Lewis W. Hine
Driver in West Virginia Coal Mine. Brown, West Virginia.

ArtistAmerican, 1874–1940
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Driver in West Virginia Coal Mine. Brown, West Virginia.
DateSeptember 1908
PlaceWest Virginia, United States
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 6 5/8 × 4 13/16 in. (16.8 × 12.2 cm)
Sheet: 6 5/8 × 4 13/16 in. (16.8 × 12.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of Anne Wilkes Tucker in honor of Miriam and Monroe Cohen
Object number97.697
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description


“The driver boy must go down the shaft in time to clean and harness his mule, bring him to the foot of the shaft and hitch him to a trip of empty cars before seven o’clock. The driver takes the empty cars to the working places and returns them loaded. . . . There are today ten thousand drivers in the anthracite coal mines. These boys are in constant danger, not only of falling roof and exploding gas, but of being crushed by the cars. Their pay varies from $1.10 to $1.25, from which sum they supply their own lamps, cotton and oil.”—Rev. John McDowell (1902)



ProvenanceAnne Wilkes Tucker, Houston; given to MFAH, 1997.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Stamped in black ink: Lewis W. Hine // Interpretive Photography // Hastings on Hudson // New York.
Inscribed in black ink, verso: Driver in W. Va. Coal Mine // 1909 // 3 734.
Inscribed, verso, top: [illegible]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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