like a good deal until you check the shipping rates.

9. How can it be “fir” sale when it’s so filthy?

10. Is this how Uber Eats got started?

Hopefully, you know your crap is crap and none of this crap interested you. You have a great life. Go out there and live it.

But before you go… which of these did you think was the most delusional? On the other hand… would you shell out your money for any of these?

Let us know in the comments!

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These Memes Are so Funny They Might Be Created by Absolute Geniuses

Fact: memes really are what we come to the Internet for. At the end of the day, we really want to laugh. So let’s laugh fam. Does that sound doable?

These 14 memes will make things all better.

Guaranteed.

1. A real smart ass, wouldn’t you say?

Photo Credit: someecards

2. The good and the bad and the ugly and the really, really awful

Photo Credit: someecards

3. I can do that! Watch me!

Photo Credit: someecards

4. Can’t be topped

Photo Credit: someecards

5. Sure that’s an Uber?

Photo Credit: someecards

6. We need to leave now

Photo Credit: someecards

7. Correct

Photo Credit: someecards

8. Thank. You. So. Damn. Much.

Photo Credit: someecards

9. Future looks bright. I gotta wear shades.

Photo Credit: Twitter

10. Gone with the wind and the rain and all of the other weather…

Photo Credit: someecards

11. Let’s go! No, seriously, LET’S GO!!!!

Photo Credit: someecards

12. It all started one dewey summer morning…

Photo Credit: someecards

13. Put an end to that right now! I’m serious!

Photo Credit: someecards

14. I can’t do this anymore! I’m going nuts!

Photo Credit: someecards

Ahhhh, doesn’t that feel better? I can hear the laughter from here. You like memes, you really like memes!

Which were your faves? Let us know in the comments, you beautiful, sexy, well adjusted people!

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These 15 Memes Show How Much People Love Keanu Reeves

Doesn’t everyone want to be Keanu Reeves when they grow up? I know I do.

And I’m technically all grown up already, so what does that say?

Don’t answer that. Look at these memes instead.

1. Be like Keanu y’all…

Photo Credit: Someecards

2. Nothing wrong with this…

Photo Credit: Someecards

3. 14 years well spent!

Photo Credit: Someecards

4. He’s that second kind…

Photo Credit: Someecards

5. Haha, they didn’t really write this… but they should!

Photo Credit: Someecards

6. To be fair, Chuck Norris is kind of an asshole…

Photo Credit: Someecards

7. So many of these stories!

Photo Credit: Someecards

8. Fucking. Immortal.

Photo Credit: Someecards

9. Lol… oh memes…

Photo Credit: Someecards

10. Who even thought of this?!

Photo Credit: Someecards

11. He even makes ‘Destination Wedding’ and we still love him…

Photo Credit: Someecards

12. Yeah it does!

Photo Credit: Someecards

13. #Truth

Photo Credit: Someecards

14. 70% of his earnings then… and he’s still donating to this day!

Photo Credit: Someecards

15. This is true. And it’s amazing.

Photo Credit: Someecards

What’s your favorite?

 

Let us know in the comments!

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13 Keanu Reeves Memes You Should Probably Take a Look At

Does any person on the planet have more love being thrown their way than Keanu Reeves right now?

To be fair, he seems to have earned it. Story after story after story makes him appear to be the genuine article.

So here are 13 memes to celebrate the guy who we just can’t get enough of…

1. This. Right. Here.

Photo Credit: Someecards

2. Two sides to everybody…

Photo Credit: Someecards

3. It’s true.

Photo Credit: Someecards

4. He’s all of us.

Photo Credit: Someecards

5. WUT?!?! We have to save him!

Photo Credit: Someecards

6. Pretty much immortal, yes…

Photo Credit: Someecards

7. Oh snap

Photo Credit: Someecards

8. Hahaha… oh internet…

Photo Credit: Someecards

9. He did make INSANE amounts of money from The Matrix. True story.

Photo Credit: Someecards

10. Haha, classic Keanu…

Photo Credit: Someecards

11. When you see it…

Photo Credit: Someecards

12. Fair enough!

Photo Credit: Someecards

13. Damn Keanu!

Photo Credit: Someecards

Are all your problems solved? No.

