Walter and Naomi Rosenblum Collection of Photography and Photographic History

Walter A. Rosenblum (1919–2006) was an American photographer born in New York City. He was introduced to documentary photography early in his career as a member of the Photo League, which was a cooperative of New York based photographers focused on socially conscious photography. While part of the League, he became friends with notable photographers Paul Strand and Lewis Hine. Walter served as the Photo League's secretary, became editor of the organization's journal (Photo Notes), and in 1941, he became president of the Photo League. During World War II, Walter was a member of the U.S. Army Signal Corp Combat Unit. He photographed the American D-Day landings at Omaha Beach in Normandy in 1944, filmed General Patton's advance across France and Germany, and finally, he was one of the first Allied photographers to enter the liberated Dachau concentration camp. After the war, Walter began teaching photography at Brooklyn College's Art Department. He also taught for several years at Cooper Union and Yale's Summer School of Music and Art. During this time, Walter produced several photographic series focused upon Haiti, Europe, East Harlem, and the South Bronx. Over the course of his career, Walter Rosenblum was the recipient of the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a National Endowment of the Arts Grants, a Simon Weisenthal Award, and other distinctions. He also received an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Maryland in 1986.

Naomi Rosenblum (1925-2021) was a historian of photography born in Los Angeles. She wrote about important individual photographers including Lewis Hine, Paul Strand, and Alfred Stieglitz, as well as published several monographs including, A World History of Photography andA History of Women Photographers. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts in fine arts from Brooklyn College in 1948, Naomi completed her Masters in fine arts at CUNY Graduate Center in 1975. She went on to earn her doctorate in art history and the history of photography in 1978 at CUNY Graduate Center. Her doctoral dissertation examined the early work of Paul Strand circa 1920 to 1932. During her career, Naomi curated several museum exhibitions including the traveling exhibit "A History of Women Photographers" in 1997, "Documenting a Myth: The South As Seen By Three Women Photographers" in 1997 at the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery (Reed College), and "America and Lewis Hine, a retrospective of the work of Lewis Hine at the Brooklyn Museum" (1977). The latter exhibit was co-curated with her husband, Walter. She also gave lectures about the history of photography across the United States and abroad.

Walter and Naomi Rosenblum met while he was teaching at Brooklyn College. They were married in 1949 and went on to have two daughters, Nina and Lisa. On May 4, 1998, both Naomi and Walter Rosenblum were awarded the International Center of Photography's Lifetime Achievement Award.