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6 P.M. April 23, 1909.
A few of the young workers in Bates Mfg. Co., Lewiston, Me. Many more and younger. This mill is as bad as the average South
Carolina mill in regard to child labor, Lewis Hine.
In April of 1909, Lewis Hine took 13
photographs in Lewiston, Maine, a city along the Androscoggin River, which boasted many textile and shoe mills. He took 10
photos at the Bates Mill, and three at the Hill Manufacturing Company mill.
Unfortunately,
he did not identify any of the children in the pictures. On August 19, 2011, I made a presentation about the Lewis Hine Project
at Museum L-A, a terrific history museum located in the Bates Mill complex. A reporter from the Sun Journal, the local newspaper,
covered the event. With her assistance, the Sun Journal agreed to publish all 13 of the Hine photos, hoping that readers might
be able to identify some of the children. All the photos were published, but no one responded. Sadly, the children remain
anonymous. See the photos below. Click each one to enlarge it. You can also
see several newspaper articles about child labor in Lewiston, my research about Sadie Mason, one of the child workers that
was injured, and a story about my Lewiston presentation.
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| Hill Manufacturing Co. |
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| Hill Manufacturing Co. |
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| Hill Manufacturing Co. |
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| Bates Mill |
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| Bates Mill |
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