About
Collections and Preservation
State of Conservation
The lack of awareness concerning early and contemporary photography has caused, and continues to cause to this day, irreversible damage to large proportions of the history of local photography and the locations photographed.
In some cases negatives, prints, or simple Xerox copies were stored in the same conditions, with no consideration for the specific conditions required for the conservation of each format. In many cases even after scanning negatives on to the computer, the details of the photographer, site of the photograph and the subjects have been lost. Another important factor is that there is no organized publication of valuable archival discoveries by the poorly-budgeted cultural establishment, and there is insufficient awareness of issues of conservation and documentation of photographic history in the land of Israel.
Nevertheless, since the early 2000s extensive foundational digitization projects of photography and photographers have begun at the Judaica department of Harvard University (radio and television, architecture, dance, comics, kibbutzim and photography), the National Library, Yad Ben Zvi (The “Israel Revealed to the Eye” project), the Bitmuna laboratory, alongside the archives of museums including the Israel Museum and Eretz Israel Museum.
Technical Infrastructure
Most archives, public and private, created since the 1920s, were based on the same system of thematic and physical cataloging. They were generally catalogued in order of central themes: Aliyah, settlement, communities, industry, portraits, events, Arabs and so on – and present a more or less fixed model for organizing the collections.
In public archives the categories typically employed are:
- Agricultural settlement (A-Z)
- Urban settlement (A-Z)
- Hebrew labor and workers
- Aliyah (including youth Aliyah)
- Development: industry, transport, electricity
- “The Other” – Arabs
- Portraits – private individuals, national and state leaders
In private archives the main emphasis was placed on cataloging portraits of individuals and public figures, since these were private photographers’ principal clients, and they often needed to be reused. Other categories were preserved in an organized fashion depending on the character of each photograher.
While public archives were organized by topic alone, most private archives were organized by the same system, but also retained chronological data. Many of the photographers took the trouble to keep up an organized work journal according to the name of the subject and date of photography.
Both types of archive used to prepare portfolios of contact prints with a thematic index including page and negative number for rapid location. In public archives up until 1948 the practice was to print short titles beneath the pictures. Since 1948 the following technical details were printed: picture number, location, date, photographer, contents of the photograph/event and comments on the state of the negative.
Photographer’s Name:
In most public and state institutions the photographer can be identified by name, if not immediately since cataloging the photographers’ identity was not their number one priority.
Computerization:
Most public and national archives are undergoing textual and in some cases digital computerization processes. In most cases the thematic cataloging system used for the original collection catalogue is maintained. If the computerized catalogue is visual, the indexing is by “keyword” instead of “topic”, and a greater number of categorizations is possible, since updated keywords are employed in addition to those used in the past.
Conservation Conditions (Hebrew document from the State archives)
Photographs / Negatives:
Black and white: 15–20° Celsius, 30%–40% humidity
Color: 5–15° Celsius, 25%–30% humidity
Public Archives – Details of Collections
Central Zionist Archives:
Photographers collections – photographers of the United Israel Appeal, the Jewish Agency, WIZO and the Agriculture Ministry, Zvi Oron, Zvi Feigin, Tsadok Bassan, Gerda and Charlotte Meyer, Tim Gidal, Hazel Greenwald, Fritz Schlesinger, Hanan Sadeh, Anna Riwkin-Brick, Teddy Kandel.
Computerization – textual, full; visual, partial
Website – active
State Archives:
Photographers collection – Zoltan Kluger, Benno Rothenberg (1948 war), Moshe Schwartz, Yehudah Eisenstark, Paul Gross, Itzhak Mirlin and Avraham Yaron.
Computerization – textual, partial; visual, partial
Website – active
GPO Archive:
Photographers – Zoltan Kluger, Fritz Cohen, Teddy Brauner, Hugo Mendelsohn, Hans Haim Finn, Moshe Milner
Selected photographs by Yaakov Sahar, David Eldan and many others
Computerization – textual, full; visual, partial
Website – active
JNF Archive:
The collection features photographers who worked for the JNF – before the establishment of the State the principal photographers were: Shmuel Joseph Schweig, Abraham Malavsky, Lazar Dunner, Zoltan Kluger, Yaakov Rosner and Tim (Nachum) Gidal. From the establishment of the State up to the Yom Kippur War the principal JNF photographers were: Fred Chesnick, Werner Braun, Alex Starjmister and David Haris.
