Conservation-restoration of the Statue of Liberty and early warnings that would allow visitors to estimate any possible waiting times and to be conveniently advised if and when to visit or enter the statue. The report also discussed ways to streamline ferry access both to and from Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The early report did not address the ever-deteriorating physical condition of the statue, which was already readily apparent. The French American Committee for the Restoration of the Statue of Liberty was formed in May 1981. The Department of the Interior (of which the National Park Service is a bureau) later that month, on May 26,
Statue of Liberty the Eiffel factory in the nearby Parisian suburb of Levallois-Perret. The change in structural material from masonry to iron allowed Bartholdi to change his plans for the statue's assembly. He had originally expected to assemble the skin on-site as the masonry pier was built; instead he decided to build the statue in France and have it disassembled and transported to the United States for reassembly in place on Bedloe's Island. In a symbolic act, the first rivet placed into the skin, fixing a copper plate onto the statue's big toe, was driven by United States Ambassador to France Levi P.