Lewis Wickes Hine

(Am. 1874-1940)

Housing for Farm Workers, 1910

Photograph, framed under glass

Property of National Child Labor Committee stamp and inscribed "105 East 22nd Street New York Room 75, shanty L, Cranberry pickers Paul + (?) + wife live here settlement called Rome on Whites Bay, Brownsville (?) 4 sons live in next room Note the bread + other food lying around unprotected Plenty of flies" verso, The Witkin Gallery label on backing verso

6 15/16" x 5" actual, 14 3/16" x 12 1/8" framed

Lewis Hine was hired by the National Child Labor Committee in 1908 to document the living and working conditions of workers, including child laborers. Often dressed in disguise, Hine was able to enter factories, farms, mines, and other workplaces as well as the living spaces of American laborers to reveal the conditions and abuses they endured. With extensive handwritten notation, Hine’s photographs remain critical research tools in investigating labor rights and reforms at the turn of the century.