Also in the archive are photographers from whom photographs were purchased, including: Zvi Oron, Zvi Feigin, Alfred Bernheim, Rudi Weisenstein, David Haris, Zev Radovan, David Rubinger, Fritz Schlesinger and others.
Computerization – textual, full; visual, partial
Website – active
National Library Archive:
In the photographers collection – 19th century photographers (Jacob Wahrman Collection), Benno Rothenberg, Boris Karmi, Moshe Levin, Aliza Auerbach, the IPPA agency and more.
Digitization: Rudi Weisenstein (The PhotoHouse), Zev Alexandrovich
Computerization – textual, full; visual, partial
Website – active
Lavon Institute Archive
In the photographers collection – Abraham Soskin (labour settlements and studio), Zvi Oron
Other – Archive of the “Davar” newspaper
Computerization – textual, full; visual, partial
Yad Yaari Archive
In the photographers collection – photographers from the Hashomer Hatzair movement: Zvi Nahor, David Perlmutter, Gabriel Palti and more
Other – Archive of the “Al Hamishmar” newspaper
Computerization – textual, partial; visual, partial
The Haganah Archive
In the photographers collection – the organization’s photographers, Risas Studio, Naftali Oppenheim and others
Computerization – textual, full
IDF Archive
In the photographers collection – Fred Chesnick, Abraham Vered, Yehudah Eisenstark, Zoltan Kluger, Assaf Kutin, Micha Bar-Am, Shlomo Arad and more
Other – archive of the “Bamahane” newspaper
Computerization – textual, partial; visual, partial
The Palmach Archive
Various photographers
Computerization – textual, partial; visual, partial
Yad Ben Zvi Archive
The “Israel Revealed to the Eye” project – family albums from all over the country
Collections: Zev Vilnay Archive, Gershon Gera Archive
Photographers: Zvi Schuster, Werner Braun, David Haris
Digitization – in process
Computerization – textual, partial; visual, partial
Haifa University, Younes and Soraya Nazarian Library – Digital Collections
Photographers (digitization): Julian Fürst, Naftali Oppenheim, Mula Eshet, Moshe Schwartz, Trudi Schwartz-Hiller, Kurt Bremer, Leo Kahn, David Ulmer, Alex Livak, Itamar Zuckerman, Maison Bonfils, Hannah Shaviv, Menachem Zuckerman, Sami Ben Gad, Ilit Frant-Levin, Raanan Galili
Institutions (digitization): The White Gallery, Camera Obscura
Eretz Israel Museum Archive, Tel Aviv
Photographers collection – Abraham Soskin (Tel Aviv), Shimon Korbman, Ephraim Erda, Paul Goldman, Walter Kristeller, Jacob Pinkerfield Archive
Digitization – in process
Computerization – textual, partial; visual, partial
Website – active
Israel Museum, Jerusalem:
Photographers collections: Mendel John Diness, Yaacov Ben Dov, Yaakov Benor-Kalter, Alfred Bernheim, Tim Gidal, Shmuel Joseph Schweig, Yaakov Rosner, Liselotte Grschebina, Yaakov Shofar, plus a large collection of art photography from Israel and around the world.
Computerization – textual, partial; visual, the museum collection and the Tim Gidal archive
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Photographers collections: E. M. Lilien, Itzhak Kalter, plus a large collection of art photography from Israel and around the world.
Computerization – textual, full
Jerusalem Municipal Archive:
Photographers collections – Charles Alexander Hornstein, American Colony, Savvides Brothers, Yaacov Ben Dov, Rivka Karp, Aliza Holtz, Kalman (Karl) Weiss, Photo Yaakobi (Yitzhak Yaakobi), Baruch Ben Noach, Jacky Levy
Yedioth Ahronoth Archive:
Photographers collections: David Rubinger and the paper’s photographers
Computerization – textual, partial; visual, partial
Harvard Judaica Department:
In the photographers collection – Israel Sun Agency, Israel Haramati
Digitization: the Zionist Archive, Preservation for the Generations project (kibbutzim), Boaz Lanir, Reuven Milon, Eldad Rafaeli, Batsheva (dance), Israel Haramati
Computerization – textual, partial; visual, partial
Private Collections (selection):
Bouky Boaz – collections: Peter Merom, Naftali Oppenheim, Khalil Raad, American Colony, Karimeh Abboud, Alice Hausdorff and more
Ilan Rot – collections: Walter Zedek, Pallu Zivlin
Igal Pressler – collections: Alphonse Himmelreic