Lunch Pail Lecture: The Pittsburgh Survey
April 2, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
$15 Adult
$5 College Student (w/ ID)
$15 Senior (65+)
$15 Youth (3-17)
Members of The Frick Societies receive complimentary admission
Join Jennie Benford, Local History Librarian at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, for a close look at The Pittsburgh Survey, a 1906 sociological study that exposed living and working conditions for the working class.
Funded by the Russell Sage Foundation and conducted over the course of one year, The Pittsburgh Survey was the first intensive, multifaceted sociological study of an industrial American city. The resulting six volumes of findings laid bare the city's social ills and created an unprecedented record of a city transformed by industry and immigration. Learn how photographer Lewis Hine, ACLU co-founder Crystal Eastman, and other progressive activists worked together on the Pittsburgh Survey, and hear some of the more surprising stories captured by their work.
Advance registration encouraged; walk-up tickets can be purchased in the Grable Visitor Center while space is available. Registration does not include exhibition admission to Lewis Hine Pictures America.
The Patient is Pittsburgh: The Sociological Diagnoses of The Pittsburgh Survey (1907-1914)
About Lunch Pail Lectures
Lunch Pail Lectures are The Frick Pittsburgh’s new monthly lecture series covering topics including current exhibitions, the Frick family, Pittsburgh and more! All attendees are encouraged to enjoy lunch during this program; brown bag lunches are welcome, or order online from The Café at the Frick. Online orders should be placed by 11:00 AM the day of the lecture to ensure pickup by 11:45 AM.
About the Presenter
Jennie Benford is one of the Local & Family History Librarians at The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. She was in the inaugural class of Clayton Docents, worked for 10 years as the university archivist for Carnegie Mellon University, and was the Program Director of The Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund and currently volunteers and the Cemetery's historian. She was a founding member of Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails (LUPEC) an international guerrilla women's history action collective.
IMAGE: Lewis Wickes Hine, American, 1874-1940. German steel worker, Pittsburgh, ca. 1908. Gelatin silver print, 4.5 x 6.75 in. (11.4 x 17.1 cm).
