Willie, the Six Year Old Richmond Newsboy, and the Photographs of Lewis W. Hine, June 8, 1911.

"Willie" photographed in June of 1911 by Lewis W. Hine.

Over the years I noticed folks on eBay selling  several images of a barefoot boy called Willie on the streets of Richmond. 

It turns out these images were taken by Lewis W. Hine (1874-1940) and the images are part of a print collection from the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) records at the Library of Congress Prints and Photograph Division. 

Hines worked as an investigative photographer for the NCLC to document working and living conditions of children in the United States from 1908 to 1924. The collection of images contains more than 5,100 photographic prints which were given to the Library of Congress along with the NCLC records in 1954. Several web sites have images by Hines that are easy to access.

Willie was one of hundreds of young boys selling newspapers on the streets of big and small cities across the country. These boys were not only out of school but worked in the summer heat and the winter cold all year long. Can you imagine a six year old selling newspapers on the street today?

I came across a web site called the Lewis Hine Project run by Joe Manning. He tries to locate descendants of child laborers photographed by Hine from 1908 to 1917. I asked Joe how many images were taken in Richmond by Hines, he wrote back: 

"Lewis Hine took five photos of newsboys in Richmond in June of 1911. Those are the only ones in the Library of Congress. It's likely that Hine was there only a day or two. He took about 100 photos in Virginia in June 1911, but only five in Richmond.”

But why June 1911 and why Richmond?  The answer is in one of the images.

 I noticed that in this image of Willie you can see part of the front page of the newspaper he is trying to sell. So I blew the image up and turned it upside down.

It turns out he was selling the Richmond News Leader, the Tuesday, June 8, 1911 edition (thanks to Claire Hope for checking the microfilm).

 Here's the front page of the June 8, 1911 edition of the News Leader (Richmond's afternoon paper) that Willie was selling that day.

But why was Hine in Richmond that day? By looking at the microfilm of the News Leader I noticed that in the next day's edition, June 9th, there was a report that said that the 6th Annual Convention of the Virginia Federation of Labor (Virginia's centralized union organization body) had just ended in Richmond.

I went to the Library of Virginia to look at the Virginia Federation of Labor annual reports hoping that there would be some mention of Hine at the convention but I did not see any mention of him. But it seems likely that it was that convention that brought him to Richmond. I wonder if Hine spoke to the group about child labor in Virginia and in the United States?

Here are a few more images taken by Hine in Richmond on June 8, 1911. These may be the only images taken by Hine in Richmond - though he took hundreds of images in other Virginia localities throughout his career.

The store behind Willie in this image is the Dawes and Nash Saloon located on the 800 block of E. Main St. That might indicate that all five of the images of Willie in Richmond were of him on E Main St. 

[Notice the sign on side of window of the saloon - it says Pabst Blue Ribbon.]

 Hines comments on this image:

"1911 child labor photo Richard Green, (with hat), 5 year old newsie, Richmond, Va. Willie---, who said he was 8. (Compare them.) Many of these little newsboys here. Location: Richmond, Virginia."

 In one comment on the five images of Willie he wrote:

"Willie Hutchinson, a six year old newsie in Richmond, Va. Many very small newsboys sell here, some in the evening."

Another comment by Hine on Willie:

"Told me first that he was 8, then admitted 7, and finally 6 years old."

I wonder if Willie Hutchinson appears in a later census record or if his family (his descendants) still reside in Richmond?

One of five images taken by Hine that day in Richmond. Here Willie sits between the columns of what is the Bank of Virginia located on E. Main St. (is it the National or Merchants?).

The document above was found on Google Books - it is from September 12, 1912, vol. 19, no. 9 issue of the American Federationist, the official magazine of the American Federation of Labor. It indicates that the Federation and other advocates had some success in reforming child labor. 

- Ray B.

Profile of Richmond, Va, Jan. 1917 - from the NAACP's The Crisis

Google Books is a wonderful resource. While looking for information about a doctor who lived in Jackson Ward, I came across the NAACP's The Crisis online and it appears that every issue (going back some 100 years) is scanned and available in Google Books.

