Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
- Baldwin 62303
- Baldwin VO-1000
- Cold
- No expense spared
- Tough Guys
- Lost in Toyland
- And without gloves
- If I were a blindfolded time traveler
- Smoke Consumer Also Cooks
- Oh that stove!
- Possibly still there?
- What?!?
- $100 Reward
- Freeze Frame
- Texas Flyer wanted
- Just a Year Too Soon
- WWII -- Replacing men with women at the railroad crossing.
- Yes, Icing
- You kids drive me nuts!
- NOT An Easy Job
- I wonder
- Just add window boxes
- Icing Platform?
- Indiana Harbor Belt abides
- Freezing haze
- Corrections (for those who care)
- C&NW at Nelson
- Fallen Flags
- A dangerous job made worse
- Water Stop
Photos submitted by Shorpy members!
Print Emporium
Corps de Ballet: 1912
"Photos taken during noon hour, October 23rd, 1912, at the Loray Mills, Gastonia, N.C. They said they were working and went in to work. At night I counted over thirty children coming out when the whistle blew, and they seemed to be from ten to twelve years old. The Superintendent was much disturbed over the photos." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
Bryharms is right.
Those pitiful cloth wrappings were better than nothing, but not much. Wonder why the barefoot boys haven't done the same.
Gastonia Ballet Company
Seriously, those are NOT ballet shoes and I am certain that, even back in 1912, no boy would be caught dead in his sister's ballet shoes!
They're make-shift shoes for boys without proper shoes, but whose mother insisted they still needed some sort of protection. They're made from remnant cloth. Don't ask me how I know!
Can't for the life of me
Been trying to come up with some logical reason for those ballet shoes. All I can figure is maybe they found them somewhere or, considering both boys have socks, that indicates (CSI Donno here) they were wearing the ballet foot garb when they left home, having donned socks but without regular shoes to wear. If they found the shoes at work, most likely they'd have been barefoot. I hope other Shorponians will chime in.
Both pairs are so beat up I doubt if there were any sisters at home ticked off about their ballet shoes taking a walk (sorry).
Shorpy.com is a vintage photography site featuring thousands of high-definition images. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago. Contact us | Privacy policy | Accessibility Statement | Site © 2024 Shorpy Inc.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5