Snapshots Of A Transforming Nation

Thousands take the ferry to New York's Ellis Island every day.

CBS News Correspondent Harry Smith notes on CBS News Sunday Morning that some are visitors from abroad.

Some come to find names of their forebears.

But a lucky few, including the Glerum family, can find familiar faces from the past.

Roy Glerum's grandfather, Dingenis, brought his family to the United States from Holland in 1907. And their family portrait is part of a remarkable exhibit of photography on Ellis Island.

"He was a very determined man," says Roy Glerum. "Yeah. I think the courage he had to bring 11 children to this country without having a job or without knowing the language, yeah, he was a very determined man."

Housed in the old dormitory on Ellis Island, Smith reports, the photographs, displayed together for the first time, represent one of the most significant visual archives of American immigration in the first decades of the 20th century.

They were taken by Augustus Frederick Sherman, a registry clerk and an amateur photographer, as a record of the scores of nationalities that came to America every day.

Today, they stand as testament to the determination of the 12 million immigrants, determined to overcome all obstacles on their way to a better life.

According to the exhibit's Web site, "This untrained, yet highly gifted photographer created hundreds of images documenting the new arrivals to America. Fascinated by the diverse origins and cultural backgrounds of his subjects, Sherman created a riveting series of portraits, offering viewers a compelling human perspective on this dynamic period in our country's history."

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