Irving Herzberg collection
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Abstract
Materials from the life and work of photographer Irving Herzberg (1915-1991). Items include photographs, color slides, negatives, cassettes, and documents. Subjects include New York City's Jewish communities, street scenes, transit, architecture, and Coney Island. Also included are images from travels across the United States, Europe, Israel, and Egypt.
Biographical Note
Irving Herzberg was born May 3, 1915, in Varel, Germany as Iwan Herzberg to parents Sally (Saul) and Gertrude. Herzberg attended elementary school at the local synagogue and later enrolled in Varel's Oberrealschule (secondary school). He received his first camera at age 13 as a gift for his bar mitzvah. His grandfather owned a local cleaning and dyeing factory, which his father took over and later sold. Fleeing the rise of Adolf Hitler, Herzberg left Germany in 1935, followed by his parents in 1939. After arriving in New York City, Herzberg attempted work as a dyer, but the business was unsuccessful. He found employment at a company that imported musical novelties and worked as a self-employed photographer.
Herzberg spent more than 50 years photographing New York. He founded the Trump Village Camera Club, and using his home's bathroom as a darkroom, produced prints to exhibit across the city. He created several series including Faces Across the Aisle: Subway Glimpses, The Hasidim of Williamsburg, Coney Island....My Backyard, and Jewish Life on Ocean Avenue which was commissioned by the American Jewish Congress. Starting in the 1970s Herzberg began traveling across the United States, Europe, Egypt and Israel. Some of the photographs were presented in 1975 as a slideshow with accompanying music and narration, called Let's Go West, performed at the Brooklyn Public Library's Brighton Beach branch, Trump Village Camera Club and the Men's Club of the Temple Beth Abraham.
Irving Herzberg was a frequent patron of the Brooklyn Public Library's Brooklyn Collection and began selling his photographs to the library in the 1960s. He died on May 17, 1991. From November 1995- January 1996 the library hosted Irving I. Herzberg: A Vision of Brooklyn (1950-1989), a retrospective of his work featuring prints given to the library during his life, and posthumously by his wife, Helen Herzberg.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in five series:
Series 1: Photographs is arranged in three sub-series by image size. Sub-series 1.1 is arranged alphabetically by subject, with the exception of Hasidim of Williamsburg, which appears at the end of the sub-series and is arranged by subject. Sub-series 1.2 is partially arranged by subject or exhibit. Sub-series 1.3 is not arranged.
Seies 2: Slides is arranged by subject. Slides reflect the original order as they appeared in slide carousels arranged by Irving Herzberg.
Series 3: Negatives is arranged in booklets by negative number, in numerical order. Booklets and negatives arranged in the booklets are presumably in original order.
Series 4: Audiovisual is arranged by subject.
Series 5: Documents is arranged alphabetically.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of black-and-white gelatin silver photographs, color slides, negatives, cassettes, and documents from photographer Irving Herzberg, the bulk of which covers New York City and his travels across the United States, Europe, Israel, and Egypt. The photographs date from 1952-1989 and include images from his various series including Faces Across the Aisle: Subway Glimpses, The Hasidim of Williamsburg, Jewish Life on Ocean Avenue, and Coney Island....My Backyard. Many photographs include a stamp or paper affixed to the back with the exhibit location and date. Please note that dates usually represent the date of exhibition, not when the photograph was taken or printed. Most prints also include a corresponding negative number handwritten on the back.
Slides include images of Herzberg's travels, both in the United States and internationally. Slides were originally arranged in slide carousels by Herzberg for the presentation of Let's Go West. Slides have been rehoused in binders but represent Herzberg's original arrangement. The Let's Go West presentation also included music and Herzberg's own narration on cassettes, which are available in Series 4: Audiovisual. Negatives are large format, housed in small booklets created by Herzberg, with 2-12 negatives per booklet. Information handwritten in the booklets often includes dates, camera settings, titles, and darkroom instructions. Many negatives have a corresponding print in Series 1: Photographs.
Documents include printed and handwritten indexes to Herzberg's work, created by Brooklyn Public Library librarians. Documents also include exhibit invitations, promotional materials, and invitation lists. Materials for Irving I. Herzberg: A Vision of Brooklyn (1950-1989), have been foldered separately. Oversize exhibit materials are foldered with Sub-series 1.3: Photographs and Exhibit Materials.
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Topics
Conditions Governing Access
Open to researchers without restriction.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright to photographs and audiovisual materials held by the Brooklyn Public Library.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date (if known); Irving Herzberg collection, BCMS.0056, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Location of Materials
Material Specific Details
Immediate Source of Acquisition
A portion of this collection was gifted by Irving Herzberg over several years starting in the early 1960s. Additional portions were gifts of Helen Herzberg, 1992 and 1995. Additional items transfered from the Jewish Museum, 2005.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
If digital surrogates exist, they should be used in place of the originals whenever possible.
The majority of the materials in this collection are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please contact cbhreference@bklynlibrary.org at least two weeks prior to research visit.
About this Guide
Processing Information
This collection combines two accessions: 1992.001 and 2005.0008. Series 2 and Series 3 reflect original arrangement, cassettes in Series 4 reflect original titles. All other arrangements and folder titles were imposed by a Brooklyn Public Library librarian, presumably in the early 2000s. At this time slides in Series 2 were transfered to binders and photographs were re housed in mylar, acid free folders, and in some case, binders.
In 2023 folder titles were updated and dates were added by the archivist. The negatives were also rehoused in mylar. Original newspaper clippings were discarded after preservation photocopies were made.
