Photographing the Jewish Nation: Pictures from S. An-Sky's Ethnographic Expeditions

Exhibition Catalog for A Living Connection: Photographs from the An-sky Expeditions 1912 - 1914 A permanent exhibit at the Yiddish Book Center

From 1912 to 1914, S. An-sky and the photographer Solomon Iudovin gathered materials and took photographs of Jewish daily life in pre-Revolutionary Russia’s Pale of Settlement. Photographing the Jewish Nation offers English-language readers their first look at over 170 extraordinary, recently rediscovered photographs from their expeditions. The pictures provide visual texture—in remarkable detail—that rarely appears in written sources.

This volume includes photographs that document the living shtetl, market towns large and small and the Jewish folk culture of the Yiddish-speaking world. A critical introduction and five chapters of rich observations offer a historical examination of all aspects of Jewish life inside the Pale, including work, education, and religious and cultural traditions.

Paperback 2015