Do you feel better? Yes.

You’re welcome.

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People with Social Anxiety Will Laugh out Loud at These Tweets

Do you have social anxiety? If so, I sympathize with you…but you should also laugh at it once in a while! Might as well, right?

1. Hurry up!

2. Assume the worst…

3. Anxiety thru and thru…

4. It’s not nothing…

5. Open up!

6. It’s always about you…

7. It all means something…

8. Probably dying…

9. But what DID it mean?!?!

10. Must be nice…

11. Always fun to pre-game!

12. Just give me a minute… or thirty…

13. ALL of this!

14. Ditto.

All you Pokémon trainers out there… that last one is for you.

And for you who have no idea what I’m talking about… let that linger for a while…

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Take a Look at These Real Life Stories of People Who Stumbled upon Dead Bodies

I’ve never seen a dead body, even at a funeral, so I think it would be pretty horrible and disturbing to just come across one in the middle of my day. Some of the Redditors on this AskReddit thread absolutely agree with me:

1. Absolutely Devastating

“I found my mom’s dead body on the floor of her bedroom in March of this year. I called 911 and then my father, who was out of town on business. Hardest phone call I’ve ever had to make. Apparently my mom had a kidney infection from kidney reflux disease as well as pneumonia. It caught her in the middle of the night and she passed away.”

2. RA’s Worst Nightmare

“I was an RA in college. I got a call that one of my students didn’t go home for Easter. We found him hanging in the closet in his dorm room. I was upset about it because he seemed okay and never showed any signs of depression. Having to talk to his parents afterward was beyond hard.”

3. All a Blur

“I was 14 and babysitting for my baby 2nd cousin. He died from SIDS and I found him when checking on him in the morning. I frantically tried baby CPR but knew it was useless. I had to go and tell his mother who had been out late and was sleeping in the next room. Then it was all just a blur of crying, ambulance, calling my auntie and uncle and then being questioned by police.”

4. Delayed Reaction

“I must have been in total shock, because I was completely calm (detached). Saw something weird in the bushes, found the body, called the cops, talked to the cops, went on about my day. Two days later had a panic attack when walking down same path.”

5. “I Miss You, Tom”

“There was a park worker named Tom who used to always smile at me and say hello when I was a little kid. Sometimes he would have candy or a small toy for me. Fast forward 20 years, and I’m an adult. Walking back from work one day I saw tom in the park, and stopped to talk to him. At this point he was close to 70 years old, but still working 50 hours a week.

During our conversation he was still working, and he needed to go into the maintenance shed for something. I followed along with him, continuing the conversation. When he opened the door, I saw a bed. He had been living in the maintenance shed, with no running water or electricity. I decided to let him move into my spare room, and things were going great. I spent 4th of July weekend at my girlfriends house, leaving Tom by himself in the apartment.

He refused to turn on the air conditioning because he didn’t want to “waste” my money. It was over 100 degrees that weekend, and we lived in a top floor apartment in a shitty wooden building, so it had to hit 120+ inside. The heat killed him. He died drinking his morning coffee. He fell out of his chair, halfway through the cup. When I found him he had been dead for a couple days.

He was discolored, and slightly bloated. The smell was horrible, it took me weeks to get it out of the apartment. I called 911 (in hindsight, it wasn’t much of an emergency, but I wasn’t thinking clearly) and they came and took the body. They didn’t clean up all the bodily fluids though, which I was not expecting. I had to do it. It was rough. I wish he hadn’t been so concerned with wasting my money. I wish he would have turned the AC on. I miss you Tom.”

6. Landlord

“I’m a landlord. I got a call from the father of one of our tenants. He hadn’t heard from his son for a few days and he didn’t live in town. I said I would go by and check on him. No one answered the door and I just felt something was wrong. I used a master key to enter and could see that he was laying on the couch. I thought he looked dead and went back out the door, but then I realized I had to be sure.

I went back in and stared at him for about 15 seconds to really be sure. I don’t recall how he died, but I know he was a very heavy drinker. The worst part was that, after I called the police, I had to call the father back. Not an easy phone call to make, but I felt he should know.”

