Historical pictures from the Post archives.

“An ornamental incense burner, expertly mounted and illuminated with French lichen,” a picture on paper in this issue: It’s the image that greets an 18-year-old New York girl who has just arrived at New York’s Ellis Island after fleeing Romania on the SS Saralee, one of 500 ships heading to the Statue of Liberty in the early summer of 1789. Mrs. Boudin may have been hungry at Ellis Island, but she is warm and cheerful and ready to begin her new life in America. The return trip to Europe is not as difficult as she expected. She didn’t want to stay alone in a stormy country. One man quickly hands her a hot and coiled scroll of linen bound in gold. “Will you sign it?” he asks. “Yes,” she replies, and her younger sister Rachel opens it to reveal the voyage history: “I served as laborer of France, of Saint-Domingue, of Canada, of England, of San Salvador, of Scotland, of Cojimar, and of Australia. Let me tell you, that Paris has never offered such plenty and benefits as does New York.” (Photo by George Whitmore)