Joe Manning's Presentation

I really enjoyed going to Joe Manning’s art show.  It was nothing like what I expected it to be, but nevertheless, it was extremely interesting!  Joe Manning is a retired elderly man from New Hampshire who was able to make an extraordinary difference in the lives of so many.  Usually, when people retire they spend their days relaxing and doing things they genuinely love to do.  But this is not was Joe did.  He was so captivated by Lewis Hine’s photographs of child laborers that he was able to uncover their story and share it with their ancestors.  Joe realized what an impact his work made so he promised to continue, and he was eventually able to touch over three hundred lives!

All of his work sparked from just one picture.  Elizabeth Winthrop, a famous author and one of Joe’s close friends, showed him a photograph taken by Lewis Hine of twelve-year-old Addie Lard.  It was a very powerful picture of her standing in front of her machine in a Vermont factory.  This photo inspired Elizabeth to write and publish a fictional story based off of Addie’s photo.  But, Joe wanted to know the real truth behind the photo, not just the fiction.  All Joe knew about the photo was the year and place it was taken, he did not even have Addie’s correct name.  Through researching, traveling and interviewing many people, Joe was able to locate and meet with one of Addie’s distant relatives.  He met with Addie’s granddaughter who had never met her grandmother, but immediately recognized her.  This was a very emotional time for both of them.  Her granddaughter had no idea that Addie worked in a mill at such a young age, and Joe was able to learn more about Addie’s life.  Joe learned that Addie’s daughter, Ruth, was immediately separated from her at birth because Addie had been so ill.  Addie’s relatives had always thought that she gave up her daughter because she did not want to raise her.  They were very grateful that they were able to learn the whole truth with the help of Joe Manning.  After making such an impact on Addie’s relatives, Joe decided to continue his work.  Lewis Hine took countless pictures of children working in factories, and Joe was ready to learn the stories behind these photos.  What I found most interesting is that Joe was able to unravel an entire story with just a photo, sometimes there was not even a caption included.  I admire Joe’s curiosity and his desire to learn more.  That is what made his research so great.

My favorite story of Joe’s truly shows how talented he was.  He found a photo of nine young children with a woman that looked like their mother.  He was instantly intrigued.  The caption included some names, but they were all misspelled nicknames that were of no assistance.  Joe spent a lot of time trying to figure out this photo.  Eventually, he was able to reach a relative of one of the children.  It turns out that all of these children went to foster homes, and most of them were separated from their siblings.  Joe was then able to contact the relatives of each of these pictured children.  These children were reunited with each other, and it never would have happened if it had not been for Joe’s work.

I found Joe’s dedication to his work to be very inspiring.  He did all of this research because he genuinely wanted to, not because he had to.  He loved to see families become reunited and learn more about their history.  Joe was able to uncover a child’s story just from looking at a photograph, and I think that is amazing.

Joe also worked with many pictures taken in Lowell and Lawrence.  He showed us photos of children working in the mills.  There were also powerful photos of these mill workers protesting for better conditions.  It was cool to see how much emotion these photos were able to capture.  We have learned so much about Lowell’s history as we toured the city throughout the semester, so it was interesting to see actual photos to go along with it, too.  I am so glad I got the experience to hear Joe’s stories and see how he was able to change so many people’s lives!

These are some of the many photographs that Joe researched.