Artifacts returned to Ellis Island museum for first time since Superstorm Sandy

NEW YORK (WABC) -- In another sign of the road to recovery from Superstorm Sandy, artifacts that were removed from the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration after the storm are now back where they belong.

Nearly 2,000 artifacts are now back inside the museum, including shoes from China.

"Something like this, delicate and ceremonial, would have been packed in luggage and considered a treasured item to bring with them," said curator Judy Giuriceo.

Crews carefully loaded the one of a kind piece into displays. They've been gone for nearly three years.

When Superstorm Sandy barreled through, the storm surge destroyed the electrical, cooling and heating systems.

The staff knew they had to do something fast.

"Six weeks after the storm it was apparent climate control was not going to be up and running in a short amount of time, so we decided to do the best thing for the collection," said Superintendent John Piltzecker.

They moved each and every piece to a storage facility outside of Washington, D.C. But now that the museum's mechanical and electrical infrastructure has been overhauled, it's finally time to get things back in order.

On the second floor, dubbed 'Santa's Workshop', they're unpacking and cataloging everything. Behind each item is an amazing story, chronicling the journey of millions of immigrants. One teddy bear belonged to a little girl from Switzerland.

"She had a porcelain doll and it dropped and broke and so her uncle gave her this teddy bear," said Giuriceo.

Over the next few months the rest of the artifacts will be brought back to the museum where they belong.