7. Not Suspicious At All

“My dad and I found a body in the middle of the road in Ohio. It was on the 5th of July at 5:30 A.M. He was just in the road, one leg almost severed. We blocked the road and called the sheriff. I guess he was either drunk and fell asleep in the road or someone just hit him and bailed. They never did find out who did it. There was a couple that supposedly discovered him shortly before us, and for some odd reason they went 10 miles home and switched vehicles before the sheriff showed up. We told the sheriff about it but he didn’t see anything unusual about that.”

8. Murder/Suicide

“I came home and discovered the bodies of my husband and son from a murder suicide. I knew something was wrong when I opened the apartment door, because usually my son would be greeting me, crawling on the floor (he was 2) and it was totally quiet and I hadn’t had any responses from texts from my husband. They were lying side by side on our bed. My initial reaction was “Okay… you don’t know yet.” I started moving towards my son, just enough to see that his chest wasn’t moving. I started shaking, looked around briefly for a note with some sort of explanation, couldn’t find one and decided that I would be better off not touching anything.

I ran out of my apartment and into the hallway and called 911. I sat down on the floor and just wailed into the phone until emergency services showed up. I just sat there, staring ahead of me unable to respond. After I don’t know how long a paramedic came out and asked if I was okay. I asked “Are they gone?” and he nodded, and said, “Yeah…” There aren’t really words to describe the shock and grief. There was also the big question of, “Now what?” – what do I do with my life? My whole planned future was nulled in the space of about 10 minutes.”

9. Missing Girl

“My brothers and I were playing around in the woods at a park up the street from my house, and had been playing near a pile of leaves picking bits up, throwing them at each other, when my brother noticed a purse laying on the ground. He picked it up, and he looked through it, he found a wallet, there was money in it, credit cards…We took it home, and showed my mom, who thinking it strange that it had been abandoned called the police. The I.D. in the wallet belonged to a woman who had been missing for three days, the police searched the park, and found the woman’s body. She had been hidden in a pile of leaves, the one we had been playing around (luckily not jumping in). To make matters worse, the woman was murdered by her estranged boyfriend, whom she agreed to meet the morning she died only a few days before she was due to testify against him in court for domestic violence.”

10. Desensitized

“I was driving home at about 2 a.m. and I was going around a turn at about 50 MPH but I noticed something off and slowed down it was a car in a ditch. And there was something in the road I hadn’t slowed down quickly enough and narrowly swerved around the object. As I passed it realized it was a human body. I pulled into the nearby driveway. Ran over to them and tried to get them to wake up or show some sign of life. I think I had leaned on their chest and it sounded like they may have breathed a bit but I think it was just wishful thinking. Called the cops and told them I thought he was breathing so they would hurry. Took an ambulance about 10 minutes to get there and as soon as the guy stepped out the ambulance he said “oh yeah he’s dead.” I was struck by his callousness. It happened to be a guy a few years older than me that grew up in my neighborhood. I didn’t even realize it until I got home and then I finally cried myself to sleep.”

11. Med Student

“Was coming back home from school. Back then I was in my first year of med school and had not seen any dead bodies yet. I hear one of my neighbors scream and call for her husband. I walk over to see what was going on and turns out another neighbor fell down a set of stairs just outside her apartment and hit her head. She had a very faint pulse, her pupils were fixed and she wasn’t breathing anymore, I also suspect she had fluid in her lungs cause she had froth at the mouth. We called an ambulance but all they could do was confirm her death. I was truly shocked at the time because I had never ever seen a dead person before that day. She was a single lady, no kids and I felt really bad that there was no one around to help her while there was still hope.”

12. Surprisingly Normal

“I once found my neighbor dead in his yard. He looked quite normal as if alive, but he wasn’t. He had a fatal heart attack. His body still had color in it. Before that I always used to think that dead bodies look horrific, but they look surprisingly normal to me.”

13. Not Suitable For Children

“I was eleven years old and a friend of mine and I were playing near my friend’s house which was near a lake. We say a dog barking by a small jetty in the lake. He stood there barking for a long time and tried to get our attention so went walked over to see what it was. We saw the legs of an old woman sticking out from under the jetty. She had been there for a long time. We told my friend’s parents and they called the police. It was a little scary but I felt pretty detached from the whole situation. The thing I remember the most was when she was picked up and I wanted to see what was going on, the cops yelled at us to get lost.”

