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Lewis Hine

Aug 22 fri

Went to look at the Lewis Hine collection of photographs in he Local History and Genealogy division of the Public Library at 42 St. The collection contains:

Immigration - 100 prints 5 x 7" contacts supposedly made by Hine in 1939-1940. They are mounted on gray cardboard and underneath each picture is a white card with a typewritten caption. The prints vary in technical quality with a great many spot marks and some bad printing I found only half aesthetically interesting, 49 to be exact and 8 to be of great quality (this may be over harsh there are many good pictures there)

Child Labor 108 prints approx. 9 1/2 x 7 1/2" trained and mounted on grey board these are enlargements made by Hine in which he cropped his 5 x 7 negative down on both sides and I feel ruined his composition. Again I found half of good quality (50) 12 or greatness. The subject matter is so moving it is hard sometimes to

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maintain the proper perspective of judgment.

Women at work 116 prints 5 x 7" contacts (the actual image size being 6 3/4 x 4 3/4") and some larger. The prints are unmounted and some are in bad condition, some were used for reproduction and have been retouched. Pictures out of order.

I found only 16 to be of interest - these were two of a place he was not allowed in to photograph, so he took a picture of the building on the outside and then another shot when the workers came out to eat their lunch. The time lapse between the two is interesting: of the empty street and then the space occupied by the workers. It relates to Dorothea Lange's two pictures of 6 tenant farmers and what I am doing in the street pictures. It forces the awareness of time.

Men at work 31 unmounted 8 x 10 size approx. - out of order. bad enlargements some of heads, hands I found only two of interest