ABSTRACT
In 1910, a shy, slim photographer stood in front of a large audience which sat in hushed silence. “The great social peril is darkness and ignorance,” the photographer wrote. His goal was to educate his audience and increase their understanding of children’s working conditions. The United States was in the midst of an industrial revolution, which had begun during the nineteenth century. Factories had sprung up across the country. Deep mines had been dug to provide large supplies of coal that could fuel the new manufacturing plants, and cities had grown to house the hundreds of thousands of workers needed for America’s industries. While some entrepreneurs became rich during industrialization, many other people worked for low wages and long hours in the mines, the factories, or in their own homes.
