The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) here at the Center is home to the original manuscript of “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus–the poem that graces the Statue of Liberty. Perhaps the poem’s most famous lines are “Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” This New York Times article (“How a Sonnet Made a Statue the ‘Mother of Exiles’”) includes an image of the poem written in Lazarus’s own handwriting in her original manuscript notebook, courtesy of the AJHS. The Statue’s 125th birthday is this Friday, October 28th.
