Documentors of the Dream: Pioneer Jewish Photographers in the Land of Israel, 1890-1933

Documentors of the Dream is the first comprehensive book to chart the origins and development of local photography seen through the eyes of Jewish photographers; it is a logical continuation of existing survey books devoted to the history of nineteenth century photography in the Holy Land. The material is based on primary research mostly from Israeli archives, and interviews with descendants of the early photographers. The photographers and their images are largely unknown and unpublished in the international history of photography. The extensive text clearly places the development of local photography within already documented Zionist history. The photographs project an assortment of old Yishuv and new Zionist lifestyles, village society, the beginnings of the kibbutz, labour battalions, the guarding of settlements, development of agriculture and land reclamation, construction of roads, the growth of new cities, immigration and community welfare.