Deborah Dash Moore - Camera as a Passport

Frankely Judaic: Explorations in Jewish Studies

2023-24 Frankel Institute "Jewish Visual Cultures" Today's Guest: Deborah Dash Moore Project Title: “Camera as Passport” During the 1930s, ‘40, and ‘50s, throughout the great depression and into the post-WWII era, photographers who were members of the NY Photo League, many of whom were Jews, documented working-class street life in New York City. And without quite realizing it at the time, they pioneered a new form of photography. In this episode, University of Michigan historian and Jewish Studies scholar Deborah Dash Moore tells the stories of these photographers, whom she chronicled in her latest book, Walker in the City: Jewish Street Photographers of Mid-century New York. The episode contains rich descriptions of photographs by Sol Libsohn, Dan Weiner, N.J. Jaffee, and other prominent Jewish members of the New York Photo League, whose self-imposed mission was to capture and ennoble the lives of working-class New Yorkers. The 2023-24 Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, led by co-head fellows Deborah Dash Moore and Richard I. Cohen includes twelve scholars from four countries who are exploring various aspects of Jewish visual imagination. This exploration encompasses different periods and regions of the world and touches on interactions among the written word, sound, and image.