I found several other [websites] also and was captivated for a few hours reading her
story. I will positively read Saving Grace. Her story is fascinating to say the least, the
processes used the find her were a testimony to paper trails in genealogy. One of the
reasons I got into it. Always, Anna Farris
Members of my family worked in a silk mill in Carbondale, PA. In fact a couple were
spinners. Manufacturers built the silk mills in the area to tap the female work force.
Most of the men worked in the anthracite coal mines. In those days, it was common
for the housewife to manage the home while the husband and children worked.
John Chulick
I found the comments Hine made on his photos most interesting. The Library of
Congress has a catalog online of these photos. Each photo has information on when
and where each photo was taken with captions and notes by the photographer. Pretty
awesome that someone took the time to collect, preserve and record these.
Debbie Sterbinski
So I guess that we should inform the US Department of Labor, that they need to get
their act together and use the correct names on their website? It is rather amusing that
the department that is directly involved with this issue, does not have the correct
information. Bob Craig
I did read about your site on www.kottke.org. While I'm not a forensic genealogist, I
am a photography buff. I recognized the photo as Lewis Hines' work immediately. The
Addie Card story you sent the link for is fascinating. Leo Kawczinski
Thanks for the note. Yes, I got to you via Jason's blog. I really LOVE your site. I
delved into a couple of the older photos and enjoyed chasing those questions down. I'd
love to be on the alert list. For several years I have used some old photos in my Comp I
class, asking the students to draw as many conclusions as they can from the image.
I'll now be throwing your offerings into the fray. Thanks for your efforts.
Mark Browning
I wanted to thank you for providing such a great website! I found it through the
current issue of Games Magazine. Right away, I noticed the old pictures on the cover
and when I saw the title, I was in awe! My whole life, I have always adored pictures
of anything or anyone. I love visually exploring the images and putting myself in that
situation. Another favorite hobby of mine is Data Mining (which until that article, I
didn't know there was a name for it)! I couldn't be more happier to find your website
and quizzes! It brought me great satisfaction, knowing that I wasn't alone in this hobby,
Forensic Genealogy!! Sundays can't come fast enough, now. :) Thanks again for all
your work on the website and quizzes, it's much appreciated. Jen Paolilli
How sad these lives and circumstances. Bobbie Sims
I know this one...Addie Card of Pownal VT, the Louis Hine photo that inspired the
Elizabeth Winthrops' book "Counting on Grace", and a photo that Joe Manning did a
search on, with amazing results! Joe's website is just amazing, with many other Louis
Hines' photo stories that he has researched. Joan Alexander
was actually Card. With that startling information, she learned that she had married at
17. But after the 1920 census, Winthrop could find no record of Addie or her husband,
or if they had any children. That's when she turned to me for help.
Within two weeks, I had located and contacted Addie's granddaughter. In two more
weeks, I was standing before Addie's grave. Just after Christmas, Elizabeth and I met
and interviewed Addie's great-granddaughter, descended from the adopted daughter of
Addie's second marriage.
As the summer of 2006 approached, I learned that more than 5,000 of Hine's child
labor photos are viewable on the Library of Congress website. Some of those photos
POWNAL — Discovering the fate of a girl in an iconic photograph taken in Pownal in
1910 has led author and oral historian Joe Manning to research the subsequent fates of
other children photographed at worksites around the country.
Photographer and social activist Lewis Hine traveled around the country for the
National Child Labor Committee. He took pictures of child laborers that were published
to build support for child labor laws. In 1910, he took a photo of a 12-year-old girl at
the North Pownal Cotton Mill. This image rose to prominence when the U.S. Postal
Service used it on a child labor reform stamp issued in 1998.
However, the girl had been misidentified as Addie Laird ever since Hine took her photo.
Attempts to find out what had happened to her led nowhere. Enter writer Elizabeth
Winthrop, a part-time resident of Williamstown, Mass., and the speaker at last year's
Pownal Historical Society annual meeting. In her research to write a fictionalized
account of the life of the girl, "Counting on Grace," Winthrop found out her real name
— Addie Card — but did not have time to find out more. So Manning, a friend of
Winthrop, took it from there.
Read complete article. Click here.

