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These garters are made for Berger, 92 Spring St. 9:00 P.M., Feb. 27/12. Making garters (armlets). A Jewish family and neighbors working until late at night. This happens several nights in the week when there is plenty of work, the youngest children working until 9 P.M. and the rest until 11:00 or later. Family of Adolph Weiss, 422 E. 3rd St., N.Y., Seven-year-old Sarah, next is 11 yr. old sister. Next is 13 yr. old brother. On left is seven-year-old Mary and ten-year-old Sam, and next the mother is a 12 yr. old boy. The last three are neighbors children who come in regularly to work. "It's better than running the streets" the father said. He was a grocery clerk but has been out of work for some months and works at home on the garters. Location: New York, New York (State)

6 P.M. Making hair-brushes. Hausner family, 310 E. 71 St., N.Y. Frank is 6 yrs old. and John is 12. The mother had a sore throat and wore a great rag rapped around it, but she took it off for the photo. They said they all (including the 6 yr old) worked until 10 P.M. when busy. Their neighbor corroborated this. She said, "It's a whole lot better for the boys than doin' nothin'." The mother said the night work hurts their eyes and John said so too. He was not very enthusiastic about the beauties of work. All together, they make about $2 a week. Father is a motorman. 6 P.M. Jan. 31, -12. Location: New York, New York (State)

Mrs. Finkelstein, 127 Monroe St. Bessie (age 13), Sophie (age 7). Girls attend school. Making garters for Liberty Garter works, 413 Broadway. Mother, a widow, earns 75 cents a day by working all day until 12 at night. Bessie works until 10 P.M. Sophie until 9 P.M. They expected to work until 10 P.M. to finish the job, although they did not know when more work would come in. Witness Mrs. Hosford. Location: New York, New York (State)

6 P.M. Making hair-brushes. Hausner family, 310 E. 71 St., N.Y. Frank is 6 yrs old. and John is 12. The mother had a sore throat and wore a great rag rapped around it, but she took it off for the photo. They said they all (including the 6 yr old) worked until 10 P.M. when busy. Their neighbor corroborated this. She said, "It's a whole lot better for the boys than doin' nothin'." The mother said the night work hurts their eyes and John said so too. He was not very enthusiastic about the beauties of work. All together, they make about $2 a week. Father is a motorman. 6 P.M. Jan 31, -12. Location: New York, New York (State)

Mrs. Finkelstein, 127 Monroe St. Bessie (age 13), Sophie (age 7). Girls attend school. Making garters for Liberty Garter works, 413 Broadway. Mother , a widow, earns 75 cents a day by working all day until 12 at night. Bessie works until 10 P.M. Sophie until 9 P.M. They expected to work until 10 P.M. to finish the job, although they did not know when more work would come in. Witness Mrs. Hosford. Location: New York, New York (State)

6 P.M. Making hair-brushes. Hausner family, 310 E. 71 St., N.Y. Frank is 6 yrs old. and John is 12. The mother had a sore throat and wore a great rag rapped around it, but she took it off for the photo. They said they all (including the 6 yr old) worked until 10 P.M. when busy. Their neighbor corroborated this. She said, "It's a whole lot better for the boys than doin' nothin'." The mother said the night work hurts their eyes and John said so too. He was not very enthusiastic about the beauties of work. All together, they make about $2 a week. Father is a motorman. 6 P.M. Jan 31, -12. Location: New York, New York (State)

Boys working in Scotland Mill, Laurinburg, N.C. Smallest boy--Junior Bounds--Beginning. Next, Rollin Hudson - 3 years in mill. Next, Lloyd Willoughby - 3 years in mill. Next, Preston Torrent - 8 years in mill. 6 years night work - 14 years old now. "Haven't been in school more'n 3 days in my whole life." Father blind. 2 older sisters and 1 younger brother work in mill now. Has doffed all 8 years. Gets about 60 cents a day. Asked him if he didn't get tired, "No, when you get used to it you don't get tired. Some of the boys goes to sleep when they begin." Showed a remarkable degree of refinement and consideration for others. Work has not blunted this. Sunday, Dec. 608. Witness, Sara R. Hine. Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina Photo by Lewis W. Hine

Noon hour at Massachusetts Mill, Lindale Ga. During the days following this, I proved the ages of nearly a dozen of these children, by gaining access to Family Records, Life Insurance papers, and through conversations with the children and parents, and found these that I could prove to be working now, or during the past year at 10 and 11 years of age, some of them having begun before they were ten. Further search would reveal dozens more. (See Hine Report). Location: Lindale, Georgia.

Noon hour at Massachusetts Mill, Lindale, Ga. During the days following this, I proved the ages of nearly a dozen of these children, by gaining access to Family Records, Life Insurance papers, and through conversations with the children and parents, and found these that I could prove to be working now, or during the past year at 10 and 11 years of age, some of them having begun before they were ten. Further search would reveal dozens more. (See Hine Report). Location: Lindale, Georgia

These garters are made for Berger, 92 Spring St. 9:00 P.M., Feb. 2712. Making garters (armlets). A Jewish family and neighbors working until late at night. This happens several nights in the week when there is plenty of work, the youngest children working until 9 P.M. and the rest until 11:00 or later. Family of Adolph Weiss, 422 E. 3rd St., N.Y., Seven-year-old Sarah, next is 11 yr. old sister. Next is 13 yr. old brother. On left is seven-year-old Mary and ten-year-old Sam, and next the mother is a 12 yr. old boy. The last three are neighbors children who come in regularly to work. "It's better than running the streets" the father said. He was a grocery clerk but has been out of work for some months and works at home on the garters. Location: New York, New York (State)

description

Summary

Title from NCLC caption card.

