Ronald Webb, twelve year old doffer boy and Frank Robinson, seven year old who helps sweep and doff. Father is cardroom boss, Roanoke (Va.) Cotton Mills. Location: Roanoke, Virginia. – Antique Print
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
Ronald Webb, twelve year old doffer boy and Frank Robinson, seven year old who helps sweep and doff. Father is cardroom boss, Roanoke (Va.) Cotton Mills. Location: Roanoke, Virginia. comes to life in this historic photograph, reproduced from the original with every detail intact. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.
The framed print arrives ready to hang; the unframed option suits custom framing. It brings character to any room and makes a memorable gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Since 2001, Snapshots of the Past has shipped historic prints to tens of thousands of customers around the world.
Ronald Webb, twelve year old doffer boy and Frank Robinson, seven year old who helps sweep and doff. Father is cardroom boss, Roanoke (Va.) Cotton Mills. Location: Roanoke, Virginia.
Order a print
Thank you. Your order went through, and a receipt is on its way by email.
Secure checkout · SSL encryptedPowered by Stripe and PayPal
Free shipping in the lower 48 states. The checkout page shows the picture, size and price before you pay.
Two boys from the Roanoke Cotton Mills in May 1911 make an unusual pair: Ronald Webb is twelve and works as a doffer, and Frank Robinson is only seven and helps sweep and doff. A doffer removes full bobbins from spinning frames and replaces them with empty ones, a job that kept children close to fast-moving machinery. The caption card notes that one boy's father was the cardroom boss, a reminder that mill work often drew whole families in. The picture is attributed to Lewis Hine, who photographed mill children for the National Child Labor Committee to support laws limiting child labor.
| Created / published | 1911 May. |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 photographic print. |
| Genre | Photographic prints. |
| Notes | Title from NCLC caption card. Attribution to Hine based on provenance. In album: Mills. Hine no. 2159. |
| Subjects | Boys. Textile mill workers. Cotton industry. Mills. Sweeping & dusting. Textile machinery.United States--Virginia--Roanoke. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,536 × 1,065 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-113920 |
More from the Historic Print Archive collection
Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.
![One of the young spinners in the Quidwick Co. Mill. Anthony, R. I. (A Polish boy Willie) who was taking his noon rest in a doffer-box. [...] Location: Anthony, Rhode Island.](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/e3/e3e1b4019642-400.webp)
![[Back boy - 14 years old - Mule room. Berkshire Cotton Mills.] Location: Adams, Massachusetts. / Lewis W. Hine.](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/28/285ab4027edc-400.webp)
![[John Dempsey (looked 11 or 12) years old. Said he helped only on Saturdays. Jackson Mill, Fiskeville, R. I. (One of the B. B. and R. Knight mills). He was working faithfully in the mule-spinning room, a dangerous place for boys. I found no others below 14 in this mill,]. Location: Fiskeville, Rhode Island.](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/50/5018ec8775c9-400.webp)