The Jan. 1917 issue of The Crisis has a large section devoted to Richmond, Virginia - specifically Jackson Ward. Below are a few images from that issue that might give you an idea of the contents of the magazine but Please take a look at the entire issue. 

The entire issue is worth looking at so please do.

More on Jackson Ward's history and architecture are available here and here.

And HERE too.

- Ray B.

RICHMOND COOKS 1898-2010: A sampling of cookbooks in the Library of Virginia collection

We have a guest contributor today. Tom H. Ray, the Collections Management Coordinator at the Library of Virginia, has an essay about a number of cook books. 

Tom, a native Tar Heel, has lived in Richmond for nearly 20 years. He has held several positions at the LVA during that time. He completed the course work in VCU's Graduate Art and Architecture Program and has contributed entries to Lost Virginia (2001) and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography (2006). He is the co-author of Greetings From Richmond (2009). Tom collects Southern outsider folk art in addition to postcards. In his spare time he is an enthusiastic, if eclectic, gardener. 

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 Receipts for Luncheon and Tea

 

"Men more easily renounce their interests than their tastes." - Rochefoucauld.

Thus a quote from  a 17^th century French writer set the tone for the earliest church cookbook in the Library of Virginia cookbook  collection. Published in 1898, Receipts for Luncheon and Tea, is one of two known copies to survive. The other is at the Virginia Historical Society. The preface could well be the introduction for most contemporary cookbooks:

"In offering this little book to the public, we have aimed to supply a want which every housekeeper must have often felt when called upon to provide a luncheon or tea.
The receipts herein contained have been tested by the ladies who furnished them, and we feel that we can vouch for each and every one, and that those who use them will be pleased with the result." -
       The Ladies’ Societies of Grace Street Presbyterian Church,  Richmond, Va.

Like most later spiral bound church or community cookbooks the names of the lady church members are preserved. What sets this 19^th century cookbook apart from its later cousins is the lack of detailed instructions. For instance, Mrs. G.W. Duke’s cake recipe is simply one sentence of ingredients:

                                                            White cake
                        One cup of creamed butter, 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour
                        1 cup of cream, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, whites of 8 eggs,
                        flavor to taste.

No cooking time? How can that be? No temperature? Flavor?

My favorite recipe in this tiny 44 page book is for “Pickled oysters” from Mrs. A.P. Shield. I’ve never heard of such a dish mush less a recipe that could handle up to 100 oysters.

The longest, most detailed recipe in the book came from a Mrs. Kirkpatrick in Lynchburg. Her recipe for “Jellied chicken soup” sounds quite involved. One necessary ingredient is “a gill of wine.” Sounds good but what is it?

The “Cheese suffle” recipe reminds me of St. Paul’s Wednesday cheese soufflé during Lent. Those Presbyterian ladies! Over 50 years ahead of their good Episcopalian sisters.

Receipts for Luncheon and Tea is only one of over 1000 Virginia cookbooks at the Library of Virginia. The collection has been assembled over the years to document the cooking and dining culture of Virginians and to document the people and organizations who contributed to, or published the books. Often a cookbook is the only existing history of a church, a social club, a civic organization, a school or a locally prominent chef or restaurateur.

 The Uzell Family Cookbook

Several years ago a rare book dealer offered the Library of Virginia a collection of cookbooks as genealogical tools. He had a very convincing sales pitch that someday someone would come to the Library and be delighted to find great-grandma’s recipe.

The dealer’s observation is indeed borne out in the most recent addition to the LVA collection, The Uzell Family Cookbook. This family produced collection documents 100 years of an American-Czech family that first settled in Dinwiddie County in 1911. This is actually the second cookbook the family has complied. The books contain family history, photographs, names, traditions – a true family legacy through recipes bridging the old country and the new.

Mary Angela’s Best of Everything

Two other examples at LVA illustrate classical blending and updating of Italian and French cuisine. Mary Angela’s Best of Everything began with the author’s Italian family heritage but was expanded to include recipes from Northern Europe, Spain, Morocco, Greece. Mary Angela Morgan notes her membership in local groups such as the Old Dominion Herb Society, the 
Richmond Culinary Guild and other gourmet groups as her resources and inspiration.

