June 22, 1916. Fall River, Mass. Oscar Revinsky [Radnisky]. Born Jan. 11, 1900. 16 years old. Lives at 99 Oak Grove Ave. A scavenger on Pine Street Dump. Case known to S.P.C.C. (record No. 4322) since 1910. In 1913 parents refused to let child be committed to Wrentham, Mass. In 1916 father came to office asking that boy be committed as he spent all his time on the dumps. Deficient mentality. Neck covered with scars and boils. "No work, no school" since 1912. Never cleans up. Doesn't go home to meals. Eats from dump and steals from dinner pails. Was in baby grade at Ruggles School and was expelled. "Is father alive?" "No, he's a milkman." View full size. Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.

April 1913. Columbus, Georgia. "Eagle and Phoenix Mill. A 'dinner-toter' waiting for the gate to open. This is carried on more in Columbus than in any other city I know, and by smaller children. Many of them are paid by the week for doing it, and carry sometimes 10 or more meals a day. They go around in the mill, often help tend to the machines, which often run at noon, and so learn the work. A teacher told me the mothers expect the children to learn this way, long before they are of proper age." View full size. Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.

"The Works Progress Administration in Ohio presents the Federal Theatre for youth in 'A Christmas Carol.'" This poster for the Federal Theatre Project presentation of "A Christmas Carol" was created between 1936 and 1941.
View full size | Vintage Christmas Photos

April 1909. Phenix, Rhode Island. "Edward St. Germain and sister Delia. She has been working in Phoenix Mill for eight months. He works also. They cannot speak English." View full size. Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.

January 1912, New York City. View full size. To the untrained observer this might be a pleasant domestic scene; to the eye (and lens) of social reformer Lewis Hine, however, it is a diorama of decadence and moral decay, with peril lurking in every detail. The object of his ire here is the use of child labor in tenement home work, specifically the assembly of artificial flowers: "Julin, a 6-year-old child, making pansies for her neighbors on top floor (Gatto), 106 Thompson St. They said she does this every day, 'but not all day.' A growler and dirty beer glasses in the window, unwashed dishes on the stove, clothes everywhere, and flowers likewise." Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. (NB: Growler = beer pitcher.)

March 15, 1917. Oklahoma City. Jack Ryan is 6-year-old newsie who lives at 126½ West Reno Street. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.

Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. "Start of a glide; Wilbur in motion at left holding one end of glider (rebuilt with single vertical rudder), Orville lying prone in machine, and Dan Tate at right." October 10, 1902. 5x7 dry-plate glass negative attributed to the Wright Brothers. View full size.

October 10, 1902. Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. "Start of a glide; Wilbur in motion at left holding one end of glider (rebuilt with single vertical rudder), Orville lying prone in machine, and Dan Tate at right." 5x7 dry-plate glass negative attributed to the Wright Brothers. View full size. This is a cleaned-up detail from the post above.

Christmas 1954. My grandmother Sarah Parish Hall at home in Miami Shores, Florida. She really knew how to do Christmas. (Here's the tree.) View full size.

"Boy looking at Xmas toys in shop window" in New York circa 1910. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.

The Washington Bridge and High Bridge over the Harlem River along the northern boundary of Manhattan, looking south. Circa 1890 albumen print from a photograph by William Henry Jackson. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

Christmas tree at a New York lodging house in 1914. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. What did Santa bring? Chairs!

"Marconi Control Table" at a radio station in British Mandate Palestine circa 1939. View full size. | Alternate view. Glass negative from the archives of the Matson Photo Service, which documented the American Colony in Jerusalem.

July 1939. "Churchyard on annual cleaning up day, Wheeley's Church, Person County, N.C." View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange. Note the homemade twig brooms propped against the pine. From an earlier post, a group shot of the ladies. Is the church, in Gordonton, still there?

A radio mast in Ramallah, British-Mandate Palestine, sometime around 1939. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, Matson Photo Service. Alternate view.