Lewis W. Hine
Newsies, Newark, New Jersey

Public Domain

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Artist Lewis W. Hine (American, 1874–1940)American, 1874–1940

CultureAmerican

Titles

Newsies, Newark, New Jersey

DateDecember 1909

(not assigned)Newark, New Jersey, United States

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 4 5/8 × 6 1/8 in. (11.7 × 15.6 cm)
Sheet: 4 5/8 × 6 1/8 in. (11.7 × 15.6 cm)

Credit LineGift of Joan Morgenstern in honor of Isabell Smith Herzstein

Object number2000.804

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionTrained as a sociologist and recognizing the power of photography to sway public opinion and to create social change, Lewis Hine gave up his teaching job in 1908 and went to work full time as a photographer for the recently formed National Child Labor Committee (NCLC). His photographs of young children working in fields, factories, mills, and mines were reproduced in pamphlets and display materials of the NCLC and helped raise awareness of the plight of child workers, eventually leading to protective legislation. It is a measure of how bad life could be that the two young “newsies” in this photograph project an air of good fortune. Hine’s caption reads: “Joseph and Rosy, 10 and 8 yrs old. He sells until evening. She is one of 5 or 6 girls who sell (afternoons) in Newark.”
Provenance[Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco]; purchased by Joan Morgenstern, Houston, October 27, 1998; given to MFAH, 2000.
Exhibition History“History of Photography I: Selections from the Museum's Collection,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 1, 2014–February 22, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Inscribed in pencil on verso upper left: "034"

Typed label that has been removed and mounted to backboard: "1034 Newark, N.J. Dec. 1909/Joseph and Rosy, 10 and 8 yrs. old./he sells until evening. She is one of 5 or 6 girls who sell (afternoons) in Newark."

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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