Louise Rosskam (born Louise Rosenbaum) (March 27, 1910 – April 1, 2003) was a photographer for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Standard Oil Company during the mid-20th century. Together with her husband, Edwin Rosskam (1903–1985), the pair documented American life during the Great Depression. The Rosskams were part of a group of talented photographers hired by

Roy Stryker Roy Emerson Stryker (November 5, 1893 – September 27, 1975) was an American economist, government official, and photographer. He headed the Information Division of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression, and launc ...

, the head of the FSA between 1935 and 1944, during what is often called the "Golden Age of Documentary Photography".

Early life

Louise Rosskam was born into a large Jewish family, the youngest of eight children in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in 1910. Her father was Morris Rosenbaum, who had emigrated from

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

at age fourteen. Her mother was Hannah Rottenberg from New York. In 1929, Louise met Edwin Rosskam, an artist and aspiring photographer who would help Louise develop her talent. In 1933, Louise graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

with a degree in Biology.

Career

During their careers, Louise and her husband Edwin worked as photographers for the Farm Security Administration, the

Office of War Information The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...

, the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, the Puerto Rico Office of Information, and the New Jersey Department of Education. Many of their photos taken while working for the Government agencies are now in the archives of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

, and are part of the public domain. In 1948, the Rosskams published ''Towboat River'', a photographic book detailing life on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

. Residents of

Roosevelt Roosevelt may refer to: *Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), 26th U.S. president * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), 32nd U.S. president Businesses and organisations * Roosevelt Hotel (disambiguation) * Roosevelt & Son, a merchant bank * Rooseve ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, the Rosskams had two daughters, Anita and Susan.Staff
"Roosevelt featured in new exhibit"
, ''Allentown Examiner'', August 27, 2009. Accessed February 14, 2011. "On Oct. 7, photo-historian and Monmouth County Archivist Gary Saretzky will give a lecture on the late Edwin and Louise Rosskam, who lived in Roosevelt for many years." Louise Rosskam died in

in 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosskam, Louise 1910 births 2003 deaths American photojournalists American women photographers People from Roosevelt, New Jersey University of Pennsylvania alumni People of the United States Office of War Information 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women Women photojournalists