See the Work

Where to experience Lewis Hine's photographs in person, and resources to learn more

Permanent Collections

Institutions holding Lewis Hine's original prints and negatives, plus the public-domain archive these images are drawn from.

Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

Holds the National Child Labor Committee Collection, roughly 5,100 photographic prints and 355 glass negatives by Hine documenting child labor between 1908 and 1924, available with no known restrictions on publication.

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George Eastman Museum

Rochester, New York

Major repository of Hine's photographs and negatives, which the museum accepted after his death when other institutions had declined them.

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Albin O. Kuhn Library, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Baltimore, Maryland

Holds a large collection of National Child Labor Committee photographs by Hine.

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New York Public Library

New York City

Holds Hine photographs including images from his Empire State Building construction series.

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Metropolitan Museum of Art

New York City

Holds vintage Hine prints, including his celebrated Empire State Building image "Icarus."

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Major Exhibitions

Notable retrospectives and exhibitions of Lewis Hine's work.

1939
retrospective

Lewis W. Hine Retrospective

Riverside Museum, New York

A retrospective organized late in Hine's life with the support of the critic Elizabeth McCausland and photographer Berenice Abbott, one of the few exhibitions to honor him before his death.

1977
retrospective

America and Lewis Hine

Brooklyn Museum, New York

A major touring retrospective that surveyed Hine's full career and was central to the revival of his reputation.

2018
retrospective

Lewis Hine

International Center of Photography, New York

A comprehensive survey of Hine's photography, from his Ellis Island and child-labor work to his industrial work portraits.

Books & Films About Lewis Hine

Essential resources for understanding Lewis Hine's life and work.

Essential Reading

Men at Work: Photographic Studies of Modern Men and Machines Lewis W. Hine, 1932

The only book of Hine's photographs published in his lifetime, celebrating the skill and courage of industrial workers, including his images of the construction of the Empire State Building.

America and Lewis Hine: Photographs 1904-1940 Walter Rosenblum, Naomi Rosenblum, and Alan Trachtenberg, 1977

A landmark survey and exhibition catalogue that helped restore Hine's reputation, pairing a broad selection of his photographs with biographical and critical essays.

Lewis Hine: The Final Years Jonathan L. Doherty, 1978

A focused study of Hine's later career, drawing on his work for the Works Progress Administration's National Research Project.

Reading American Photographs: Images as History Alan Trachtenberg, 1989

An influential study of American photography that includes a major critical assessment of Hine's social documentary work and its meaning.

Films & Other Resources

America and Lewis Hine Directed by Nina Rosenblum, 1984

A documentary film on Hine's life and photography, narrated in part from his own words, that brought his story to a wide public audience.

Explore the Archive

Browse 1708 Lewis Hine photographs from the Library of Congress.

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