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Greek Bootblacks in Indianapolis, Ind. Witness, E. N. Clooper. Location: Indianapolis, Indiana. – Historic Reproduction

Greek Bootblacks in Indianapolis, Ind. Witness, E. N. Clooper. Location: Indianapolis, Indiana., 1908 August. — historic photograph
Greek Bootblacks in Indianapolis, Ind. Witness, E. N. Clooper. Location: Indianapolis, Indiana., 1908 August.. Historic photograph from the Historic Print Archive collection.

(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

A window into the past: Greek Bootblacks in Indianapolis, Ind. Witness, E. N. Clooper. Location: Indianapolis, Indiana., preserved in this historic photograph. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

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Greek Bootblacks in Indianapolis, Ind. Witness, E. N. Clooper. Location: Indianapolis, Indiana.

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Greek boys working as bootblacks in Indianapolis in August 1908 set this picture apart from the many street-trade scenes in its series. The print carries a witness credit to E. N. Clooper, a notation that records who saw the scene and is common in documentary work of the period. It is catalogued among Lewis Hine's street trades pictures, made during his work for the National Child Labor Committee, which documented young workers such as shoe shiners and newsboys in American cities. The attribution to Hine comes from the collection's provenance records rather than a signature on the print, so it is best read as part of that wider effort.

Created / published1908 August.
Medium1 photographic print.
GenrePhotographic prints.
NotesTitle from NCLC caption card. Attribution to Hine based on provenance. In album: Street trades. Hine no. 0064.
SubjectsBoys. Men. Shoe shiners. Shoe shining. Greek Americans.United States--Indiana--Indianapolis.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 1,123 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-127408

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