Taking Questions Ask About the Statue of Liberty Barry Moreno, a librarian and historian at the Statue of Liberty National Monument and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, is responding to readers’ questions. Biography »

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Following is the first set of answers from Barry Moreno, a New York historian and author of “The Statue of Liberty Encyclopedia” (Simon and Schuster, 2000). This week, he is responding to readers’ questions about the revered woman of New York harbor.

Was there cohabitation on Ellis Island? My mother claimed to have been conceived there on a trip her mother made.

— Posted by Sandi Schneider



No, cohabitation was not permitted at Ellis Island. Detained male and female immigrants were sent to separate quarters. Children stayed with their mothers in the women’s dormitories.

I was as an assistant to the photographer working for the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation during the restoration in 1986. My questions are as follows:

How is the statue is holding up since the restoration?

Were records kept of the names of the hundreds of workers and the companies involved in the restoration?

Also, if you search your archives you will find that the best example of the insulation that was used on the original copper brackets to hold the framework to the skin was found by me on the restoration site and submitted to National Park Service for its archives.

Thank you, National Park Service, for reopening the crown. I spent a lot of time in the crown during the restoration.

— Posted by Robert Di Giacomo

Since her restoration back in the 1980s, Miss Liberty has held up very well indeed. As far the names of the firms involved, we have a number of them; however, complete records would be in Washington. I’ve never seen a large list of individual workers. And since there were so many private contractors and subcontractors, it would take time to find all their names.

I’m also glad that the crown is reopening. By the way, since you worked on the restoration, you might want to contact Janet Levine, our oral historian, if you would like come here and do a recorded interview. Her number is (212) 363-3206, ext 157.

Is it structurally possible to remove the layers of corrosion and return the statue to its original shine, or has the tarnish spread too deeply into the structure of the statue?

I’ve always considered how striking it must have looked when it was new.

— Posted by Patrick McDonald

The layers on the statue are not corrosion; it is a thin protective layer that covers the surface of exposed copper known as a patina. This green patina began gradually covering the surface of Miss Liberty just after 1900, and was noted in the press at least as early 1902. By 1906, the goddess of liberty was entirely green.

Before the color change, Miss Liberty was copper colored, but not shiny.

The layers of corrosion that you speak of is the patina of the copper. It is certainly not tarnish. When you use copper for a roof or a statue, it is the patina (or green color) that you want, and copper lasts a very long time with its patina. That is why you will see very old structures and cathedrals in Europe that have lasted for more than 600 years, and the roofs still do not leak. I would be more concerned about the dissimilar metals used, i.e. the steel framework and the copper skin.

For my question, is it true that the Freemasons had a hand in certain aspects of the statue?

Are there any archives online about the people who arrived through Ellis Island? And if yes, where can they be found?

— Posted by Paul

Thanks for clearing up the question regarding the copper.

To answer your own question: Yes, the Freemasons played an important role in the Statue of Liberty’s development. First, Liberty’s sculptor, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, was himself a Freemason, having just finished the Alsace-Lorraine Lodge in Paris in 1875. Liberty’s own name, Liberty Enlightening the World, was probably derived from the Masonic idea of illumination and enlightenment. Several powerful Freemasons were members of the French Committee (particularly the celebrated historian Louis-Henri Martin).

Not surprisingly, the Masons were just as influential on the American side. Nearly all the major figures raising funds for the pedestal were Masons, including the architect Richard Morris Hunt.

The greatest moment for the Masons was indisputably the laying of the cornerstone for the statue and pedestal at Bedloe’s Island, as Liberty Island was formerly known, in 1884. The ritualistic ceremony was presided over by the grand master of the New York State Lodge.

Ellis Island’s immigration records are available online at www.ellisisland.org and www.ancestry.com.

How long ago did those who maintain/operate the statue shut down access to the torch? My grandfather told me he and Grandma once went up there when they immigrated to New York City. Wondering if it will ever open to the public again.

— Posted by Jason

Access to the torch ended in July 1916 and will not be restored.

Hello. My grandmother, Margaret Gregory, was said to have been a nanny for the caretaker’s children at the Statue of Liberty, and they used call her “Bedloe’s Nanny.” She went on to raise 11 kids on Water Street, a part replaced by the city’s first projects, the Alfred E. Smith Houses, and they moved to the Bronx. Nearby, where Mr. Smith grew up, across the street, was a Mayflower Society’s monument to Isaac Allerton, who had a warehouse in New Amsterdam, a house in New Haven, Conn., a major street in the Bronx named after him and the exit between the zoo and the botanical gardens.

Oops. My question for the “world’s first electrically lit lighthouse” (Snapple cap) is, how do the caretaker’s children get their education today? Do they take a boat to school every day?

— Posted by George Myers

Children who live at Liberty Island take the National Park Service staff boat to attend school in New York City.

I remember that my grandma allowed my brothers to crawl up the arm. I think that was when she took them to the statue without me as I was too young. It was probably in the very early ’60s.

— Posted by Jep

The torch and arm has actually been closed to the public since 1916 and has not been opened since.

I’d like to know something about the original intention of the gifting of the statue.

What was it at the time meant to mean to the people of New York and the United States, and who was responsible for giving the statue to the Americans?

Do you also have any record of what was said at the official ceremony to gift the statue?

— Posted by Phishaw

The statue was given to the people of the United States by a private fund-raising organization called the Franco-American Union, based in Paris. The union was created and headed by Professor Edouard de Laboulaye. Laboulaye chose to build a colossal statue of the goddess of liberty and give it to the American people to celebrate their 100th year of independence from Great Britain. The statue was also to be symbol of friendship between France and United States and as a symbol of America’s constitutional democracy.

And, yes, we do have a record of all the speeches that were uttered at the unveiling and dedication of the Statue of Liberty on Oct. 28, 1886.