Laurence Salzmann photograph collection

The Laurence Salzmann Photograph Collection was donated to Manuscripts & Archives in 1981 by Laurence Salzmann, the photographer. Salzmann spent 20 months during 1974-1976 in Romania on a Fulbright grant in philosophy. The photographs in this collection originated in Salzmann's desire to photograph what remained of Jewish life in the town of Radauti in northeast Romania.

Before World War II Radauti had a Jewish population of 8,000. The small remnant in Radauti in the mid-1970s was, for the most part, elderly Jews who preserved a traditional way of life. The photographs contain many striking portraits as well as scenes of the shops, the cemetery, a funeral, a brit milah, and other ceremonies of Jewish life. Photographs taken in the bathhouse are particularly noteworthy.

All photographs have been previously exhibited in shows of Salzmann's work. The collection includes exhibition catalogues for "La Baie/Bath Scenes" and "The Last Jews of Radauti". The photographs are arranged by size with the exhibition catalogues placed at the end of the collection.