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.
Vintage photos of:

Nov. 10, 1916. Vicinity of Bowling Green, Kentucky. "Hazel family (very poorly educated). Children have not been to school this year although living within 1½ miles of school." View full size. Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.

April 1910. "1 a.m. Pin boys working in Subway Bowling Alleys, 65 South Street, Brooklyn, N.Y., every night. Three smaller boys were kept out of the photo by Boss." View full size. Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.

February 1910. "Bowling Alleys connected with Geo. P. Gray's Bastable Cafe on Genesee Street. About eight very small boys employed here. Work until midnight. Photo taken at 11:30 p.m." View full size. Photo & caption: Lewis Wickes Hine.

October 1911. Lowell, Massachusetts. "Pin boys in Les Miserables Alleys. Frank Jarose, 7 Fayette St., Mellens Court, said 11 years old, made $3.72 last week. Joseph Philip, 5 Wall St., said 11 years old, and works until midnight every week night; said he made $2.25 last week and $1.75 the week before. Willie Payton, 196 Fayette St., said 11 years old, made over $2 last week, works there every night until midnight." View full size. Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.

December 20, 1909. "Boys working in Arcade Bowling Alley, Trenton, New Jersey. Photo taken late at night. The boys work until midnight and later." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

October 1938. Factory workers' homes in Camden, New Jersey. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein, Farm Security Administration.

"Clean Up Day" at the Deadwood Terra Gold Stamp Mill near Terraville in the Dakota Territory. Ore fed into the mill is stamped, or crushed, to prepare it for the chemical extraction of gold. Photograph by John C.H. Grabill. View full size.