Most of the photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs, 20 to 200 megabytes in size) from the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) Many were digitized by LOC contractors using a Sinar studio back. They are adjusted by your webmaster for contrast and color in Photoshop before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here.

October 1908. "Lunch time at the Economy Glass Works in Morgantown, W. Va. Plenty more like this inside." View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.
In spite of the fact that they were no doubt being exploited by the bosses, they seem well dressed and eating out of nice dinner kits, so I would assume the 50 to 75 cents a day they made was a nice addendum to the family income, enough so that they were provided with nicer clothing and better food than their non-working siblings. Even so, I wouldn't trade places with them.
Today's Top 5