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Elizabeth Winthrop is the author of Counting on Grace, a
fictionalized account of a young girl named Grace who is forced to
leave school to work in a North Pownal cotton mill. Her story was
inspired by Lewis Wickes Hine' photo of the "Anemic Little Spinner
in Nother Pownal Cotton Mill'.
Throughout her work on the book, Elizabeth wondered about the
real Grace, whose name had been recorded by Hine as Addie Laird.
But who was Addie Laird? What happened to her? The people in
North Pownal were always mystified by the name Laird. Most of
the workers in New England mills in the early 1900's had been
recruited from Canada and Laird is a Scottish name. Then in 1998,
at the urging of North Pownal officials, the U.S. Postal Service
Many thanks to Stan Read for suggesting this quiz and to John Roberts for seconding the nomination..
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Answer to Quiz #129 - October 7, 2007
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1. What is the name of the girl in the picture? 2. Who was the photographer?
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Read more about Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop
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Other Great Books by Elizabeth Winthrop
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issued a stamp of Addie's picture to commemorate child labor laws in their "Celebrate
the Century" series. At that time, officials at the U.S. Department of Labor admitted
they could find no trace of Addie Laird anywhere.
Addie Card by Lewis Hine N. Pownal, VT - 1910
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Pat.) Addie married twice and adopted the illegitimate daughter of a Portuguese sailor.
She moved often, once to New Jersey and then to New York City. There's a
photograph of her with her 20 year old daughter in a Times Square studio celebrating
Victory in Europe day in 1945.
In the end, it has to be said that the frail intense mill girl photographed that day in North
Pownal lived the dark side of the American dream. She never broke out of the cycle of
poverty that started in the mill, but although she ended her days in public housing, she
was rich in the love of her family. Her great granddaughter wrote me recently that she
was "truly blessed to have shared so many wonderful years with such an extraordinary
woman."

critical information on Sheet 12B has simply faded away. But this much I could make
out. Anna and Addie were both born in Vermont, they both spoke English and they are
listed as spinners in the cotton factory.
That first piece of information led me down a path with many a twist and turn. With
the help of fellow writer and researcher, Joe Manning
(www.morningsonmaplestreet.com/lewishine.html. ), I learned that Addie lived for
almost a century. Recently Joe and I sat down with Addie's great granddaughter who
knew nothing of the photograph Lewis Hine took that day of her beloved "Gramma
Pat". (Addie never liked her name so somewhere along the road of life she changed it to
Answers: 1. Addie Card 2. Lewis Wickes Hine
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This postage stamp bears a picture of a little girl
identified as Addie Laird. It was taken by the noted
photographer of child labor conditions, Louis Wickes
Hine. The title of the original photograph is Anemic
Little Spinner in North Pownal Cotton Mill, North
Pownal, Vermont, August 1910. The accompanying
caption, from the records of the National Child Labor
Committee, reads:
Addie Laird, 12 years, spinner in North Pownal cotton
mill, North Pownal, Vermont. Girls in mill say she is
ten years. She admitted to me she was twelve; that she
started during school vacation and now would "stay".
-witness E.F. Brown.
The U.S. Postal Service issued this first stamp to
commemorate Child Labor Reform in 1998; it was
unveiled in January of that year by Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman. The Postal
Service presented the DOL Library with a framed enlargement of the stamp in
acknowledgment of the Library's participation in the unveiling ceremonies with exhibits
and bibliographies on child labor. It remains on permanent display in the Library
1910 Census, Pownal, VT Listing Adelaid Harris and Family including Addie and Annie Card
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Group photo of children at the North Pownal
cotton mill taken by Lewis Hine, 1910. Addie is
fourth from left on the front ro. Her sister
Annie is standing next to her fifth from left.
1900 Census, Pownal, VT Lists Jean Harris, his mother Adelaid, brother-in-law Emmet Card and Emmet's two daughters, Addie and Annie Card
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When Elizabeth has completed Grace's story, she
worked with fellow researcher Joe Manning to
search for Addie Laird. In Elizabeth's words:
Starting in 1790, the United States has conducted a
census of their citizens every ten years. In the
Northeast Office of the National Archives and
Record Administration in Pittsfield, Massachusetts,
When I typed the name Addie into their computer
program, nothing came up. But the name Adelaide
directed me to Roll 1612, page 111, Sheet 12B.
With trembling fingers, I scrolled through reams of
names scrawled in flowery, faded handwriting.
Bingo! There on Sheet 12B in Pownal, Vermont,
Mr. George E. Corey on the 4th day of May, 1910
recorded the two Card sisters: Anna, Female, White,
14 years of age, Single and Addie, Female, White,
12 years of age, Single, both living with their
grandmother, a Mrs. Adalaid Harris, listed as Head
of Household.
I had found Addie. Her name never was Laird, it
was Card.
Back in 1910, somebody sold watered-down ink to
the U.S. Department of Labor and Commerce who
were charged with taking the census. Much of the

