97:, where she performed routines in a staging about the history of railroads. She received equity pay, and with part of the proceeds, purchased a camera. This soon developed into another passion: photography. She enrolled in photography classes offered free by the New Deal's National Youth Administration, which, advantageously, had an office on the Lower East Side. The director of the program was photographer Arnold Eagle, of whom she had fond memories. She also recalled during this period that "there were times I didn't have a change of clothes ... You would wear your shoes down to nothing, and you wouldn't be able to buy ."
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building at 221 East
Broadway still exists. Now called "The Mayflower," it may be the only extant Lower East Side structure where the Brody family resided. In 1941, Rebecca married Eugene Lepkoff, whom she had met in a dance class. He was soon drafted and served in an artillery unit in Europe during World War II. After his return, the couple chose to settle in an apartment at 343 Cherry Street on the Lower East Side, though many young Jewish couples at the time were moving away to
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company led by Bill Matons, and was soon performing at museums and colleges. Eventually, she became an dance instructor with the group. In 1937, at age 21, she was awarded a scholarship to the Doris
Humphrey–Charles Weidman Dance Group. Still, to provide income to her family with whom she still lived, she worked seasonally in the garment industry, working in a button factory and sewing seams in another.
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In time, the family of eight was living in a two-bedroom tenement apartment, but
Rebecca recalled many early happy memories. In 1927, her mother, shortly after the birth of her youngest daughter, suffered a nervous breakdown and never fully recovered. Rebecca's older sister, Celia, then 13, took on most of the responsibility of maintaining the family, and to work, dressed up and claimed she was 16.
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which, she recalls, "were full of pushcarts." They no longer exist today but then "everyone was outside: the mothers with their baby carriages, and the men just hanging out." Her photographs captured people in the streets, especially children, as well as the buildings and the signs on store fronts.
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I didn't have many clothes and would criticize what I was wearing; and they said my fingernails weren't filed right. And so, I just quit. I quit, and I didn't tell anybody. I just used to go to the Seward Park
Library in the morning. The whole term, I read through all the classics—all the books in
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in 1910. Isadore Brody was a tailor who quickly adjusted to life in the United States, while his wife, Anna, found her new life difficult and resisted becoming
Americanized. Living in tenements, the growing family moved several times but always remained within the boundaries of the Lower East Side.
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In 1940, the U.S. Census captured
Rebecca, at age 24, living with her family at 221 East Broadway, only a block from the Seward Park Library. The size of the family was now six, as her older sister Celia and younger brother Samuel had moved out. Her occupation was listed as "dancer." The apartment
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In her teenage years, it was sports and her newly discovered athletic ability that drove her forward. "I became very good as an athlete," she noted, and "Seward Park had competitions in the playground...They had races and whatnot. And I caught a couple of medals—in the 100 yard dash. I was pretty
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It was at the
Educational Alliance that she was introduced to modern dance, and her interest piqued, she soon discovered a passion. "I started feeling better when I danced," she recalled, as dancing proved an antidote to a difficult family life. She fell in with the Experimental Dance Group, a
144:, published by the Vermont Historical Society. They present the area before its character was changed with paved roads and vacationers. In the 1970s, she photographed the next generation of inhabitants in a series she called
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good, physically." She also took gymnastic classes and played basketball at the
Educational Alliance, a settlement house and community center on the Lower East Side.
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The breakdown of her mother had a profound impact on the family, and
Rebecca struggled through junior high school. She then attended
29:; August 4, 1916 – August 17, 2014) was an American photographer. She is best known for her images depicting daily life in the
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Nicole Lyn Pesce, "96-year-old photographer
Rebecca Lepkoff brings the lower East Side back into focus"
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Text by Peter E. Dans and Suzanne Wasserman (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006), p. 34
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Text by Peter E. Dans and Suzanne Wasserman (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006), p. 32
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Rebecca Lepkoff (née Brody) was born August 4, 1916, on Hester Street in the Lower East Side of
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the library, from eight to three o'clock. And I think I got a wonderful education that year.
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Wasserman, Suzanne. "Choreography of the Streets: The Life and Work of Rebecca Lepkoff" in
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Wasserman, Suzanne. "Choreography of the Streets: The Life and Work of Rebecca Lepkoff" in
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http://www.commonsnews.org/site/site05/story.php?articleno=10502&page=1#.U_bLa5Wto00
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from 1947 until 1951 when it was dissolved as a "communist organization" in the
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49:, the daughter of Isadore Brody and Anna Rose Schwartz, Jewish emigrants from
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356:"Rebecca Lepkoff's Photos: "Residents & Radicals" in Vermont, 1950"
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Almost Utopia: The Residents and Radicals of Pikes Falls, Vermont, 1950
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Life on the Lower East Side: Photographs by Rebecca Lepkoff, 1937–1950
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Life on the Lower East Side: Photographs by Rebecca Lepkoff, 1937–1950
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Life on the Lower East Side: Photographs by Rebecca Lepkoff, 1937–1950
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Life on the Lower East Side: Photographs by Rebecca Lepkoff, 1937–1950
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Life on the Lower East Side: Photographs by Rebecca Lepkoff, 1937–1950
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Life on the Lower East Side: Photographs by Rebecca Lepkoff, 1937–1950
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Life on the Lower East Side: Photographs by Rebecca Lepkoff, 1937-1950
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Later, she attended night school and earned her high school diploma.
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Almost Utopia: Residents and Radicals of Pikes Falls, Vermont 1950
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Fascinated by the area where she lived, she first photographed
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bore down in the Lower East Side. Of the period, she noted:
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In 1950, she also photographed people at work and play in
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227:"Documentary photographer Rebecca Lepkoff dies at 98"
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Lepkoff died Sunday, August 17, 2014, at her home in
389:, New York Public Library. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
116:. Two weeks prior to her death, she had turned 98.
93:In 1939, she was hired to work as a dancer at the
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69:but dropped out at age 16, as the brunt of the
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456:American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent
151:Rebecca Lepkoff was an active member of the
409:The Rebecca Lepkoff Photograph Collection
346:, 18 March 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
358:, Gallery Walk. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
169:Dans, Peter; Wasserman, Suzanne (2006).
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323:Dans, Peter E. and Suzanne Wasserman.
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238:"United States Public Records Index"
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415:The Rebecca Lepkoff photographs
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385:Where do we go from here?"
404:Rebecca Lepkoff's website
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