The Museum's historians are currently seeking the identity of a young immigrant girl in a photograph dating to about 1905. The young passenger holds a Red Star Line ticket in her hand.
Young Galician immigrant holding envelope labelled "Red Star Line"
Saint John, New Brunswick, May 1905
The photo is beautiful, intriguing, even a bit haunting, but very little is known about its origins. It hints at just one of the museum's many stories. Though it was taken in Canada, it's possible the passenger and her family went on to the U.S., like so many others. The Canadian archives identify her as Galician (of an ethnic group located in the north-west of Spain), but her precise origins are unknown.
Through social media and other online platforms, the museum hopes it can connect this girl to a larger story by identifying her family and tracing their lives to the city they ultimately settled in. As an incentive, the successful sleuth can win a trip for two to Antwerp! To participate, visit http://www.redstarline.org/.
Galicia was also an area in what is now Poland and Ukraine. It would probably make more sense if the girl was from this region given immigration patterns of the era. Here's some more info about Galicia:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~autwgw/agsgai.htm
She was probably Ukrainian, not from an area near Spain. There's more information about immigrants to Canada from this region at this website:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/legacy/chap-2a.asp