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Rene Barbin, 61 Perkins St., works in lower Spinning Room #2. Rene, 14 in Feb. Location: Salem, Massachusetts

description

Summary

Title from NCLC caption card.

Attribution to Hine based on provenance.

In album: Mills.

Hine no. 2611.

Credit line: National Child Labor Committee collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

General information about the National Child Labor Committee collection is available at: loc.gov

Forms part of: National Child Labor Committee collection.

Hine grew up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. As a young man he had to care for himself, and working at a furniture factory gave him first-hand knowledge of industrial workers' harsh reality. Eight years later he matriculated at the University of Chicago and met Professor Frank A. Manny, whom he followed to New York to teach at the Ethical Culture School and continue his studies at New York University. As a faculty member at the Ethical Culture School Hine was introduced to photography. From 1904 until his death he documented a series of sites and conditions in the USA and Europe. In 1906 he became a photographer and field worker for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC). Undercover, disguised among other things as a Bible salesman or photographer for post-cards or industry, Hine went into American factories. His research methodology was based on photographic documentation and interviews. Together with the NCLC he worked to place the working conditions of two million American children onto the political agenda. The NCLC later said that Hine's photographs were decisive in the 1938 passage of federal law governing child labor in the United States. In 1918 Hine left the NCLC for the Red Cross and their work in Europe. After a short period as an employee, he returned to the United States and began as an independent photographer. One of Hine's last major projects was the series Men at Work, published as a book in 1932. It is a homage to the worker that built the country, and it documents such things as the construction of the Empire State Building. In 1940 Hine died abruptly after several years of poor income and few commissions. Even though interest in his work was increasing, it was not until after his death that Hine was raised to the stature of one of the great photographers in the history of the medium.

According to the 1900 US Census, a total of 1,752,187 (about 1 in every 6) children between the ages of five and ten were engaged in "gainful occupations" in the United States. The National Child Labor Committee, or NCLC, was a private, non-profit organization that served as a leading proponent for the national child labor reform movement. It headquartered on Broadway in Manhattan, New York. In 1908 the National Child Labor Committee hired Lewis Hine, a teacher and professional photographer trained in sociology, who advocated photography as an educational medium, to document child labor in the American industry. Over the next ten years, Hine would publish thousands of photographs designed to pull at the nation's heartstrings. The NCLC is a rare example of an organization that succeeded in its mission and was no longer needed. After more than a century of fighting child labor, it shut down in 2017.

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Tags

boys textile mill workers smoking massachusetts salem photographic prints lot 7479 national child labor committee collection lewis wickes hine photo print rene barbin rene ultra high resolution high resolution lewis w hine united states history library of congress child labor
date_range

Date

01/01/1911
collections

in collections

Lewis W. Hine

Lewis Hine, Library of Congress Collection

Child Labor

National Child Labor Committee collection
place

Location

massachusetts
create

Source

Library of Congress
link

Link

https://www.loc.gov/
copyright

Copyright info

No known restrictions on publication. For information see: "National Child Labor Committee (Lewis Hine photographs)," https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/res.097.hine

label_outline Explore Rene, Salem, Smoking

Weighing the babies in the "Glass House," Child Welfare Exhibit, St. Etienne

Two of the workers in Merrimack Mills. See Hine report. Location: Huntsville, Alabama.

Rene Fonck - Public domain portrait photograph

Cotton state Solons present demands for enactment of farm program to president. Washington, D.C., Aug 5. Led by Senator Ellison D. "Cotton Ed" Smith, of South Carolina, a delegation of congressmen from the cotton states called on President Roosevelt today and presented their demands for enactment of a farm program before congressional adjournment. After the conference a spokesman for the group told reporters he felt the president would make stabilization loans under existing discretionary powers, probably through the Commodity Credit Corporation, on all basic commodities if given "definite assurances" that a farm production control program would be enacted early next session. In the picture, left to right: Rep. William R. Poage, Texas; Rep. John J. Sparkman, Ala.; Senator Ellison D. Smith, S.C.; Rep. Rene L. De Rouen, LA.; Rep. Lyndon Johnson, Tex.; Rep. Aaron Lane Ford, Miss. and Rep. Clyde Garrett, Texas, 8/5/37

Group of children from Canneries in School #3, Buffalo, N.Y. 1) Carlo Ciaravina, 124 State St., 8 years old. Worked on beans and corn in sheds at Albion, N.Y. Entered school December 5th. 2) Mike Miranda, 8 years old last summer. Stringing beans in the home at Forsetville. Entered school September 7th. 3) Louis Belilta, 61 Water St., 12 years old last summer. Worked part of the time snipping beans in the sheds at Collins, N.Y. 4) Rose Moreibella, 41 Peacock St., 11 years old last summer. Stringing beans part of the time in the sheds at North Collins and Cherry Creek, N.Y. 5) Josephine Favata, 62 Main St., 10 years old last summer. Said that when little sister slept, she husked corn and string beans in the big shed at Albion, N.Y. 6) Magaline Tutarchi, 62 Main St., 8 years old last summer. Stringing beans and shelling peas sometimes in the sheds at Mr. Morris, N.Y. 7) Bombe Regis, 69 Water St., 9 years old last summer. Stringing beans in the sheds. Entered school in September. 8) Rosa Guglinzza, Room 10, 62 Main Street, 10 years old last summer. Worked on berries, corn and beans in the sheds at Cherry Creek. Location: Buffalo, New York (State)

Group of girls and women, Aragon Mills, Rock Hill, S.C. Location: Rock Hill, South Carolina

Louis Horoux. One of the youngsters in Queen City Mill, Burlington, Vt. About a dozen like here. (Not a large mill.) Location: Burlington, Vermont

Willie Cheatham, Western Union messenger #1. Says he is 16 years now; been messenger for 6 years. Late Sunday night, October 4th, I talked with him, still on duty, until 10 P.M. "You bet I know every crooked house in town. Went to school with one of those girls when she was straight. Her mother died and she went bad. Some young girls were there too. I go out to Red Light some with messages and packages, and if I want to, I bust right in and sit down." Hard face. Location: Montgomery, Alabama

A typical Glass Works Boy, Indiana, Night Shift, Said he was 16 years old. 1 A.M. Location: Indiana

All these small boys, and more, work in the Chace Cotton Mill, Burlington, Vt. Many of the smallest ones have been there from one to three years. Only a few could speak English. These are the names of some:- Lahule Julian, Walter Walker, Herman Rotte, Arsone Lussier, Addones Oduet, Arthur Oduet, Alder Campbell, Eddie Marcotte, John Lavigne, Jo Bowdeon, Phil Lecryer, Joseph Granger. A small mill. Location: Burlington, Vermont

Phoebe Thomas, a little while after the accident. Location: Eastport, Maine

Closing hour, Loray Mill, Gastonia, N.C. One of the smallest boys said he had been in mill 2 or 3 years (and is 12 years old). Location: Gastonia, North Carolina

Topics

boys textile mill workers smoking massachusetts salem photographic prints lot 7479 national child labor committee collection lewis wickes hine photo print rene barbin rene ultra high resolution high resolution lewis w hine united states history library of congress child labor