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P

ictures representing New York 
City life — including scenes 
of lone workmen atop a high-
rise building, children dancing along a 
sidewalk and people of all ages at the 
beach — are among 150 images in a newly 
awarded book by Deborah Dash Moore, a 
University of Michigan history professor, 
Frankel Center for Judaic Studies leader 
and Posen Library of Jewish Culture and 
Civilization editor.
Walkers in the City: Jewish Street 
Photographers of Midcentury New York is 
an honoree in the 73rd National Jewish 
Book Awards by the Jewish Book Council. 
The book, with pictures taken between the 

1930s and 1960s by Jewish photographers, 
will be among books honored in a New 
York program March 26.
“Most of the photographers were the 
children of immigrants,” said Dash Moore, 
whose many earlier awards have included 
a 2005 Best Book of the Year by The 
Washington Post for GI Jews: How World 
War II Changed a Generation. “They 
grew up in New York City and picked up 
cameras. Some of them were still in high 
school and others a little later.
“They met each other in an 
organization called the New York Photo 
League. This was a mixture of a school 
with darkroom facilities. It sponsored 

lectures. It had social events. It had an 
element of being a club. Some of the 
people who attended felt it was a second 
home for them. They did not have an easy 
childhood.”
With each picture, as the photographer 
is identified, the historical context is 
presented. Some photographers became 
very famous, and there are bios at the end 
of the photographic content. Morris Engel, 
for example, took the cover picture as a 
teenager developing a well-known career. 
Because the book takes place way 
before the use of cell phones or even 
private home phones, pictures show 
communications taking place in outside 
booths. The images capture people waiting 
for transportation or to see each other. 
The black-and-white representations have 
a group related to selling — newspapers, 
foods and other goods — outdoors.
“I put in one or two pictures of 
big buildings to explain what these 
photographers were not taking pictures 
of,” Dash Moore said. “They are taking 
pictures of the people and how the people 
lived, especially working-class people.
“There’s a chapter on children’s play 
and going out. People lived in very small 
apartments for sleeping and eating and 
not too much else. If you were a kid, you 
came home from school and went outside. 
The streets were your playrooms, and 
there are pictures of street games and what 
kids did. 
“This book is about typical New York 
City activities. It starts with looking 

U-M professor earns National Jewish Book award 
for her book on Jewish street photographers. 

ARTS&LIFE
BOOKS

‘Walkers in the City’

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“Shoeshine 
Conversation” 

73rd National Jewish 
Book Awards. 

JAY JAFFEE

JEWISH BOOK COUNCIL

