Child Labor & Repopulation · New York City, United States
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
The open question
Hundreds of teenage workers in one factory. How common was this?
On the record
On 25 March 1911 a fire killed 146 garment workers, 123 of them women and girls, most of them recent immigrants aged 14 to 23.
More from Child Labor & Repopulation
Hughestown, PennsylvaniaBreaker boys, No. 9 BreakerRooms full of small boys picking slate all day. Where were their fathers, and their schools?The Pennsylvania Coal Company's Number 9 Breaker; Lewis Hine photographed its breaker boys, including the smallest, Angelo Ross, in 1911.
Manchester, New HampshireAmoskeag MillyardThe biggest mill on earth, staffed partly by children. Who were they and where did they come from?It grew into the largest cotton textile plant in the world. Hine photographed small boys working there in May 1909.
North Pownal, VermontAddie Card, North Pownal millA girl who might be ten, working a spinning frame. Who signed off on that?Hine's 1910 photo of Addie Card, a 12-year-old spinner. His note says girls in the mill said she was ten.
Macon, GeorgiaBibb Mill No. 1A mill making big profits with children on the floor. Was it the same story everywhere?Hine photographed doffer boys and other children at Bibb Mill No. 1 in January 1909, noting the company's profits on his labels.