Table Of ContentPre- State Photographic Archives
and the Zionist Movement
By entering and critically r e- activating the Zionist photographic archive established
by the Division of Journalism and Propaganda of the Jewish National Fund, this re-
search examines its rippling impact on civil landscapes prior to 1948 in Palestine, and
its lasting impact on the region to date.
This study argues that the Zionist movement makes particular use of the machin-
ery of the photographic archive, aiming to constitute the boundaries of Palestine as
a Jewish state, claiming ownership over the land and announcing internationally
the success of its enterprise, thus substantiating the image it sought to embed as the
“ reality” of the land. This archive was not s tand- alone, as it was functioning in re-
lation to a vast, complicated network of organizational systems and technologies, in
the Middle East and across the world. Crucially, this system functioned as a national
archive in future tense, for a nation- state that was not yet in existence, seeking to sub-
stantiate its regional authority and shape its cultural repository, outlining parameters
for inclusion and exclusion from its civic space.
The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, photography his-
tory, visual culture, Jewish studies, Israel studies and Middle East studies.
Rotem Rozental is a photo- historian, curator, writer and the Executive Director of
the LA Center for Photography, Lecturer at University of Southern California and
Faculty at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. Between 2016 and 2022, she
served as Chief Curator and Senior Director of Arts and Culture at American Jewish
University, where she was also the Assistant Dean of the Whizin Center for Continu-
ing Education and the Director of The Institute for Jewish Creativity.
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Pre- State Photographic Archives and the Zionist Movement
Rotem Rozental
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Pre- State Photographic Archives
and the Zionist Movement
Rotem Rozental
Designed cover image: Pioneer in the Kibbutz, Zoltan Kluger, 1936. KKL- JNF
Photo Archive
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Rotem Rozental
The right of Rotem Rozental to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rozental, Rotem, author.
Title: Pre-state photographic archives and the Zionist movement / Rotem Rozental.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, an
imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business, [2023] |
Series: Routledge history of photography | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022047338 (print) | LCCN 2022047339 (ebook) | ISBN
9781032182384 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032187716 (paperback) | ISBN
9781003256144 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Zionism—History—20th century. | Zionism—History—
Photograph collections. | Jews—Palestine—History—20th century. | Jews—
Colonization—Palestine—Societies, etc.—Photograph collections. | Jewish
National Fund—Photograph collections. | Land settlement—Palestine—
Photograph collections. | Photography museums—Israel—Photograph
collections. | Palestine—History—1917–1948—Photograph collections.
Classification: LCC DS149 .R68 2023 (print) | LCC DS149 (ebook) | DDC
320.54095694—dc23/eng/20221026
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022047338
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022047339
ISBN: 9781032182384 ( hbk)
ISBN: 9781032187716 ( pbk)
ISBN: 9781003256144 ( ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/ 9781003256144
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
To my family
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The Guards and the Archons 1
PART 1
Photography in the “Holy Land” Before Zionism: Biblical
Landscapes in Modernity 21
1 In and Out of the East: Travelers, Believers and Contested Truths 23
2 Local Migration and the Jewish Settlement: Zionist Orientalism and
Visual Economies 55
PART 2
Between Body and Land: The Archival Machinery of the Jewish
National Fund 77
3 “ Property of the People”: Diasporic Bodies, Race and Land in Early
Zionist Culture 79
4 Finding Your Type: Inserting Body and Land into the JNF
Photographic Archive 101
5 Displaced and Absent Bodies: Marginalization and Exclusion in the
Pre- State Archive 137
PART 3
Archival Constellations: Private, Institutional and Latent Systems in
Palestine and the Jewish World 157
6 “ Air Control”: Comments About Hidden Photographic Archives and
Colonial Regimes in the Middle East 159
viii Contents
7 “ A Voice from the Greek Diaspora”: Haim Shmuel Mizrahi and
Inscriptions of a Desired Land 168
7.1 “Even People Were Hard to Find!”: Picture Postcards and
the Photographic Industry in Palestine, 1920s and Beyond 196
8 Postscript: Between New York and Jerusalem – Archives of Diaspora 216
Epilogue: The 1948 War and Beyond: The Rise of the National Archive 226
Index 241
Acknowledgments
In 2012, John Tagg, who was then my Dissertation advisor, asked me to identify my
archive. This seemingly simple question changed the course of my academic research,
triggering a pursuit that led me to the photographic archive of the Jewish National
Fund. Professor Tagg’s advice and feedback were invaluable for all stages of this pro-
ject, and for that I wish to express my sincerest gratitude.
I would like to thank my Dissertation committee members, Professor Thomas
McDonough, Professor Kevin Hatch and Professor Pamela Smart. Without their
guidance and feedback, I could not have articulated the path that led to this research,
and it is in the intellectual space they afforded me, through seminars, research op-
portunities and academic training, that I was able to experiment with my writing,
research skills and interests.
I would like to thank the Art History Department at Binghamton University, for
further supporting this research with travel grants that have allowed me to conduct
crucial field research and interviews in Israel. I am also grateful to the Association for
Jewish Studies, for awarding this work the Jordan Schnitzer First Publication Award.
I was honored to be included in a cohort of exceptional scholars and I remain thank-
ful for the support of this work.
This study could not have materialized without the support of the Center for Jewish
History, which awarded me the Dr. Sophie Bookhalter Research Fellowship in Jewish
Culture during 2015– 2016. The archival resources made available at the Center had
significant contribution to my research and thinking about archives in the context
of Zionism and the Jewish world. I would like to thank Christopher Barthel for his
support, and my cohort for their camaraderie. Professor Ronald Zweig from the Taub
Center for Israel Studies at New York University offered productive insight, and for
that I wish to express my appreciation. Here I also like to express my gratitude to Dan
Schifrin, for his keen eye and support.
I would like to acknowledge a number of colleagues from Israel, who have contrib-
uted their time, experience and expertise to this research. Among them, Aya Lurie
and Rona Sela, whose generous advice was crucial for this work. Ariella Azoulay,
who heard a presentation of the early stages of this research, offered instrumental
input and encouragement. I would like to recognize the Gaby and Ami Brown Col-
lection, and specifically, Gaby and Perach, who made the albums of Haim Shmuel
Mizrahi available for this research, and thus opened new and unexpected avenues
of engagement and analysis. Dalia Levy- Eliyahu shared with me the histories of her
family and illuminated important stages in the development of photography in the
Middle East. Dafna Amira’s kind help throughout the final stages of the research
