All Work and No Play Child Labor Exhibit
Jan. 31 through mid-June 2020
This new exhibit delves into a grim part of America’s industrial labor history. It explores the historic use of children as laborers in industries such as textile mills, sardine canneries, and family farms throughout the state of Maine in an effort to understand how child labor became a widespread issue in our country. By using information about the working conditions of these young workers and the decades of labor reform, the museum will present a well-rounded understanding of the subject rather than place blame on the industries described.
This exhibit features the child labor photographs taken by Lewis Hine in Maine and throughout the country. These photos exist among thousands taken from 1908-1924 when Hine was hired by the National Child Labor Committee. All of his photographs were used as “tools of persuasion” to end the practice of child labor in the United States and are all available to the public through the Library of Congress.