Cranberries are indigenous to the pinelands of central New Jersey, growing close to the ground in the acidic, sandy soil of extensive bogs. In 1938, this cranberry farm (at Whitesbog Historic Village, still in operation after 100+ years) required large crews to harvest their cultivated crop by hand. When the berries ripened in October, crew-leaders in South Philadelphia recruited large, extended families of Italian immigrants and trucked them to the pinelands for long days of picking.

New Deal legislation (Fair Labor Standards Act,1938) had restricted industrial child labor, but exempted agriculture where the contributions of children often made the difference between subsistence and starvation.

Cranberry cultivation has now transitioned to wet picking in which the bogs are flooded for harvest and thrashing machines knock the ripe berries off the vines. A small crew in fisherman’s waders corrals the floating crimson berries to a conveyor belt, a now-familiar scene depicted in the widespread print and video advertising of major cranberry-farming cooperatives.