Comments from Our Readers
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To hear NPR All Things Considered interview with Joe Manning click here
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All Things Considered, February 25, 2007 · With a
camera the size of a bread box, photographer Lewis Hine
infiltrated the factories, mills and mines where thousands
of American children were forced to work in the early
1900s.
Hine was hired by the National Child Labor Commission to document violations of
existing labor laws. Though many of the children in his photographs died without ever
telling their stories, Hine's record of the conditions helped change labor laws in the
United States.
Joe Manning, a Massachusetts historian, is tracking down the descendants of those
laborers to let them know about their family history.
To order a transcript of this story, go to http://www.npr.org/transcripts/
The Bennington Banner April 14, 2007 by Mark E. Rondeau
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I saw the "USPS" copyright on the bottom, so I looked for 1998 stamp series, found that this particular stamp was for a series of stamps about 1910. So I googled child labor photography from that century, found Lewis Hine, and using him as a best guess, I looked for the specific picture. I think I finally found a match on Wikipedia. I didn't find the particular site you mentioned below, but I find the story intriguing. :)
In any case, it was a fun quiz and a fascinating way to connect with history.
-- Aliotsy Andrianarivo
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INTERVIEWS, ARTICLES, ETC.
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Pownal, Vt. - History took center stage on May 6, as dozens of
people crowded into the Solomon Wright Library and met
Elizabeth Winthrop, an author whose diligent research positively
identified a child laborer and whose imagination created and put to
page a "might-have-been" saga titled "Counting On Grace."
The book is a fictional account of a young girl who works in a
cotton mill during the early 1900s.
Read more....
The Genealogue No Child Laborer Left Behind October 8, 2007
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I've written before about Lewis Hine's photographs of child laborers. Joe Manning has
embarked upon a Lewis Hine Project.
Manning has made it his mission to find out what happened to the children in the
photos, and to interview their descendants. He plans to eventually write a book and
possibly make the photos and research into a traveling exhibit.
It all began with his collaboration with Elizabeth Winthrop to track down Addie Card,
"the poster child of child labor"—a search that made the pages of Smithsonian last year.
Manning's website features some Mystery Photos of children still waiting to be
identified.....Read more...
Through the Mill Because of a Lewis Hine photograph, Addie Card became the poster child of child labor. But what became of Addie Card?
By Elizabeth Winthrop Smithsonian magazine, September 2006
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She leans casually on her spinning frame, staring out at the camera, dressed in a filthy
work smock. Her bare feet, planted firmly, are slick with black grease. Her left arm
rests easily on the huge machinery but crooked at a strange angle, as if perhaps a bone
had been broken and never set properly. To keep her hair from the frame's hungry
grasp, it is pulled tight and pinned in a style befitting a grown woman. A few wispy
strays float around her head like a halo. The elements of her face seem perfectly
proportioned: the delicate nose, the small ears tucked back, the curve of her lips, the
puff of her cheeks. She is a painter's dream. Or a photographer's. Read full article...
In the fall of 2005, I was hired by author Elizabeth Winthrop to
find the descendants of Addie Card, a 12-year-old cotton mill
worker in Pownal, Vermont, who had been photographed in
1910 by Lewis Hine, for the National Child Labor Committee.
Hine, who died in 1940, was one of the great photojournalists
of the 20th century.
Winthrop had recently completed Counting On Grace, a novel
inspired by Addie's photo. She wanted to find out the real story
of Addie, who had been identified by Hine as Addie Laird.
Previous attempts by others had come up empty. Amazingly,
Winthrop was able to quickly determine that Addie's last name

also show parents working at home,
some with their children. I waded
through some of them one morning. I
stared at the children, and they stared
back. I said to myself, "I can do for
these children (and adults) what I did for
Addie." So far, I have located and
contacted descendants of dozens of
child and adult laborers. It's been an
emotional ride - none more emotional
than the search for Minnie Carpenter,
the girl on the left in the photo above.
Hine did not identify the other girl.
Minnie and Mattie Carpenter Bastonia, NC 1908 Lewis Wickes Hine
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This was Lewis Hine's description: "Oldest girl, Minnie Carpenter, House 53 Loray Mill,
Gastonia, N.C. Spinner. Makes fifty cents a day for 10 hours. Works four sides.
Younger girl works irregularly."
After a month of painstaking research, I obtained a copy of Minnie's obituary. She died
more than 30 years ago, single, with no children. A nephew, of Gastonia, was listed as
one of the survivors. In the Internet white pages, I found a man with the same name
living in Gastonia. I called him, and he was the right person. He expressed great
surprise about the photograph, and was very pleased when I told him I would send him
a copy. I thanked him, dropped the photo in the mail, and called him three weeks later.
He said excitedly: "I was hoping you would call me sooner. I've got some incredible
news for you. The other girl in the photo is my mother."
Joe's website Mornings on Maple Street is a must-read for anyone interested in Lewis
Hine photos.
Lewis Hine Project to identify the unknown children in Hine's photos. Click here.
The complete story of Addie Card and how she was found. Click here.

Exhibits of Lewis Hines Photographs
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The Amon Carter Museum Fort Worth, TX January 7-July 7, 2007 Lewis Hine: The Children of Texas
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Hine, a pioneer in the use of photography to combat social ills,
crusaded to change laws that condoned the exploitation of
children by factories, mills, and farms. During the years 1908
through 1918, the artist made hundreds of photographs from
Maine to Texas for the National Child Labor Committee. His
work preceded by twenty years the political campaigns for
preventing child labor in this country. Never before exhibited as a
group, the photographs are arranged by the different cities in
Texas where Hine worked during 1913; a number of the prints
are accompanied by his field notes.
Admission is free.
Daily Hampshire Gazette June 6, 2006
Link to pdf of cached article
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