Liberty; The Statue and the American Dream

New York, NY: Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., 1985. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. 304 pages. Illustrated endpapers. Profusely illustrated. Author's Note. Illustration Credits. Index. Oversized book measuring 10-3/4 inches by 9 inches. This is the official book for the Centennial of the Statue of Liberty, published by The Statue of Liberty--Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. Topics covered include Liberty: The Story of the Statue; Old Lands, New Nation; The Perils of the Journey; Promise of a Young Land; Iron Rails, Golden Mountain; Through Ellis Island; The Shock of the Great City; Years of Hope and Struggle; and The Enduring Dream. Also includes Afterword: Tracing the Family; Author's Note and Illustrations Credits; and Index. Also contains an Afterword: Tracing the Family. The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York, in the United States. The copper statue, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and its metal framework was built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

The statue is a figure of Libertas, a robed Roman liberty goddess. She holds a torch above her head with her right hand, and in her left hand carries a tabula ansata inscribed JULY IV MDCCLXXVI (July 4, 1776 in Roman numerals), the date of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. A broken shackle and chain lie at her feet as she walks forward, commemorating the recent national abolition of slavery.[8] After its dedication, the statue became an icon of freedom and of the United States, seen as a symbol of welcome to immigrants arriving by sea.

Bartholdi was inspired by a French law professor and politician, Édouard René de Laboulaye, who is said to have commented in 1865 that any monument raised to U.S. independence would properly be a joint project of the French and U.S. peoples. Because of the post-war instability in France, work on the statue did not commence until the early 1870s. In 1875, Laboulaye proposed that the French finance the statue and the U.S. provide the site and build the pedestal. Bartholdi completed the head and the torch-bearing arm before the statue was fully designed, and these pieces were exhibited for publicity at international expositions.

The torch-bearing arm was displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and in Madison Square Park in Manhattan from 1876 to 1882. Fundraising proved difficult, especially for the Americans, and by 1885 work on the pedestal was threatened by lack of funds. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer, of the New York World, started a drive for donations to finish the project and attracted more than 120,000 contributors, most of whom gave less than a dollar. The statue was built in France, shipped overseas in crates, and assembled on the completed pedestal on what was then called Bedloe's Island. The statue's completion was marked by New York's first ticker-tape parade and a dedication ceremony presided over by President Grover Cleveland.

The statue was administered by the United States Lighthouse Board until 1901 and then by the Department of War; since 1933 it has been maintained by the National Park Service as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, and is a major tourist attraction. The monument has been temporarily closed since March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Public access to the balcony around the torch has been barred since 1916.
Condition: Very good / Very good.

Keywords: Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island Foundation, Immigration, Historic Sites, National Park Service, Americanization, Child Labor, Genealogical Research, Ethnicity, Laboulaye

ISBN: 0870445839

[Book #79862]

Price: $50.00

See all items in Immigration
See all items by