14. Career Change

“When I was 9 years old coming back from a dentist’s appointment. My mom and I stopped at a service station to get gas. There was a red truck in front of us facing our car at the other pump and the man inside was wearing sunglasses. He was sitting in a odd position with his head resting on his shoulder. I walked into the station to get a coke and when I came back I saw he hadn’t moved and noticed chewed up food in his mouth. I poked his shoulder to see if he was just sleeping but he didn’t move so I took his glasses off and saw his eyes wide open. He got hauled off in an ambulance and I asked one of the workers if he was alright but he was said he dead for at least thirty minutes. I cried the rest of the day. That mess is scary! I wanted to be a brain surgeon prior to that incident but that changed my mind. I can’t deal with the traumatic stuff.”

15. Terrifying Find

“My friend’s mum was going for an early morning jog on some boardwalk that ran through a creek (which is usually a pretty fucking scary place at the best of times). She was on a long straight stretch and saw a white figure at the end; on closer inspection, it was some guy who hung himself off a tree.”

We know you can choose a lot of sites to read, but we want you to know that we’re thankful you chose Did You Know.

You rock! Thanks for reading!

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15+ People Share their Most Unpopular Opinions, and It’s Glorious

Everyone has certain opinions that, for one reason or another, go against the social norm. For instance, I hate swans. I know they’re all majestic and beautiful, but they’re also black-hearted little feathery turds. #SorryNotSorry

Now, to the Twitterverse, where opinions flow freely and often. Unpopular ones at that!

Eliza Skinner decided to start it up…

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

And then her tweeps did the rest…

1. I’ll take her word for it

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

2. Wait Disney should def be a band name

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

3. You’re gross

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

4. Not even interesting?!?

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

5. Whoa. Who hurt you?

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

6. Actually, you know what… agreed!

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

7. Definitely not under the spell…

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

8. Oh come on Sean!

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

9. Define “ideal”

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

10. Full on with you Nick

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

11. But plastic straws or…

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

12. Katie just doesn’t like nice things

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

13. Holly just wants to burn it all down

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

14. NO!

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

15. Well, everybody is entitled to their WRONG opinion

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

16. Walking, in general, isn’t that great

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

17. Queen Bey hater!

Photo Credit: Twitter/elizaskinner

You’re not alone Kerri! I’m with you. I mean, she’s SUPER talented and gorgeous and successful, but some of these Beyhive fans just go a little overboard in their fan worship.

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10 Libraries You’ve Got to Visit in Your Lifetime

Libraries are houses of learning, and oh my god are they beautiful. While some libraries are just plain old municipal buildings, there are others that completely surpass all expectations. Here’s a list of ten libraries so special, it may be worth your while to take a trip to see them.

1. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France

Home to 15 million books, it is beautifully French. Also, tourists.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

2. Trinity College Library, Ireland

The largest library in Ireland and home to the famous Book of Kells.

3. Library Hall, Clementinum, Prague

This baroque library was opened by Jesuits in 1622 when they had only one book to put in it.

4. Macquari University Library, Sydney, Australia

Robot cranes pick up your books and transports them to the desk for check out.

5. The Royal Library Copenhagen, Denmark

Part of the Royal Library, the Black Diamond holds a concert hall, cafe and exhibition spaces.

Photo Credit: Thue [Public domain]

6. Stuttgart City Library, Stuttgart, Germany

Everything is painted white so the only color comes from the books and the visitors.

Photo Credit: Pexels

7. New York Public Library, New York, NY

Founded in 1895, it is the largest public library system in the United States.

Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons

8. Bodleian Library, Oxford, United Kingdom

Enacted in 1602 as Oxford University’s library and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe.

9. Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven, CT

One of the largest buildings in the world housing rare books and manuscripts.

10. The Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

The oldest federal cultural institution in the United States.

Photo Credit: By Carol M. Highsmith, Public Domain

From baroque to ne0-modern, these fantastic libraries were designed to treat all the senses. Support libraries!

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