Interior of a Cutting Shed with Young Cutters at Work, photograph by Lewis Hine, Eastport, Maine, August 1911. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Interior of a Cutting Shed with Young Cutters at Work, photograph by Lewis Hine, Eastport, Maine, August 1911. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
This image shows eight-year-old Clarence, and nine-year-old Minnie at work. The children were paid by the “piece.” According to the photographer, Lewis Hine, the children received $.05 for filling the box on the low table with fish. In modern dollars that equals $1.25. Once the children are finished and had cleaned themselves, they were usually sent to another job in the cannery.