(b Ribe, Denmark, 3 May 1849; d Barre, MA,
26 May 1914).
American photographer of Danish birth. The son
of a school-teacher and editor, he was well-educated when he
came to the USA in 1870. He was a self-taught photographer
and worked at a variety of jobs before becoming a
journalist, and he understood the power of the written and
illustrated word. Riis’s work in journalism began in 1873
when he was employed by the New York News Association. By
1874 he was editor and then owner of the South Brooklyn
News. In 1878 he won a coveted job as a police-reporter
at the Tribune and found the basis of his life’s work
in his assigned territory, Mulberry Bend, where the worst
slums and tenements were (e.g. Mulberry Bend as It Was).
Riis
Jacob
1888
1888
1890
1890
1890
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