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Old Friends, Long Gone
Nothing like a set of century-old pictures to put it all in perspective, eh? Whenever I see collections like this, one of the more interesting things I think about is how every single person in these pictures, even (especially) the children are now long, long gone. Impermanence is the only permanent part of the human condition. We forget it far too often.
...and you can bet those kids working in that coal mine are among the first to have gone.
When I look at photos like this it reminds me once again that there are no "good ol' days" or "golden age". Sure, the times may have been simpler, but they were a whole lot more dangerous to life and limb than they are now.
See, some regulation is a GOOD thing! :-D
Posted by: Mark on March 15, 2009 09:07 AMMost of the ones that are of the kids working are by Lewis Hine, a photographer who documented child labor. Most of his photos can be found at the Library of Congress.
Not all the photos are 100 years old. The first one is more like 1920s-1930s. There was one that was as late as the 1950s.
Posted by: carrie on March 16, 2009 11:19 AM