A Federal Art Project Mural 

and the Immigrant Experience

Edward Laning, "[Disembarking]" panel from "The Role of the Immigrant in the Industrial Development of America,"1935 - 1937


A MURAL and THE GIFTS OF FAMILY and CITIZENSHIP

My Mom was born in 1918; my Dad was born in 1920.  They grew up and approached adulthood during the Great Depression and World War II.  It's no wonder that the time between the two "great" wars is my favorite period of American history.  In 2012, while serving as the Regional Administrator for the National Archives at Atlanta, I became acquainted with a New Deal artist named Edward Laning.  Inspired by Laning's mural, The Role of the Immigrant in the Industrial Development of America, I became increasingly intrigued by what art, artists, and archival resources can tell us about ourselves and the collective American experience.  In the ensuing years I've thought a great deal about my family history, life in the 1920s and 1930s, and the recurring cycles of American history, particularly as they relate to immigration and the gift of American citizenship.  

It has been a joy to return to my graduate school days and get lost in hours of archival research; the voices, faces, words, and actions of the past amuse, haunt, and motivate me.  I extend my appreciation to the following social and cultural institutions for their vital contributions to this effort:  the National Archives and Records Administration, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the General Services Administration, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Deal Timeline and the New Deal Art Registry. 

I hope you enjoy this site where a New Deal era artist (Edward Laning) and a lifelong student of history (yours truly) offer a new take on the art and policies of the New Deal as well as how America chronicles its evolution as "a land of immigrants." 

----- Jim McSweeney, January 2024

"The West Coast Honeymooners"

Frances & Edward McSweeney, ca. 1948

ELLIS ISLAND WELCOMES LANING'S MURAL

     On February 25, 1938, the New York Times announced that Edward Laning, a Works Progress Administration (WPA) artist, would be displaying his mural, The Role of the Immigrant in the Industrial Development of America, at Ellis Island.  The mural was 10 feet tall by 190 feet wide and housed in the "[Alien] Dining Hall of [the] Administration Building."  The mural was not visible to the general public but rather to new immigrants who gathered and ate in the Dining Hall.  (Due to the isolated location of the mural's venue, Laning received limited recognition and publicity for this work.)  The physical sweep and majesty of the mural mirrored the grand scope of its theme:  the story of American invention, immigration, and geography.

     The mural was displayed at Ellis Island until the early 1950s when a storm damaged the roof of the Dining Hall; in the ensuing years Laning's masterpiece fell victim to a combination of vandalism, neglect, and severe adverse environmental impact.  In November 1954, the U.S. government closed Ellis Island as an immigration station as well as all 33 structures on the island.  In March 1955, the U.S. government declared the island surplus property and placed it under the jurisdiction of the General Services Administration (GSA).  On March 11, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed Presidential Proclamation 3656 that added Ellis Island to the Statue of Liberty Monument. 

"Edward Laning [center] and associates working on mural for Ellis Island,"  ca. 1937

Federal Art Project, Photographic Division Collection, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

(Download here)

"Edward Laning and Rudolph Reimer [Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island] at Ellis Island Presentation," February 24, 1938

Federal Art Project, Photographic Division Collection, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

(Download here)

     LANING'S ELLIS ISLAND MURAL IS SALVAGED, RESTORED, and RELOCATED

    In 1971, at the direction of Judge Jacob Mishler, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, the surviving sections of Laning's mural were removed from Ellis Island and restored; the mural was then loaned to the GSA.   The salvaged sections were installed in the second floor Ceremonial Courtroom of the Emmanual Celler U.S. Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York.   In 2008, the mural sections were removed from the Emanuel Celler Courthouse while a modernization project for the building was underway and the new Theodore Roosevelt U.S. Courthouse was being built.  At that time, GSA transferred the murals into the care of the National Park Service for conservation treatment and storage until they could be returned to the Ceremonial Courtroom; in 2010, the remaining mural sections were installed in the courtroom, appropriately in the space where immigrants are naturalized.   

     Note the specific names for the individual panels: 1) "Indians on Rocks," 2) "Wheat Farming," 3) "Reaping Wheat," 4) "Laying Railroad Tracks," 5) "Mining Coal," 6) "Blast Furnace," 7) "[Disembarking]," and 8) "Looking Out Window."  Additional subjects depicted in the original mural include "Western Crossing" and "Lumbering."

Exhibit Signage at Theodore Roosevelt U.S. Courthouse, Ceremonial Courtroom, Brooklyn, New York

Center panels of mural; Theodore Roosevelt U.S. Courthouse, Ceremonial Courtroom, Brooklyn, New York

Photograph courtesy of GSA, Public Buildings Service

Center panels of mural; Theodore Roosevelt U.S. Courthouse, Ceremonial Courtroom, Brooklyn, New York

Photograph courtesy of GSA, Public Buildings Service

Starting panels of the mural; Theodore Roosevelt U.S. Courthouse, Ceremonial Courtroom, Brooklyn, New York

Photograph courtesy of GSA, Public Buildings Service

Ending Panels of the mural; Theodore Roosevelt U.S. Courthouse, Ceremonial Courtroom, Brooklyn, New York

Photograph courtesy of GSA, Public Buildings Service

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