  Chef Paul’s la Petite France

 
Most cookbooks at LVA are complied by groups. Mrs. Morgan’s and Chef Paul Elbling’s are among the few exceptions. Chef  Paul was noted for his Richmond restaurant, La Petite France. Chef Paul’s la Petite France was published in 1975. Sadly, the restaurant closed in 2007. Chef  Paul’s philosophy is summed up very simply: “…my feeling about food – it is never good if it is contrived. It should never be overdone, overdressed and will never be good if the cook is overstressed.” Anyone who remembers the wonderful sauces at La Petite would treasure this book. Chef Paul has undoubtedly been the most authentic French chef Richmond has known.

 Signs of Good Taste: Recollections and Recipes from

Richmond’s Historic Fan Restaurants

The Richmond community has another, though more limited, recipe collection documenting the history of some well known Fan restaurants. In 2000 Ann Meade Bensenfelder published Signs of Good Taste: recollections & recipes from Richmond’s historic Fan restaurants. Twelve vintage Fan restaurants were profiled: Buddy’s, Chiocca’s, Davis & Main, Helen’s, Joe’s Inn, Julian’s, Robin Inn, Sally Bell’s Kitchen, Sobel’s, Stella’s, Strawberry Street Café, and the Village Café. A brief history, photographs, and selected recipes from each restaurant are included. Want to make 60 gallons of Joe’s spaghetti sauce? Here’s how!

Since 2000 Richmond has lost some of these Fan favorites but a delectable scrapbook remains to remind us of good times.

Two final examples of Richmond cookbooks were published in 2001. First, Dietz Press reprinted a 1958 classic, Recipes from Old Virginia. Originally compiled by the Virginia Federation of Home Demonstration Clubs, later the Virginia Extension Homemakers Council, this book represents a movement of the mid-20^th century to popularize and standardize regional recipes. Many local Junior League groups lead the way – and still do.

Recipes from Old Virginia

Recipes from Old Virginia boasts recipes of two centuries, plus tested recipes. Many of our mothers or grand-mothers probably had home-ec classes in which recipe collections like this were their text books. Interestingly, no recipe for pickled oysters appears but suggestions for the bi-valve include soup, stew, fried, scalloped, each with cooking times and temperatures clearly explained. The book includes the home county of each lady contributor and it is a nice cross section of the state.

 Forever Thin Cookbook

Forever Thin Cookbook, from the Gastric By-pass Support Group, is included here for three reasons. First, it is a chronicle of a unique modern culture organization, a group of individuals with a shared medical history. Second, the recipes include nutritional information for each serving including calories, fat, carbohydrate and sodium contents.  Third, the book illustrates the range of recipes and cooking styles currently in vogue: Tex-Mex and other internationally inspired dishes, “lite” dishes, and “almost” homemade, those recipes that begin with a mix or brand name commercial product.

 -- Tom Ray.
 
The LVA cookbook collection is a heritage print collection. Copies circulate if there are two in the collection, otherwise they are available for use in the Library.

For additional information on Virginia cookbooks the following resources are suggested:

Bertlesen, Cynthia D., A Bibliography of Virginia-related Cookbooks, compiled 2006:
http://spec.lib.vt.edu/culinary/va_cookbooks_bib.html

Harbury, Katherine E., Colonial Virginias Cooking Dynasty. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2004.

Historic Images found in Richmond Magazine.

 

Richmond Magazine, Special Collector's Edition:

The Complete Sourcebook

 Just published.

This annual Sourcebook edition of Richmond Magazine contains numerous historic images from several area repositories and private collections. The magazine includes four images selected by three Shockoe Examiner contributors who were asked to share with the magazine what they considered their "favorite historic" Richmond image. The images chosen by Ray Bonis, Edward Ragan, and Selden Richardson are all quite different. An abbreviated online version spotlighting those images and a few others can be accessed HERE - but we suggest you pick up a copy of the magazine for the longer, more complete remarks about the images by Bonis, Ragan, and Richardson.

The images of the newsboys taken by Lewis Hines in June of 1911 seen on the cover of the magazine will be discussed in a longer  blog entry to be posted later this month.