The Borscht Belt Revisited
This illustrated lecture features Marisa Scheinfeld’s photographs of abandoned sites where resorts, hotels and bungalow colonies once boomed in the Catskill Mountain region of upstate New York. From her book The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America's Jewish Vacationland, the images were shot inside and outside locations that once buzzed with life as year-round havens for generations of people. In her talk, Scheinfeld discusses the rise, fall, and impact of the Borscht Belt along with the deeper, more layered meaning she finds in the series, as well as her current work with the Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project. Following Marisa’s presentation she was joined in conversation by New York Preservation Archive Project Executive Director Emily Kahn.
About the Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project: The mission of The Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project is to interpret and designate places important to the Borscht Belt’s vibrant history and to consider its impact on American Jewish life, the legacy of the Catskills, New York State history, American culture and entertainment, and the ways in which the era’s rich history is enduringly present and woven into the very fiber of the region. Whether on or near sites of significant events or historic properties the Marker Project’s efforts strive towards selecting locations significant to the local, state, and national history in towns and villages scattered across the Sullivan and Ulster County landscape. Learn more about maytheborschtbewithyou.org
About the Book: 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 4-20 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 40 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.
About Marisa: Marisa Scheinfeld was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1980 and raised in the Catskills. She received a B.A. from the State University at Albany in 2002, and a MFA from San Diego State University in 2011. Her work is motivated by an interest in the landscape and its embedded histories, both apparent and hidden. Marisa’s photographic projects and books are among the collections of the Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, Yeshiva University Museum, The National Yiddish Book Center, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art & Life at UC Berkeley, The Simon Wiesenthal Center, The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation and The Edmund and Nancy K. Dubois Library at the Museum of Photographic Arts. Marisa is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Photography at SUNY Purchase and working on her second book.
This webinar was presented by the Preservation League of NYS as part of our Preservation Book Club series. Many thanks to our program sponsor, the Peggy N. & Roger G. Gerry Charitable Trust.