Lewis hine photography wilkes-barre general hospital

Working as an investigative photographer for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC), Lewis Hine () documented working and living conditions of children in the United States between and

By , an estimated 2 million children under the age of 15 were working industrial jobs.

Conditions were often horrendous.

Founded in , the National Child Labor Committee set out on a mission of &#;promoting the rights, awareness, dignity, well-being and education of children and youth as they relate to work and working.&#; Starting in , the Committee hired Hine first on a temporary and then on a permanent basis, to carry out investigative and photographic work for the organization.

Hine called it &#;detective work.&#; He assumed a variety of personas &#; including Bible salesman, postcard salesman, and industrial photographer making a record of factory machinery &#; to gain entrance to the workplace.

When unable to deflect his confrontations with management, he simply waited outside the cannerie