Joe Manning's Child Labor Presentation

Aaron King

11/12/13

Joe Manning’s Presentation on Child Labor

            Today I went to the presentation by Joe Manning on his endeavor to learn more about child laborers and their lives. For 8 years now Manning has looked into child laborers photographed during the early 20^th century. In particular, he studies the work of Lewis Hine, a photographer of the time period. His photographs have become, as Manning puts it on his website, the “best record we have of what people looked like, living their lives in the first half of the 20^th century, and what the American vernacular landscape looked like as well.” Manning talked a great deal about Lewis Hine, his life, and what his work means to Manning himself. Following this, he talked about how he first got involved in his so-called “Lewis Hine Project.” After, he details the lives of other children he has profiled, and finished off the discussion with about how this endeavor has affected his life. The discussion was really very enlightening and I’m actually really glad I got to see it.

            Manning’s presentation started off with a discussion of Lewis Hine, the man who photographed the lives of these child laborers. Hine was always a writer, and eventually he got a job from the newspaper he was working at to photograph these child laborers and expose their hardships to the nation. However, because Hine had to photograph these children quickly (if the owners knew what he was doing they would send him out), not all of the children were fully profiled; some names are missing, and other than that their lives aren’t very well documented. Hine was a big inspiration for Joe Manning, as they both shared a curiosity they wanted to share with others. This is where Manning became involved with his Lewis Hine Project.

            At some time around 2005, Manning’s friend Elizabeth Winthrop finished a book she wrote on a fictional child laborer, but was based on a girl photographed by Hine. The girl’s name was listed as Addie Laird. Winthrop asked Manning if she could investigate more into the girl’s life now that the book was finished. What happened to her? Did she have a family? Does she have descendants? This is what Manning was asked to find out. However, it wasn’t easy, because so little was known about this girl. Yet Manning still tried, and he ultimately succeeded in finding out who this girl really was. Following lead after lead, he discovered the girl’s real name was Addie Card. She married once, and had a daughter, from whom she was separated due to a sickness. Then, Manning followed the trail to discover Addie’s second married name, Lavigne. During this marriage, Addie adopted a daughter and had several more descendants. It was through these descendants that Manning truly discovered who Addie Card was, what happened to her, etc. Manning truly enjoyed this experience; following the trail, exploring curiosities, and being determined to discover all culminated into his finding out who this girl was. And it left Manning excited. He wanted to continue this work, and it just so happened that there were a thousand unexamined pictures taken by Hine, and so this is what got Manning into the work of detailing the lives of these child laborers.

            Manning continued at this point to explain other stories he has discovered in his work. Currently he has completed over 350 children’s stories, mainly through the use of obituaries and newspaper articles. He talked about one boy who died at a very young age due to respiratory issues, but who was survived by his son and grandson. He talked about a girl who was survived by many descendants who knew little about their ancestor. This story in particular was incredible because it showed what effect Manning’s work can have on these descendants. The great-granddaughter of this child laborer learned that she had uncanny resemblances to her ancestor, and made a picture detailing the similarities. She then emailed Manning days later saying how amazing it was to have her eyes opened to how close she ultimately was to a relative she had never met. It was an amazing experience for her and it showed how Manning’s work crossed generations and connected individuals who normally wouldn’t have been.

            Manning’s presentation was pretty inspirational. It spoke a lot to his curiosity, first of all. The professor who introduced Manning explained that no one could find him because he was exploring the area. It showed how curious he is a person, who interested he is in gaining knowledge. This curiosity translated well into Manning’s work, as he was always striving to learn as much as possible about these children even from the beginning. It was inspiring because it showed just where being curious can get someone. Manning has brought together relatives, uncovered the lives of completely unidentified child laborers, and been able to travel the country learning more about some people than even their own relatives knew. I suppose this does translate well to Lowell’s cultural identity as well, in two ways: the first (and more obvious) being that child labor was a huge part of Lowell’s industrial success and was a big part of its history in general. However, the presentation also related to Lowell’s celebration of history. Both Manning and Lowell agree that the past is a huge part of any entity’s identity, and I think this presentation demonstrated this.