Dominianni curated several fascinating exhibitions for visitors to enjoy. (Courtesy of Riley Dominianni for The Fordham Ram)

One can never expect a dull moment in the company of Riley Dominianni, FCRH ’24, a history and anthropology double major with an unabashed love for 1960s folk revival music, historical documentaries and timeless pieces of cinematography like “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” (not necessarily in that order). Hailing from Kalamazoo, Mich., Dominianni has certainly made colorful strides on the Rose Hill campus. This semester marks her third year serving on the e-board for Theory and Praxis, a social justice and leftist book club, as well as her second year as the Events and Publicity Coordinator for the Italian Heritage Club, Insieme. 

On top of that, Dominianni is also a Research Assistant at the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, a position that holds both personal and professional significance in her life. Her eyes lit up when she spoke about the magic of the museum as a “site of memory for many people.” In fact, there was even something wonderfully serendipitous and sentimental about applying to the job itself — her cover letter submission fell exactly 100 years to the month after her great-grandmother passed through Ellis Island from Calabria, Italy. 

Those who spend time with Dominianni — even if it’s only for a moment — are familiar with her personable and passionate disposition, qualities that also help her excel at work. Split between tending to customers’ individual needs and curating information for museum exhibits, the RA position is best-suited for the most affable of history experts, a description that immediately brings Dominianni to mind. 

Three days a week she embarks on the trek to Ellis Island that entails a staggering three forms of transportation: the Bx9 bus takes her to the 4 train, where she stops at Battery Park to board the ferry. But the commute is more than rewarding, and Dominianni chimed, “It’s very fun. People have all kinds of reaction and sometimes we help people find information about their family that they never knew about. About 40% of our country’s population can trace their ancestry to the island. People want to know where they came from and how they got to where they are today.”

Beyond tracing visitors’ heritage, she also engages in independent research to contribute to museum content. “It’s a really cool feeling to do research and watch people read and experience the work I’ve done,” she beamed, going on to detail past and present projects. 

“Royalty on Manifests” first came up in conversation, a display that showcased royal figures that passed through the U.S. as discovered by old newspaper archives. Photographs of visiting nobility such as Russian princess Elena Tsouloukidze and Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie adorned an illuminated backdrop flanked by news headlines and ship manifests, a document providing identification for respective passengers. The curation and display of the exhibition spoke to the multi-faceted history of the island as both an immigration processing station and major geographical check point for anyone passing through. Exhibits for German and Hispanic Heritage Month also augment the laundry list of Dominianni’s contributions, and presently she is working on “an exhibit focusing on Thanksgiving, specifically how immigrants and their families have shaped an American holiday.” Sharing a glimpse of the project, she cited NYC’s annual Thanksgiving Day Parade and revealed how Macy’s founder Isador Strauss actually immigrated from Germany and perished in the Titanic shipwreck. “The impact of immigrants often goes unnoticed,” she said, “which is the main theme of the exhibit.”

In a closing ode to journalism, Dominianni fondly recalled her work on The New York Times (NYT) Project last summer. By compiling every article written in the NYT related to immigration and Ellis Island from 1890-1930, she digitized archival material in the library to form an online database. When sifting through articles from 1917-20, she noticed headlines tainted with the ever-looming Red Scare that detailed the deportation of communists and anarchists. The project revealed an intriguing counter narrative where people were funneled outside of the country rather than in, to which she stated, “It’s interesting to see how journalism has changed. General attitudes on immigration have changed as well. When nativism gained momentum, articles on immigration were a lot harsher.” Though the project was primarily conceived for content purposes, Dominianni said she hopes the database will potentially aid visiting families in reconnecting with the passengers within the articles. 

For those who wish to trace their family’s lineage, learn about the fascinating historical significance of Ellis Island or simply strike up conversation about anything under the sun, Dominianni’s infectious ardor is sure to leave a lasting impression that’s one for the history books.