The modern, gleaming museum in the Main Hall of Ellis Island, in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, lures millions of visitors each year, while the crumbling remains of 29 abandoned buildings on the island’s south side are closed to the public. Those buildings once housed a psychiatric hospital, a contagious-disease ward, and a morgue. A nonprofit fund-raising organization, Save Ellis Island, is campaigning to open the buildings to the public to shed light on the immigrant experience of those who were never allowed to leave.

The aging morgue and contagious disease wards make it possible to imagine what life must have been like for Ellis Island’s unwanted immigrants, those who were too physically or mentally ill to complete their journey to America. This reality of immigration is what Save Ellis Island hopes to share.

The group hopes to raise $300 million over the next five to 10 years to restore and reuse the entire island, a spokeswoman of the group said. The key part of the plan is conversion of one of the buildings into the Ellis Island Institute, which the organization envisions as a learning center with programs focusing on immigration, racial diversity and tolerance, and public and global health.

The group also wants to create an international retreat and conference center, offering overnight accommodations for attendees of workshops and conferences.

The National Park Service has done some work to slow deterioration of the buildings, which would be renovated with funds raised by Save Ellis Island.

The first phase of the initiative is to renovate the Ferry Building, where immigrants who were cleared to enter America would wait for ferries to their next destination. Exhibits will be displayed when this building is completed. Phase two will include renovation of the Laundry/Hospital Outbuilding, which will eventually house the Ellis Island Institute.

According to the National Park Service, more than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. An estimated 40% of Americans can trace at least one ancestor’s entry into America through Ellis Island.

Meanwhile, the group that runs the Statue of Liberty has recovered following allegations of fiscal mismanagement and delays in reopening after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

After the attacks, Liberty Island was closed to tourists for 100 days before reopening in December 2001. The statue itself remained shuttered until plans were made to put additional security measures in place for the protection of both visitors and the monument itself.

In response to growing frustration over the delay in re-opening the statue and critical media reports, a Congressional hearing took place in June, which gave the National Park Service 30 days to submit a reopening plan.

The statue was finally re-opened on August 3, with Ranger-guided tours ushering visitors by elevator up to the pedestal. The body of the statue remains off-limits, though to enhance the experience a glass ceiling and key lighting were installed at the pedestal level to allow guests to look up through the body of Lady Liberty.