The average child: Lewis Hine, statistics, and ‘social photography’

Abstract

This project looks at the statistical turn in American sociology in the early twentieth century and its impact on Lewis Hine’s ‘social photography.’ Photographic studies of today are digital and often participatory, yet, their roots can be traced back to Hine’s work. The rise of statistical methods in the social sciences coincides with Hine’s development as a documentary photographer. Hine is often discussed alongside just one or two of his iconic images. This approach overstates the importance of the single, select print, subverting the essence of Hine’s statistical method. The conventional monographic approach is far too limiting for a photographer who produced thousands of images. In 1907, Hine enrolled in Columbia University to study sociology with Professor Franklin Giddings, who was responsible for establishing their leadership position in statistical methods. Hine’s longstanding affiliation with Columbia played an important role in shaping his sociological perspective. Hine never thought of his work in terms of individual photographs. What was central to his picture making was a belief in the veracity of a statistical norm. My project examines how the Columbia School provided Hine with the elements upon which his term ‘social photography’ found meaning and informed how a sociological philosophy might be manifest in photography.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

[1] Trachtenberg states that what Hine ‘wanted to arouse was less “social conscience” than “sociality,” a consciousness that society consisted of all others with whom one interacts, imaginatively as much as materially.’

[2] The assignment was probably in response to the urging of Arthur Kellogg, who Hine had met in 1904. Arthur Kellogg worked for Charities and the Commons and his brother Paul was the magazine’s assistant editor. This project marked the beginning of a thirty-five year relationship between Hine, the Kelloggs, and the journal.

[3] In a letter dated April 1924 to Paul Kellogg, Hine compares the ‘value of the realistic photography’ to what he deemed the ‘fuzzy impressions’ of the Pictorialists.

[4] Some of the prominent figures that Hine would come to know and work with beyond Giddings included: Arthur and Paul Kellogg, Owen R. Lovejoy, Edward T. Devine, Rexford G. Tugwell, Thomas Munro, and Roy Stryker, among others.

[5] Galton first described his composite procedure in this article and acknowledged Spencer’s contribution.

[6] See McCausland (1992, 102), she explains that with ‘Hine the sociological objective was paramount; the esthetic attributes seem to have occurred almost casually.’

[7] See Orvell (1992), he states, ‘Though Hine’s artistry is always acknowledged to some degree, there lingers still, in our contemporary consideration of him, the remnants of McCausland’s view of Hine as aesthetically ingenuous; and not surprisingly he has served more than once as a foil to the aesthetically self-conscious Stieglitz.’

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kathy Quick

Kathy Quick completed her PhD in 2010 from Brown University. Her dissertation looked at the narrative aspects of Lewis Hine’s documentary photography and its relation to early cinema. She currently teaches art history at the University of Rhode Island.