Attribution to Hine based on provenance.

In album: Tenement homework.

Hine no. 2881.

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

families jews children and adults laborers clothing industry tenement houses home labor hours of labor photographic prints lot 7481 national child labor committee collection lewis wickes hine photo work garters night neighbors children ultra high resolution high resolution lewis w hine united states history library of congress new york city child labor
date_range

Date

01/01/1912
collections

in collections

Lewis W. Hine

Lewis Hine, Library of Congress Collection

Child Labor

National Child Labor Committee collection
place

Location

new york
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 Children And Adults, Hours Of Labor, Lot 7481

Home work on tags. Home of Martin Gibbons, 268 [?] Centre Street, Roxbury Massachusetts. James 11, years old; Helen 9 years and Mary 6, work on tags. Helen said she could tie the most (5,000 a day at 30 cents). Mary does some but can do only 1000 a day. They work nights a good deal. The night before Helen and James worked until 11:00 P.M. See also Home Work report. Location: Roxbury, Massachusettsachusetts.

Mrs. Mary George, 74 Southbridge Street, Worcester, Massachusetts. Mother and Aaron, 13 yrs., and Elizabeth 12 yrs old, working on crochet slippers. The children work until 9 or 10:30 P.M. sometimes, and the mother later. Girl has so much trouble with eyes that she is very much behind in school. Mother has eye trouble, too. (See Report also.) Witness. F.A. Smith. Location: Worcester, Massachusettsachusetts.

Mrs. Larocca, 233 E. 107th St., N.Y., making willow plumes in an unlicensed tenement. Photo taken Feb. 29, 1912. License was revoked Dec. 19, 1911.Applied for again Feb 7, 1912, inspected Feb. 13 and refused Feb 14, 1912. Feb. 29, 1912 I found nine families (including the janitress) at work on feathers or with traces of the day's work still on the floor. Still other families were reported to be doing the work also, but were not home. When our investigator made her first calls here, she found the whole tenement in much worse condition (see schedule) Children had bad skin trouble, fever, etc. Grandmother was working the day this photo was taken. New York, New York (State)

Family of Louis Rizzo, a laborer who works some. The wife and four children (none could speak English at all) work on feathers and make about $3.00 a week. Been in U.S. five months. Do not go to school yet. Through an interpreter they said Peter is 15, Jimmie 14, Carbo 9 and John 7 years old; but those seemed to me too high. They were working in a very dim light. Location: New York, New York (State)

Family of Louis Rizzo, a laborer who works some. The wife and four children (none could speak English at all) work on feathers and make about $3.00 a week. Been in U.S. five months. Do not go to school yet. Through an interpreter they said Peter is 15, Jimmie 14, Carbo 9 and John 7 years old; but those seemed to me too high. They were working in a very dim light. Location: New York, New York (State)

Jewish family working on garters in kitchen for tenement home. (For complete details see Miss E.C. Watson's report.) Location: New York, New York (State)

Home of Ansley Westover, rear of 8 12 Milton St., Worcester, Massachusetts. Mother and children, 4 yrs., 8 yrs., 10 yrs., 11 yrs., and 12 yrs., earn about $4 to $5 a week. Work until 9 P.M. frequently and at times until 10 P.M. or midnight and then sometimes up working before school. (See also report) Photo at 5 P.M. Witness F.A. Smith. Location: Worcester, Massachusettsachusetts

2 P.M. Mrs. Katie --- (refused to give their name), 134 13 Thompson St., one flight up, front. Making artificial flowers in a crowded and dirty room used as kitchen, bed room, living room, and work room. Mother and family work including 8 and 9 yr. old girls in the photo (who were at home 2 P.M. on a school day) and the little 3 and 4 yr. olds who were helping by separating the petals. See report on schedule. Name is Darelli or Tarelli? 3 days after photo was taken the home was sealed up and disinfected by Board of Health for tuberculosis; 14 yr. old boy. Immediately the flower making resumed again. Location: New York, New York (State)

Mrs. Tony Totore or Totoro?, 428 E. 116th St. 2nd floor back, makes from $2.00 to $2.50 a week making lace for a Contracter, Mrs. Rosina Schiaffo, 301 E 114th St, 3rd floor. Mrs. Sohiaffo, in turn, sends her lace to a manufacturer, M. Weber Co., 230 E 52nd St. Husband and two children, 4 and 7 yrs. Old. Mrs. Totoro said, "I rather work for a factory. They pay more." Husband is a cement laborer with irregular work. Location: New York, New York (State)

Lorna Chavez interview conducted by Ellen E. McHale, 2012-07-17

B.K. Silverlake interview conducted by Tanya Ducker Finchum and Juliana M. Nykolaiszyn, 2011-07-01

Woman and girl carrying finished couset covers made on Macdougal St.--to factory--171 Wooster Street, N.Y. Location: New York, New York (State)

Topics

families jews children and adults laborers clothing industry tenement houses home labor hours of labor photographic prints lot 7481 national child labor committee collection lewis wickes hine photo work garters night neighbors children ultra high resolution high resolution lewis w hine united states history library of congress new york city child labor