The Record - January 1998

American Originals: Lewis Hine

Laura Petty, a 6-year-old berry picker on Jenkins Farm.
"I'm just beginnin'. Picked two boxes yesterday."
Gets 2 cents a box. Rock Creek, Md. (NWDNS-102-LH-829)

Lewis W. Hine is recognized as the foremost social documentary photographer of his time. For the better part of a decade, he entered various workplaces, taking pictures and gathering data to present to the public as the irrefutable truth about the social evils of child labor in the United States. His work contributed to the reform of child labor practices in the early part of the 20th century. This photograph is from NARA's Records of the Children's Bureau and is one of the images included in the exhibit American Originals now featured at the National Archives.