Looking for Photos of Jewish Life in Eastern Europe

January 30, 2009 7:53 AM

I'm looking for photo references for a project I'm working on about Jewish life in Eastern Europe at the turn of the last century as well as the early Zionist movement in Israel (back before the 1948 war), including early kibbutz life. I'm sure there is a wealth of material out there, which ironically makes it harder to find what I'm looking for. How to sift through it all?

Specifically I want to find photos that show daily life: what homes were like, how they were decorated, what average people wore.

Any help would be much appreciated! I'm working on a comic book and I want to make sure small details like this are correct in order to give a real sense of place/time. Thanks!

posted by minicloud to Society & Culture (5 answers total)

Best answer: Set aside several hours of your day and start rummaging through YIVO's People of a Thousand Towns. You're welcome.
posted by arco at 8:04 AM on January 30, 2009

Forgot to mention that you'll have to register to use that database, but it's free.

There's also a really good book of photographs called Yiddishland that might be worth tracking down.
posted by arco at 8:07 AM on January 30, 2009

Response by poster: Wow, that is an AMAZING resource. Thanks so much!
posted by minicloud at 8:08 AM on January 30, 2009

Was popping in to recommend Yiddishland, but arco beat me to it.

There's an amazing exhibit at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art right now - I'm pretty sure they have some books to go along with it.
posted by chez shoes at 8:48 AM on January 30, 2009

Check out Image Before My Eyes, a pictorial history of Jews in Poland.


And check out the work of Roman Vishniak.
posted by brookeb at 10:40 AM on January 30, 2009