04/10/2026
The Lewis Hine Exhibition at Haverford College is a document of America at the beginning of the 20th century. Lewis W. Hine photographed labor and laborers from 1901 until his death in 1940. He was careful to provide accurate information in his field notes as he photographed up and down the East Coast and along the Gulf of Mexico. His photographs and field notes were used documentary evidence providing the basis for the drafting of legislation and to increase public awareness of labor conditions.
One of the families he photographed was the DeMarco family working in the Cranberry bogs of the Pinelands in South Jersey in 1910. A century later this family owned a 9,500 tract of bog land that was one of the most productive cranberry operations of its kind. One of the descendants of those laborers photographed by Hine was James Garfield “Gar” Demarco, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth College and a graduate of Yale University Law school. DeMarco was also an influential member of the State Republican Committee and a board member of the Ocean Spray Cooperative Association. In 2002, DeMarco sold 9,400 acres — the vast majority of his family’s property — to a foundation to become a permanent nature preserve. The sale price was $12 million, roughly half of the land’s estimated worth, and the deal remains one of the largest private, nonprofit conservation sales in New Jersey. The preserved land — named the Franklin Parker Preserve after the first chairman of the Pinelands Commission — stretches through 14-miles of Woodland, Tabernacle and Bass Rivers and is home to more than 50 rare, threatened or endangered species, according to the foundation.
Photo l.
Lewis W. Hine
De Marco Family Shack, Pemberton N.J., Sept., 1910
Gelatin silver print;
Gift; Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Stern; 1979
812 P-R Box 35 / HC11-5044
National Child Labor Committee Print Numbered 1139 and accompanied by a caption. Note on accompanying print: "1139 Pemberton, N.J. Sept., 1910 Small shack on Forsythe's Bog, occupied by De Marco family, 10 in the family living in this one room. Room is 10 ft. x 11 ft. x 51/2 ft. high and gable attic above. Wooden toilets near at hand and bushes used as such, gave forth offensive odors. Turkeytown, near Pemberton, N.J."
Photo 2.
Demarco Family, Pemberton, NJ, Sept. 1910
Gelatin silver print;
Gift; Samuel A. Stern; 1979
812 B-R / HC07-0269
National Child Labor Committee Print Number 1151
Photo 3.
Photographer Unknown
James Garfield DeMarco died 2019 at age 80. He is pictured in the Pine lands at an earlier date.
The Lewis Hine Exhibition closes on April 25, 2026 in the Atrium Gallery Jane Lutnick Fine Art Center. Click on link below for gallery hours and additional information about the show.
https://exhibits.haverford.edu/finearts/lewis-wickes-hine-compassionate-documentarian-of-work-and-workers/
