The Red Star Line Museum brings the forgotten history of the Red Star Line to life on the exact same spot where it was once written. Housed in the restored departure warehouses for third-class passengers in Antwerp’s historic port district, the museum tells a universal history of migration based on the stories of Red Star Line passengers.

It is actually the prequel to Ellis Island: a not very well known, but important and gripping tale of an unpredictable journey through Europe and across the Atlantic. It is a tale of happiness and sorrow, of farewells and new beginnings, a story of past and present migration.

From Antwerp to New York

Since it opened its doors in September 2013, many American visitors have explored the Red Star Line Museum. They were impressed and moved by the experience: stories and testimonies from people who could have been their parents or grandparents, and images and original artefacts documenting the journey from the European hinterland towards Antwerp, and the subsequent ocean crossing to New York.

The Red Star Line Museum wants to bring its story to the US. The aim is to build a comprehensive travelling exhibition containing graphic panels with text and image and multimedia with immigrant stories and testimonies, as well as original artefacts and an Ancestry.com research booth.

The narrative will follow a typical journey to the US around 1900, starting in a travel office of the Red Star Line in Russia, covering the illegal border crossing to the West, the train journey to Antwerp, the transit through the city, procedures before embarkation, the ocean voyage and the arrival on Ellis Island. The exhibition includes travel objects, company publicity, art works and shipmodels.

It will be possible to select personal stories and testimonies in the multimedia according to the venue. The Ellis Island Immigration Museum will host the exhibition in the summer of 2016. More venues are soon to be announced.

On May 26, Hon. Sven Gatz, Flemish Minister for Culture, together with a high-level delegation of the City of Antwerp, will officially open the "Via Antwerp. The Road to Ellis Island" exhibition on Ellis Island.