author

Broughton Brandenburg

1876–1963

Best known for an unusual piece of early immersive journalism, he wrote about immigration after traveling in steerage and living in a New York tenement with his wife. His work offers a vivid, firsthand look at how newcomers were treated in the United States at the start of the 20th century.

1 Audiobook

Imported Americans The Story of the Experiences of a Disguised American and His Wife Studying the Immigration Question

Imported Americans The Story of the Experiences of a Disguised American and His Wife Studying the Immigration Question

by Broughton Brandenburg

About the author

An early-20th-century newspaper correspondent and author, Broughton Brandenburg is chiefly remembered for Imported Americans (published in 1904). In that book, he and his wife reportedly disguised themselves and traveled among immigrants, then turned the experience into a detailed account of tenement life, the Atlantic crossing, Ellis Island, and the pressures facing new arrivals.

The surviving public record around him is thinner than it is for many better-known writers, but library and public-domain sources consistently connect his name with journalism and with Imported Americans. The book also notes that its photographs were by the author, which adds to its documentary feel.

Some later sources also mention Brandenburg in connection with a forgery scandal involving a supposed Grover Cleveland article sold to The New York Times. Because the basic facts of his career are clearer than the full details of his life, he is best approached today through his reporting: a period document that mixes investigation, travel writing, and social commentary.