This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
This collection contains the photographs, negatives, contact sheets, correspondence, printed material, and research files of and about American photographer Arthur Rothstein (1915-1985). Photographic material comprises the core of this collection, and spans Rothstein's entire career as a photographer for the Farm Security Administration (hereafter FSA),
In the case of untitled photographs, supplied titles appear in brackets. Series of related photographs are indicated by a bracketed number after the title, which refers to the amount of different views in the grouping. Prints appear in two locations depending on their size: those 11 x 14 and smaller are in flat archival boxes, and those larger than 11 x 14 are in oversize boxes. If an object has two locations, it will be listed twice.
This series comprises photographic prints produced by Rothstein as a photographer for the Resettlement Administration (FSA after 1937). The titles correspond to those supplied by the Farm Security Administration and the Library of Congress. When available, the Library of Congress call number for a corresponding negative has been supplied. Subjects include farmers and migrant workers, the Dust Bowl, ranchers and rodeos, urban and rural landscapes, classroom scenes, logging and mining, and scenes of daily life across the United States between the years of 1935 and 1942. Also includes photographs of public leaders, including President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Farm Security Administration director Rexford Tugwell, and George Washington Carver. Photographs are organized alphabetically according to the region and state in which they were taken. Includes oversize material.
This series consists of Rothstein's work in China as a photographer for the United States Army Signal Corps (1944-1946) and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (hereafter UNRRA, 1946-1947). Subjects include conditions of famine and starvation, the distribution of UNRRA aid in various villages and refugee camps, a camp for Jewish refugees from Europe in Shanghai, individual portraits, temple exteriors and interiors, and the urban and rural landscapes. Photographs have been organized alphabetically by title, and related photographs have been grouped together (i.e. "UNRRA aid, assorted views). The series divided into the following subseries, based on discrete assignments and subject matter: Subseries 1: Starvation and UNRRA Aid, 1946-1947 Subseries 2: Landscape and Built Environment, 1944-1947 Subseries 3: People, 1944-1947 Subseries 4: European Refugees, 1946.
This series comprises photographs from Rothstein's travels to Europe, Africa, Asia, and Central America, under various personal and professional capacities, including work as a United States Army Signal Corps photographer, and as a photographer for LOOK and Parade magazines. Subjects include the aftermath of World War II in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Austria, views of architecture, religious ceremonials, and daily life in India, Communist Russia and Ukraine (including May Day parades in Red Square), wildlife on a safari in Kenya, coal mining in Wales, and domestic and daily life in Italy. Photographs are organized alphabetically by the country in which they were taken, and then alphabetically by title. Includes oversize material.
Series IV: Politicians and Presidents
This series contains portraits and candid views of American presidents, presidential candidates, and other elected public officials, and their families. The bulk of these photographs were taken by Rothstein for publication in LOOK or Parade magazines, when possible, a cross-citation for the article(s) in which the photograph appeared has been provided. Note that some photographs of Franklin Delano Roosevelt appear in Series I: FSA, since they were taken under the auspices of said organization. Photographs are grouped according to individual (last name, first name), and then alphabetically by title.
Series V: Life - United States
This series contains photographs taken by Rothstein for LOOK, Parade, and other publications, as well as photographs unrelated to his professional activities as photographer for the Farm Security Administration or Office of War Information. When available, information to the corresponding publication in which a photograph has appeared has been provided. The series is divided into the following subseries based on subject matter. Within each subseries, photographs are organized alphabetically by title, with bracketed supplied titles appearing first. Includes oversize material.
This series contains photographs taken by Rothstein for the photography project and exhibition, "Working together: A Utah Portfolio." In the spring of 1982, the Utah-based Oral History Institute launched an "Ethnic and minority documentary project," which sought to document the lives of eight communities living in the state: African American, Greek, Jewish, Japanese, Hispanic, Chinese, Italian, and Ute. Rothstein joined the project in early 1985, and worked alongside other photographers, including George Janecek and Kent Miles. Includes oversize material. The series is divided into the following subseries, based on subject matter.
Series VII: Photographs, Other Creators
This series consists of photographs printed or collected by and/or given to Rothstein throughout his career. A significant number of these photographs are copy prints, related to volumes of "masterpieces" from late 19th and early 20th century photographic history, published by the Photographic Historical Society of New York for sale to the general public. Photographs were selected, reprinted, and compiled into portfolios by Rothstein, and includes work by Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, Walker Evans, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Oscar Rejlander, Henry Peach Robinson, Timothy O'Sullivan, Matthew Brady, Lewis Hine, and others. This series also includes two sets of complete portfolios. Also included in the series are images by other photographers for >Parade, and other magazines, as well as additional images by other FSA photographers, including John Vachon, Russell Lee, and Marion Post Wolcott. Several of the photographs in this series were given as gifts to Rothstein; they frequently have inscriptions or writing on the reverse side of the print. Photographs have been organized alphabetically by creator (last name, first name). Those by unknown or unidentified photographers appear at the end of the series.
This series contains black and white and color negatives, many of which are copy negatives produced for specific exhibitions over the course of Rothstein's career, related to the above listed photographic prints. It has been organized into subseries that correspond to series I-VII (FSA, China, Other Countries, Politicians and Presidents, Life – United States, Utah, and Photographs – Other Creators). Within each folder, individual sleeves containing negatives are arranged in the same order in which their corresponding photographic prints are organized (e.g. for the FSA folder, negatives appear alphabetically by region, and for the China folder, negatives have been divided into folders labeled "Starvation and UNRRA Aid," "People," "Landscape and Built Environment," and "European Refugees," and so on). Individual sleeves are labeled with the title and date of the enclosed negative(s). Corresponding contact prints have been noted in the finding aid, and are enclosed with the negatives in their individual sleeves.
