Social Reform, Photography for

Very early in the days of photography this medium began to be used as a means of promoting social reform. Richard Beard photographed street scenes to illustrate a major project on the poor in London; unfortunately these are no longer in existence. In a similar vein John Thomson illustrated "Street Life in London" (1877); other pioneers were Thomas Annan, a Scot, who portrayed the slums of Glasgow, and Paul Martin. Jacob Riis, a journalist, photographed the awful conditions in the slums of New York, whilst Lewis Hine, towards the end of the century, was involved in a campaign to change child-labour laws in the USA. By Dr. Robert Leggat

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