Art Institute of Chicago

Sadie Pfeifer, a Cotton Mill Spinner, Lancaster, South Carolina

Lewis Wickes HineLinkedCulture matchlcp-089c2af06626

Date: 1908
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Culture: United States
Department: Photography and Media
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago
Object ID: 23336

From the Art Institute of Chicago record

In 1906 the National Child Labor committee hired Lewis Hine, already known for his photographs of immigrant families arriving on Ellis Island and steelworkers in Pittsburgh, to document scenes of child labor. In a South Carolina cotton mill, Hine discovered 48-inch-tall Sadie Pfeifer and photographed her directly next to the dangerous machinery that she faced each day. Though she is bathed in light, her small form is nearly overwhelmed by the rows of spools in front of her, their repeating forms evoking the monotonous, mechanical nature of factory work. Hine's images originally appeared in periodicals, posters, and booths at anti-child labor conventions. In 1914, 35 states ruled to prohibit the employment of children under the age of 14 and to require an 8-hour workday for individuals under 16. These photographs, therefore, represent one of the first instances of photography helping to enact social change.

View at Art Institute of Chicago ↗

The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page

See at Art Institute of Chicago

Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line: Gift of David Vestal

Linked open data

Authority identifiers that link this record into the wider web of cultural data — stable references you can follow to the source.

Object type: AAT300046300

Part of a LinkedCulture topic

American Social Documentary Photography
These gelatin silver print photographs document working-class life, labor conditions, immigration, and social hardship in early 20th century America.
156 objects from 2 institutions