Hine gained a national reputation taking pictures for the National Child Labor Committee, for the "Pittsburgh Survey" (an early sociological study), and, following World War I, for the American Red Cross in Europe. His photographs appeared regularly in the periodical Charities and the Commons (and its successor, The Survey) and many others. Hine returned to Ellis Island in 1926 to observe reforms and update his record. In 1930 and 1931, he documented the construction of the Empire State Building, resulting in an exhibition and a book for young people, Men at Work (1932). Shortly after, his relationship with The New York Public Library began.