Lewis Hine in Maryland

The Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery presents *Lewis Hine in Maryland*, a photography exhibition examining Lewis Hine’s 1909 documentation of child labor in Maryland and placing that work within his broader career as a documentary photographer. Drawn from UMBC’s Photography Collections, the exhibition focuses on children Hine photographed at Bottomley berry farms in Anne Arundel County and at the J. S. Farrand Packing Company in Baltimore.

Hine’s photographs, captions, reports, pamphlets, posters, and other materials show how documentary images were used to influence public opinion and support campaigns for labor reform. The exhibition also considers immigration and migration, social justice, the changing role of children in American society, and the development of documentary photography. It commemorates MD250 and the U.S. Semiquincentennial.

When: August 24 through December 18. The event listing identifies Friday, December 18, 2026, as a viewing date.

Showtimes: The Library Gallery is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

Venue: Library and Gallery, Albin O. Kuhn Library, UMBC.

Format: In person.

Tickets: Free. Admission is free, and all public programs are free and open to the public.

Public programs: A curatorial tour and opening reception will take place Thursday, September 17, at 5 p.m. A panel discussion on “Food and Labor in Maryland” is scheduled for Thursday, October 22, at 6 p.m., followed by a reception. The closing reception will be held Thursday, December 3, at 6 p.m.

Co-organizers: The panel and related programming are co-organized with UMBC’s Department of American Studies and the Orser Center for Public Humanities.

Accompanying installation: The exhibition is accompanied by *Lisa Oppenheim/Lewis Hine: Spine/Verso*, featuring two works from Lisa Oppenheim’s *Spine* series alongside photographs from UMBC’s Lewis Hine Collection. Oppenheim appropriates Hine images from the Library of Congress, enlarging photographs of adolescent textile workers and dividing them along the spine to emphasize the physical effects of repetitive labor. The UMBC photographs are displayed with their backs visible, revealing captions, annotations, and inscriptions connected to the National Child Labor Committee’s publications and promotional campaigns.

Artist: Lisa Oppenheim was born in New York in 1975 and lives and works in Brooklyn. Her work has been exhibited at institutions including MUDAM in Luxembourg, Huis Marseille in Amsterdam, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. Her work is held in collections including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and Centre Georges Pompidou.

Featured image: The page’s top image is Lewis Wickes Hine’s 1909 photograph *Dangerous Business. Boy working at canning machine with open gearing. Many such machines and boys too. J. S. Farrand Packing Co., Baltimore, Maryland*. It is a gelatin silver print from UMBC’s Photography Collections.

Parking: Driving directions and parking information are available through the venue’s visitor information page.