Oral history interview with Arthur Rothstein
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 11 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Rothstein, Arthur, 1915-1985
label: Interviewer
content: Doud, Richard Keith
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: United States. Farm Security Administration.Historical Section.Photographs
label: Names
content: Evans, Walker, 1903-1975
label: Names
content: Lee, Russell, 1903-1986
label: Names
content: Mydans, Carl
label: Names
content: Shahn, Ben, 1898-1969
label: Names
content: Stryker, Roy Emerson, 1893-1975
topic: label: Topic
content: Documentary photography -- United States
label: Topic
content: Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Rothstein, Arthur, 1915-1985
label: Interviewer
content: Doud, Richard Keith
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Arthur Rothstein (1915-1985) was a photographer from New York, N.Y.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 31 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1964 May 25
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.rothst64
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Arthur Rothstein conducted in New York, N.Y., 1964 May 25, by Richard Doud, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Rothstein speaks of the development of his interest in photography as a hobby while in pre-medical school during the Depression; meeting Roy Stryker and his early impressions of Stryker; the Resettlement Administration and its growth into the Farm Security Administration (FSA); the educational experience of working under Stryker's guidance; the influence of Ben Shahn and Walker Evans; the traveling experience and its influence on him; early assignments; developing as a photographer; documenting the Dust Bowl; the "skull" series and the controversy surrounding it; usage of the FSA works; the FSA's contribution to Rothstein's life and personal development; and going to work for LOOK magazine. He recalls Carl Mydans and Russell Lee.