Negatives appear in two locations depending on their size: those 8x10 or smaller are in a standing file box, and those that have 11x14 dimensions are in an archival box. As with the photographic prints, if an object has two locations, it will appear listed twice. The same folder groupings apply for both locations. The researcher should also note that a considerable amount of negatives, particularly those relating to "China" and "Other Countries," do not have a corresponding photographic print in this collection.
Series IX: Professional Papers
This series contains research material, articles and clippings, correspondence, and photographic material pertaining to Rothstein's career as a photographer for various organizations, including the FSA, the Office of War Information and the United States military, the UNRRA, LOOK and Parade magazines, among others. It has been organized into three subseries:
This series includes correspondence from family and friends, as well as personal correspondence (postcards, greeting cards) from other FSA photographers. There is also material relating to Rothstein's military service, resumes, job applications, and one folder with clippings, student work, and two photographs from Columbia University.
This series includes a substantial amount of personal photographs, which have been separated into categories based on subject matter. Photographs have been organized in rough chronological order, but the majority are undated and unlabeled. Subjects range from snapshots of family gatherings and travels, childhood photographs, as well as images pertaining to Rothstein's career, including photoshoots and conferences. The latter group of images, though relating to professional activities, was originally interfiled in Rothstein's personal files; for this reason, the original order has been preserved. This series also contains a small number of slides, which consist mostly of views of Rothstein's New Rochelle residence taken for insurance purposes, and two personal scrapbooks which may provide contextual information to other photographs in this series.
The collection is made up of ten series: FSA, China, Other Countries, Politicians and Presidents, Life-United States, Utah, Negatives, Photographs-Other Creators, Professional Papers, and Personal Papers. Series I-VIII consist of photographic prints and negatives, while Series IX-X contain printed material, correspondence, ephemera, and some photographic material, including personal photographs.
This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
Columbia University is providing access to the materials in the Library's collections solely for noncommercial educational and research purposes. The unauthorized use, including, but not limited to, publication of the materials without the prior written permission of Columbia University is strictly prohibited. All inquiries regarding permission to publish should be submitted in writing to the Director, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For additional guidance, see Columbia University Libraries' publication policy.
In addition to permission from Columbia University, permission of the copyright owner (if not Columbia University) and/or any holder of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) may also be required for reproduction, publication, distributions, and other uses. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of any item and securing any necessary permissions rests with the persons desiring to publish the item. Columbia University makes no warranties as to the accuracy of the materials or their fitness for a particular purpose.
Arthur Rothstein photograph collection, 1848-2000, (bulk 1935-1985), Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
Digital images of many of Arthur Rothstein's Farm Security Administration photographs can by found by searching the Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Online Catalogs:
Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives
Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Color Photographs
To browse all works associated with Rothstein, search by the photographer's name. To find a specific image, search by the associated LC call number. The LC call number can be found, when available, in the container list for Series I: FSA.
Source of acquisition--Dan Rothstein. Method of acquisition--Donated;; Date of acquisition--2011. Accession number--2011.021.
Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
This collection was processed by Caitlin Beach (Graduate Intern) in 2013.
2013-10-30 File created.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
2020-11-04 Links added to digitized content. kws
A prominent American photographer and photojournalist of the twentieth century, Arthur Rothstein was born on July 17, 1915 in New York, New York. The youngest son of Latvian immigrants, he grew up in the Bronx and attended Stuyvesant High School. He took his undergraduate degree at Columbia College (BA, Chemistry, 1935), where he developed an interest in the technical aspects of photography and was a founding member of the Columbia University Camera Club. Upon graduation Rothstein was hired as a lab assistant and photographer by Roy Stryker, a Columbia economist and head of the Resettlement Administration's Historical Section. Stryker had been asked by colleagues in the Roosevelt administration to form a group of documentary photographers to work within what became known as the Farm Security Administration. In addition to Rothstein, FSA photographers included Jack Delano, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Carl Mydans, Gordon Parks, John Vachon, and Marion Post Wolcott, among others. The work of these photographers was circulated nationally, and did much to crystallize public attention on impoverished conditions in both rural and urban America.
In October 1935, Rothstein completed his first field assignment, photographing evicted farmers in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The following year, he traveled to the Midwest to document the large-scale human and environmental devastation of the Dust Bowl, producing what would soon become iconic photographs of tenant farm families and drought-stricken land. Subsequent FSA projects resulted in a diverse and prolific body of work, including images of Pittsburgh steel workers, African-American tenant farmers at Gee's Bend, Alabama, Western ranchers and cowhands, rural schoolchildren, Manhattan skyscrapers, and snow-covered New England landscapes.
Speaking about his tenure with the FSA in a 1964 interview, Rothstein likened his photographic approach to "the unobtrusive camera," or "the idea of becoming a part of the environment that people are in to such an extent that they're not even aware that pictures are being taken."
In 1940, Rothstein joined the staff of the popular periodical
Over the following decades, Rothstein continued his career with LOOK magazine, having been named its director of photography in 1946. After LOOK ceased publication in 1971, Rothstein worked as an editor and director of photography at Parade magazine.
Rothstein was an active writer, researcher, and teacher, holding positions on the faculties of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, the School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, Mercy College, and Parsons School of Design. In the 1960s and 1970s, he dedicated considerable professional energies to researching color and three-dimensional photography, helping develop the Xograph printing process for three-dimensional images.
Among his publications include:
Rothstein died on November 11, 1985 in New Rochelle, New York.
Arthur Rothstein and Richard Doud, "Arthur Rothstein Talks with Richard Doud [original transcript, 1964],"
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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