SELECTIONS > AMERICAN

LEWIS W. HINE (1874 – 1940)
Lewis Hine, a New York City turn-of-the century schoolteacher and photographer, believed that a picture could tell a powerful story. He felt so strongly about the abuse of children as workers that he quit his teaching job and became an investigative photographer for the National Child Labor Committee. He traveled around the country photographing the working conditions of children in all types of industries. He took pictures of children working in the streets as shoe shiners, newsboys, and hawkers. Some of his images of American workers – both children and adults, are among the most famous photographs ever made.

Lewis Hine’s extensive archive of negatives and photographs rests at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. He has had dozens of monographs published and been the subject of hundreds of articles and books. His photographs are still being used today to celebrate the worker and to protect child labor laws.