Lewis Wickes Hine (
1874–
1940), was an American
photographer.
Construction worker on the empire state building some type of wire by: Lewis Wickes Hine (Larger Version)
For Lewis Wickes Hine the camera was both a research tool and an instrument of social reform. Born in
Oshkosh, Wisconsin[?], Hine studied sociology at the
University of Chicago and Columbia and New York Universities. He began his career in 1904, photographing immigrants arriving in the United States at
Ellis Island in New York Harbor. In 1908, he became the photographer for the
National Child Labor Committee[?] (NCLC). Over the next decade, Mr. Hine documented child labor in American industry to aid the NCLC's lobbying efforts to end the practice. Between 1906 and 1908, he was a freelance photographer for
The Survey, a leading social reform magazine.
In 1908, Hine photographed life in the steel-making section of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the influential study, "The Pittsburgh Survey." During and after
World War I, he documented
American Red Cross relief work in Europe. In the 1920's and early 1930's, Hine made a series of "work portraits," which emphasized the human contribution to modern industry, and included photographs of the workers constructing
New York City's
Empire State Building. During the
Great Depression, he again worked for the Red Cross, photographing drought relief in the American South, and for the
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), documenting life in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. He also served as chief photographer for the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) National Research Project, which studied changes in industry and their effect on employment.
The National Archives holds nearly 2,000 Hine photographs, including examples of his child labor and Red Cross photographs, his work portraits, and his WPA and TVA images.
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