Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1531

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

• 58.33 linear feet (137 boxes)
• 221 gigabyte(s)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Harvey Finkle photographs, 1968-2019, Ms. Coll. 1531, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

Date:

1968-2021 (inclusive)

Creator:

Finkle, Harvey

Form:

Audiocassettes, Audio source media, Audiovisual materials, Interviews, Negatives (photographic), Photographs, Slides (photographs), and Computer source media

Abstract:

Harvey Finkle (born March 28, 1934) is a self-taught documentary photographer who has documented the social, economic, cultural, and political issues in the city of Philadelphia and across the globe. Finkle's work largely focuses on marginalized communities, including low income and homeless families, homeless veterans, refugees, immigrants, and the disabled, to name only a few. This collection, dating from 1968 to 2019, contains a majority of Finkle's five-decade-long oeuvre, in various formats including prints, contact sheets, negatives, slides, research, interview transcripts, and publications. As a whole, this collection provides documentation of activism in Philadelphia and focuses on social injustices in the city, the country, and the world.

The son of Jules and Bella Finkle, Harvey Finkle was born on March 28, 1934, and grew up in the Oxford Circle neighborhood of Philadelphia. Following his graduation from Central High School, Finkle served in the United States Army for two years. He then continued his education, graduating from Temple University and earning his master's in social work from the University of Pennsylvania in 1961. Finkle worked as a social worker in Philadelphia for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Assistance, which introduced him to the widespread inequities experienced by the people of Philadelphia and the needs for activism.

In 1967, Finkle's second career as a photographer began and by 1972, he was working as a freelance photographer and photojournalist. According to "Picturing Justice" (box 128, folder 3), Finkle has "concentrated on photographing marginalized or disenfranchised people and their movements, including working class, low income and homeless families, refugees and immigrants, the disabled and the deaf, as well as groups struggling for economic equality, peace, justice, human rights and civil rights."

Finkle developed his own film and made his own prints at his studio at 1532 Sansom Street, in Center City, Philadelphia. For some of his projects, in addition to photographing his subjects, he also interviewed them and transcribed the interviews. Over the course of his career, he has published four books, Urban Nomad, Still Home: Jews of South Philadelphia, Reading, and Independent Living: The People Behind the Movement.

Finkle's work is seen as "a time machine of the social, political, and activist history of Philadelphia" (Kearny) … [which] "spotlights the universal impact of social political, and cultural forces in this country and across the globe … [and] record[s] eloquent testimony against a retreat from civic engagement and responsibility, covering the gamut from labor and public housing activism, death penalty abolition, education, poverty, immigrants, the deaf community, and the homeless." (Brin).

Works consulted:

Brin, Joseph G., "Harvey Finkle: Photographer Seeks Justice For the Other," Hidden City, 2018 September 10 (https://hiddencityphila.org/2018/09/harvey-finkle-photographer-seeks-justice-for-the-other/)

Kearney, Robin. "Meet Philly's most well-known photographer, Harvey Finkle," Hold Up Blog, 2020 February 29 (https://holdup.blog/2020/02/29/meet-phillys-most-well-known-photographer-harvey-finkle/)

The Harvey Finkle photograph collection consists of a majority of Finkle's five-decade-long oeuvre, in various formats, including prints, contact sheets, negatives, slides, research, interview transcripts, and publications. It documents activism in Philadelphia and focuses on social injustices in the city, the country, and the world. The collection is arranged in three series: I. Images and projects arranged by title, topic, or geographic location; II. Works arranged chronologically; and III. Publications and flyers featuring Finkle's work. Unless otherwise stated, all prints are black and white.

The first series, "I. Images and projects arranged by title, topic, or geographic location," consists of the bulk of the collection and is the only series which contains prints. For the most part, folder titles are taken from Finkle's own titles; although some terminology has been condensed for consistency and easier findability. Whenever possible, projects and topics have been placed intellectually together, regardless of their format; however, researchers will almost certainly need to look at the entire finding aid in order to find all related images. These images and projects reflect Finkle's wide-ranging topics of interest, from the lives of immigrants and refugees and the disabled, to homelessness, to welfare programs, to prison re-entry programs, etc. Importantly, these images do not simply document the lives of historically underrecognized communities, they also document the activism and organizations working to improve conditions. Prints represent only a tiny portion of Finkle's work, the images he considered best—therefore, they may be seen as the best starting point for researchers. More information about projects, topics, and geographic locations can be found at the container list and in the fourth series, "IV. Digital photographs and computer files."

The second series, "II. Works arranged chronologically," consists of contact sheets, negatives and slides that were arranged by Finkle in chronological order. Each format was titled uniquely by Finkle: contact sheets were titled, "various projects;" negatives were titled both "jobs" (commissioned photographs) and "personal" (photographs taken on Finkle's own time and/or money); and slides were titled "mixed." In all cases, there is significant overlap between these works arranged chronologically and the prints, contact sheets, negatives, and slides which are present in the first series. For example, images relating to the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) can be found labeled as KWRU in prints, contact sheets, negatives and slides (Series I), but are also found within all groups within Series II. Similarly, negatives contained within "Jobs," (boxes 91-100) will be represented as prints and slides in "Public Personalities" (boxes 24-25 and 114-115). Researchers are advised to search the first series; and then use the dates of the projects, images, and geographic locations to limit their search within the groups titled "various projects," "jobs," "personal," and "mixed." However, there are times when topics are only present in these chronological groupings, and will not appear with a keyword search in the first series.

The third series, "III. Publications and flyers featuring Finkle's work," mostly include organizations' publications (not authored by Finkle) for which his work was commissioned or used. If a publication was authored by Finkle, or connects directly to one of Finkle's projects, it can be found in Series I. These publications are arranged in alphabetical order. This series also contains some forms and letters requesting permission to use Finkle's work, as well as letters thanking Finkle for granting permission or for the images he created for the publication.

The fourth series, "IV. Digital photographs and computer files," predominantly contains digital photogaphs arranged and described similarly to the second series. For the most part, folder titles are taken from Finkle's own titles; although some terminology has been condensed for consistency and easier findability. Researchers will almost certainly need to look at the entire finding aid in order to find all related images. These images and projects reflect Finkle's wide-ranging topics of interest. Importantly, these images do not simply document the lives of marginalized communities, they also document the activism and organizations working to improve conditions. More information about projects, topics, and geographic locations can be found at the container list and in the first series, "I. Images and projects arranged by title, topic, or geographic location."