Folder Inventory of the Soibelman Collection
Folder List
List of Photographers/Agencies
Soibelman Photographer Codes
Research Center Home
The Soibelman Syndicate News Agency Collection is among the largest
collections at Visual Studies Workshop consisting of over 40,000
photographs as organized by the Agency - originally in file cabinets -
and now stored in over 250 archival cartons.
The organization itself provides a fascinating glimpse at the subjects,
people, events, themes and issues of the period 1932-1942 when the
Soibelman Agency operated in New York City. Consider, for example, our relative remoteness today from subjects such as dude ranches, figurines, fur production, gambling, girl students, grain elevator, Grand Coulee Dam, Hoboken Piers, or "tricks used to gyp the buying public" (or might this one inform us about spam?). The names of folders are left pretty much unedited to preserve the perspective of the 1930s. Thus, "Germany" might otherwise have been called "Nazi Germany".
The links from some folder names, such as "Spanish Civil War", will lead to detailed overviews of extensive sub-collections. In other cases, such as "dogs", the links will simply sample a nominal subset of an otherwise unanalyzed larger corpus. Folder subjects followed by Roman numerals, I, II, III,... imply large number of prints for those subjects - most often, more than 100.
The Soibelman Collection included a substantial backlog of photographs which had not yet been assigned to specific subject folders. Rather than attempt to guess how the Soibelmans might have classified these materials, they have been sorted according to the 'codes' placed on the verso of most prints which the company used to keep track of royalty payments owed to different sources as reproduction rights were re-sold to new clients.The codes, not yet completely deciphered, generally indicate either the agency, or the photographer, or the third party from whom Soibelman acquired batches of prints. Terms of these acquisitions are sometimes documented by correspondence preserved among the Soibelman business records. In some cases the codes are obvious inversions of photographers initials (such as "PLR" for Roy L. Pepperburg), but others are seemingly arbitrary.
For purposes of cross-reference, we have provided here lists both of the codes as well as of photographers' names. codes names These authority lists were compiled by Bill Johnson.
Owing to the size of this collection, its systematic processing -
beginning with "A" and working picture-by-picture through to "Z" - is
impractical. Instead, we have elected to provide this on-line
inventory of the folder names and allow users to suggest or request
more information about the contents available for subjects of special
interest. Wherever possible, we will respond to the interest
expressed by users by digitizing selected subjects and linking them to
the folder list. By returning to this list from time to time,
you'll observe the number of folders with links gradually growing. Users, of course, are always welcome to examine materials first-hand by visiting the VSW here in Rochester.
The first phase of the archival housing and organization of the Soibelman Collection has been generously supported by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.
Folder List
List of Photographers/Agencies
Soibelman Photographer Codes
Research Center Home
To use Soibelman images for exhibition or publication email: