Alberta McNatt, Cannon, Delaware, May 1910. Photo by Lewis Hine.

Alberta McNadd on Chester Truitt's farm at Cannon, Del. Alberta is 5 years of age and has been picking berries since she was 3. Her mother volunteered the information that she picks steadily from sun-up to sun-down. Location: Cannon, Delaware, May 1910, Lewis Hine.

(L to R) Oscar, Eva, Madge & Alberta McNatt. Woman is probably the mother. Cannon, DE, May 1910

The McNadd family on Truitt's farm at Cannon, Del. Oscar who is 7 years of age is picking berries his third season, averaging 34 quarts per day. Eve, 11 years of age, is picking berries her fifth season, averaging 100 quarts per day. Madge, 8 years old, picking berries fifth season, averaging 45 quarts per day. Alberta, 5 years old, second season, averaging 19 quarts per day. Location: Cannon, Delaware, May 1910, Lewis Hine.

In 1910, the National Child Labor Committee investigated working conditions in Delaware for families working on farms, mostly berry farms in Sussex County. Regarding this family, the report said, in part:

"Alberta McNadd, 5 years old, said she had been working at 5 a.m in morning and it was 4 p.m. in the afternoon when the investigators found her still at work picking berries. Mrs. McNadd, the mother of 4 children - 5, 7, 8, and 11 respectively, - volunteers the information that her children worked steadily from sun-up to sun-down." - Child Labor: An American History, Hugh D. Hindman (M.E. Sharpe, 2002)

According to the US census, this farm was owned by Chester Henry Truitt, and apparently was located on Cannon Road, near Bridgeville, Delaware. Mr. Truitt was born in 1875, and when the Hine photos were taken, he would have been living with his wife Lillie, and at least four children.

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