Lewiston Millworkers, 1909 and 1973

In 1973-1974, Alex MacPhail walked across the country, from Maine to Oregon, taking photographs along the way. The book he planned—"an intimate portrait of America that would coincide with the Bicentennial"—was never published, but he did publish his photographs on a blog in 2008.

I started my walk in Brunswick, ME, towards the end of August and spent a lot of time in and around Lewiston, ME, fascinated by the mills and the city. I was graciously granted permission to shoot in some of the mills like Bates which was a bit of luck because no photographers had been allowed in Bates, at least, since Lewis Hines took pictures there for his book deploring child labor in the late 1800s.

Lewis Hine's photographs of Lewiston millworkers, taken in April 1909, may be found here.