March 1909. A trio of Hartford, Connecticut, newsies. "Have been selling two years. Youngest, Yedda Welled, is 11 years old. Next, Rebecca Cohen, is 12. Next, Rebecca Kirwin, is 14." Glass negative by Lewis Wickes Hine for the National Child Labor Committee. View full size.

      On this Labor Day 2021, Shorpy wishes everyone a meaningful and at least momentary break from toil.

"Powerhouse Mechanic and Steam Pump" (1921). One of Lewis Wickes Hine's celebrated "work portraits" made after his decade-long project documenting child labor. View full size.

January 1911. South Pittston, Pennsylvania. "A view of the Pennsylvania Breaker. 'Breaker boys' remove rocks and other debris from the coal by hand as it passes beneath them. The dust is so dense at times as to obscure the view and penetrates the utmost recesses of the boys' lungs." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

From the 1906 book The Bitter Cry of the Children by labor reformer John Spargo:

        Work in the coal breakers is exceedingly hard and dangerous. Crouched over the chutes, the boys sit hour after hour, picking out the pieces of slate and other refuse from the coal as it rushes past to the washers. From the cramped position they have to assume, most of them become more or less deformed and bent-backed like old men. When a boy has been working for some time and begins to get round-shouldered, his fellows say that “He’s got his boy to carry round wherever he goes.”

January 1911. "Group of boys working in No. 9 Breaker. Pennsylvania Coal Co., Hughestown Borough, Pittston, Pennsylvania. Smallest is Sam Belloma, Pine Street." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine for the National Child Labor Committee. View full size.

August 6, 1917. "10 year old picker on Gildersleeve Tobacco Farm. Gildersleeve, Connecticut." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine for the National Child Labor Committee. View full size.

October 1909. "A Group of Boot-Blacks in Bowdoin Square, a Passing Juvenile Industry. Location: Boston, Massachusetts." Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

Jan. 30, 1917. "14-year old Fred cutting dies for a new job. Embossing shop of Harry C. Taylor. 61 Court Street, Boston, Mass." 5x7 inch glass negative by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

February 1910. "10 a.m. Saturday. 36 Laight Street, New York. Florence Lieto, 10 years old; Jennie Macola, 10 years old (hidden); Mamie Macola, 8; Nicholas Macola, 6. Picking coffee sweepings. The sweepings cost 25 cents a sack at the warehouse, and picked-over coffee sells at about 12 cents a pound. Man working with sore hand tied up in bandage. Children work after school hours and on Saturdays." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

"Newsboy, 1913. No caption card found. Date based on captions for neighboring numbers. 'Pittsburg' may be in text at top of newspaper on ground, but neighboring newsboy photos taken in New York. Headline appears to be 'Judges Avert Probe and Save Blakeley'." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine for the National Child Labor Committee. View full size.

March 1909. Hartford, Connecticut. "9:30 P.M. A common case of 'team work.' Smaller boy (Joseph Bishop) goes into saloon and sells his last papers. Then comes out and his brother gives him more. Joseph said, 'Drunks are me best customers. I sell more'n me brudder does. Dey buy me out so I kin go home.' He sells every afternoon and night. Extra late Saturday. At it again at 6 A.M. Sunday." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine for the National Child Labor Committee. View full size.

November 1908. "Woman at beam warper. Melville Mfg. Company, Cherryville, North Carolina." 5x7 glass negative by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

May 1909. "Leopold Daigneau and Arsene Lussier, 'back-roping boys' in mule-spinning room at Chace Cotton Mill, Burlington, Vermont." Glass negative by the child-labor reformer Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

June 5, 1916. New York. "Miss Mackay's pageant Children of Sunshine and Shadow (with the hoop symbolizing 'Play') as presented at Washington Irving High School." Glass negative by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

September 1910. Burlington, Vermont. "Two of the 'pin boys' working in Bowling Academy with three other small boys until 10 or 11 p.m. some nights." One of our astute commenters noticed this place just two doors over from the hotel seen here, and made the connection to Lewis Hine, who took this photo, as well as the pictures of Shorpy.com's namesake coal miner. View full size.

May 1910. "Noon hour at Obear-Nestor Glass Co., East St. Louis, Illinois. Names of the smallest boys are: Walter Kohler, 981 N. 18th Street; Walter Riley, 918 N. 17th Street; Will Convery, 1828 Natalie Avenue; Clifford Matheny, 1927 Summit Avenue. All employed at the glassworks." Photo by Lewis Hine. View full size.