Lewis Hine Collection

American photographer and sociologist Lewis Wickes Hine (1874–1940) was instrumental in bringing public attention to the working and living conditions of children in the early decades of the twentieth century, and in galvanizing support for child labor reforms.

The Albin O. Kuhn Library of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), maintains a collection of over 5,000 photographs Hine took of children at work at factories, mills, farms, mines, and canneries between 1908 and 1940 for the National Child Labor Committee. These photos, which were often taken covertly, are accompanied by Hine’s detailed notes from interviews with the children and their families and employers.

Read an interview with Beth Saunders, Curator & Head of Special Collections at the UMBC library about this unique collection of Hine photographs, which is being preserved and rehoused with support from an NEH grant.