Many of you have excellent collections, and mine might not be as cool but it's my first find in the states. As I was rummaging through a sale in NY, I first found the old pic of a lady, then with that came her Imperial passport, her ID and a work "recommendation". But the most interesting thing is that we have traced her coming to America through Ellis Island website.So here goes...
The picture of Doba Motolskaya taken in Herson, a town in the south of Russia, present Ukraine nearby Odessa.
The second picture is the same as previous one but has her ID glued to the back. It reads:
Lasts from 4 (doesn't say what month) to January 1, 1906.
A ticket for an entrance to the "Baby Jesus" hospital
for Ms. Motolskaya, who is a nurse's student.
She's allowed to see patients from 9 to 5
Here's the passport, for those not familiar with Russia present and old, Russians had two passports, one used within a country and the second one a travel passport, this is the latter one, first page says 24 pages, passport number 6382, Signature of the owner D. Motolskaya
2nd page: passport belongs to Andopol mesh'anka (middle class?) Doba Leimova Motolskaya of 26 years old is going abroad. The blue pen was used by the officials in Russia by customs, mailmen, etc
3rd page: The tariff of 15 rubles is taken.
The passport is given to use while travelling and is stamped.
In Minsk, November 27th, 1911
For the hubernator, vice-hubernator (don't know what it says).
The stamp is of the Minsk Hubernator
4th page: same thing as before in German, the stamp on top says: Passport revision March 4, 1912 and then probably a city, if anyone knows what it is, please let me know.
Skipping to page 15: A stamp reads: "Shown in Alexandrov when leaving on February 20, 1912" The stamp for the arrival back is absent.
Page 19: A stub given by the Minsk Hubernator on November 27, 1911 for passport 6382 for mesh'anka Doba Motolskaya. Same stamp as on the page 15, no stamp of arrival back.
And finally a "recommendation" given to Ms. Motolskaya from the desk of head doctor of the "Baby Jesus" hospital on November 23rd 1906 in Warsaw.
"This is given to signify that Ms. Doba Motolskaya was working in the diagnostic clinic of the Imperial Warsaw University, that is overseen by me as a nurse's aid from May 13th, 1905 to May 13th, 1906"
The head doctor Statskiy Sovetnik ...
The stamp is of the "Baby Jesus" hospital in Warsaw
And finally we looked on the Ellis Island site and voile we have located Ms. Motolskaya, she's N 25 on the list. She came to her uncle Josef Muller somewhere in March, don't remember the exact date. It also says there that she's 5'2" has blue eyes and light hair also evident from the picture. She has $25 with her when she arrives.
So now we can trace her life for a couple of years. She was born in 1885, because on the passport it says she's 26 in 1911. At 20 years old she goes to work/study as a nurse's aid in the hospital wherte she works for a year from May 13, 1905 to May 13, 1906. She gets her travelling pasport in November 27, 1911 and leaves for America on the February 20, 1912 from Alexandrov. She is checked in on March 4, 1912 in a city (don't know which one) and finally sets her sight on the US where she arrives a couple month later and she's 27 years old as the Americans like to say to start a new and wonderful life.
