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:

Girls working in Tampa, Florida, cigar box factory. I saw 10 small boys and girls. Has had reputation for employment of youngsters but work is slack now. January 28, 1909. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.

Boston, January 24, 1917. Mary Creed, 14 years old. Selling cigars in store of Mrs. Breslin, 817 Harrison Avenue. View full size. Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine.

Eviction in an East Side neighborhood of New York circa 1908. View full size. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

Moving van at an apartment eviction in New York circa 1908. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

October 1909. Boy selling fish from a basket in Boston street market. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.

1918 slackers: The check dodger, car seat caretakers, the parlor slacker, slackerette and planting a grandmother. Perhaps someone could explain that last one. View full illustration.