The Chisholm Trail Museum in Kingfisher will host a traveling exhibit of photography by Lewis Hine from Sept. 1 through Nov. 22.

“Child Labor in Oklahoma:  Photographs by Lewis Hine, 1916–1917,” sponsored by Oklahoma Humanities, is a traveling exhibit from the Oklahoma History Center curated by Theresa Bragg, Jim Meeks and Lori Oden.

This exhibit highlights a collection of 25 powerful photographs taken by Hine while he was in Oklahoma more than 100 years ago.    

Hine was able to capture the soul of the child laborer in North America in the early 1900s. He mainly focused on major cities, but took brief trips to other parts of the country to document child labor, including Oklahoma.

Hine photographed in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Lawton, Shawnee, Okmulgee, Sulphur and a few other small communities in the state.

In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act into law.

The National Child Labor Committee, founded in 1904, had finally accomplished its first goal.

Hiring Hine in 1908 to document child laborers was pivotal to its cause. He was one of the first photographers to utilize the medium to document the human condition in order to make positive changes.

“If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn’t need to lug a camera,” Hine once said.

Although his photographs moved the nation to create child labor laws, Hine died in poverty and unrecognized in 1940.  Decades later his life’s work would become synonymous with social reform documentary photography.

An exhibit catalogue also is available for free while supplies last.

This program is sponsored in part by Oklahoma Humanities (OH) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of OH or NEH.

The Chisholm Trail Museum and A. J. Seay Mansion are located at 605 Zellers Ave. in Kingfisher.

For more information, call 405-375-5176.