The Borscht Belt : revisiting the remains of America's Jewish vacationland / photographs by Marisa Scheinfeld ; essays by Stefan Kanfer and Jenna Weissman Joselit.

Photographer
Scheinfeld, Marisa, 1980- [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2016.
Description
x, 188 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), color map ; 21 x 26 cm

Availability

Available Online

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks F127.C3 S29 2016 Browse related items Request
    Marquand Library - PhotographyF127.C3 S29 2016 Browse related items Request

      Details

      Subject(s)
      Library of Congress genre(s)
      Getty AAT genre
      Contains
      Summary note
      Today 'the Borscht Belt' is recalled through the nostalgic lens of summer swims, Saturday night dances, and comedy performances. But its current state, like that of many other formerly glorious regions, is nothing like its earlier status. Forgotten about and exhausted, much of its structural environment has been left to decay. 'The Borscht Belt', which features essays by Stefan Kanfer and Jenna Weissman Joselit, presents Marisa Scheinfeld's photographs of abandoned sites where resorts, hotels, and bungalow colonies once boomed in the Catskill Mountain region of upstate New York. The book assembles images Scheinfeld has shot inside and outside locations that once buzzed with life as year-round havens for generations of people. Some of the structures have been lying abandoned for periods ranging from four to twenty years, depending on the specific hotel or bungalow colony and the conditions under which it closed. Other sites have since been demolished or repurposed, making this book an even more significant documentation of a pivotal era in American Jewish history. "The Borscht Belt' presents a contemporary view of more than forty hotel and bungalow sites. From entire expanses of abandoned properties to small lots containing drained swimming pools, the remains of 'the Borscht Belt' era now lie forgotten, overgrown, and vacant. In the absence of human activity, nature has reclaimed the sites, having encroached upon or completely overtaken them. Many of the interiors have been vandalized or marked by paintball players and graffiti artists. Each ruin lies radically altered by the elements and effects of time. Scheinfeld's images record all of these developments.
      Bibliographic references
      Includes bibliographical references (page 28).
      Contents
      • Prologue / Marisa Scheinfeld
      • Echoes of the Borscht Belt / Stefan Kanfer
      • In the frame / Jenna Weissman Joselit
      • Photographs
      • Notes on the photographs.
      ISBN
      • 9781501700590 ((cloth ; : alk. paper))
      • 1501700596
      LCCN
      2016006302
      OCLC
      939245049
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