Historic Industry - 7 A.M. Boy (Bill,) carrying milk

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Captured at 7 a.m., this picture shows a boy named Bill carrying milk, as its title notes, on the kind of early-morning errand many working children ran before school. Hand delivery of milk, bread and newspapers was common work for boys in American cities in the early twentieth century, and photographers documenting industry often turned their cameras to such small jobs. The hour and the weight of the load tell much of the story, and the picture offers a window onto how youth labor fit into city routines and why reformers later pushed to limit it.

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