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Rosenfeld, The Family

Category: PHOTOGRAPHS

The Rosenfeld family history begins when Adolph Rosenfeld, a carpenter by trade, and his wife, Lena Kendal Rosenfeld, decided to move to America in 1887. They moved from a small village on the Austrian-Hungary border to New York and became American citizens in 1892. They had 5 children: Morris, Rose, Nettie, David and Anna.
The eldest of his family, Morris always dreamed of becoming an artist...

Through the course of three generations, the Rosenfeld family created a legacy of photographs of the ocean.

David Rodenfeld (1907-1994)

 

RosenfeldDavidDavid, eldest son of Morris and Esther Rosenfeld, was born in 1907 and died in 1994. David married Adelaide Rodstrom in 1931. Her family were neighbors of the Rosenfeld's on City Island. Her brother Charlie Rodstrom was a close friend of David. Another friend of David's was Henry Frapwell who had a younger brother Douglass who later married the Rosenfeld brothers' sister Eleanor.

"In the late 1930s (1937) I began teaching photography at Metropolitan Vocational High School where I was Chairman of the Photography Department. The school schedule and location complimented my work schedule at Rosenfeld. Each day after school I worked at Rosenfelds Nassau Street office, spring and fall weekends I worked from City Island. During the summers I worked full time. My Father and I both lived on City Island, the FOTO was moored there, and we each had darkrooms in our homes."

During World War II David was a teacher but at the same time also worked with Morris photographing projects for the Navy. He also took identification pictures for the shipyard workers who were cleared to build for the Navy on City Island. David's daughter wrote, "I remember the dinette at the back of our home on Pell Place converted to a studio with a steady stream of men coming in to be photographed.

Up through the 1960s David's work would sometimes appear in Yachting, Life, Reader's Digest, Popular Photography, Rudder, Motorboating, and The New York Times. This work included stories about, "going down the Mississippi on a cruise, the Pan-American games in Chicago and unusual construction of wooden hulls.
In 1960 David transferred to the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan and became an Assistant Principal until 1971...

Stanley Zachary Rodenfeld (1913-2002)

 

RosenfeldStanleySStanley Zachary Rosenfeld was born on July 27, 1913 and at an early age began to work with his father in the world of marine photography. He died on December 23, 2002.

Stanley attended two years at New York University on Washington Square in Manhattan until he began to work at the studio full time in the early 1930s. In 1939 he married Ruth Landesman (1918-1979) and moved to Manhattan. They had two sons, Richard and Jonathan.

Stanley worked in the field and in the darkroom. From an early age, he drove the Rosenfeld chase boat, FOTO. In World War II, Stanley became a combat photographer in the Pacific. After the war, he continued on at the Rosenfeld studio at a time when marine photography became more interesting with the postwar burst of work.

Upon the death of Morris in 1968, Stanley continued the business as M. Rosenfeld and Sons. In the late 1960s, Ruth Rosenfeld began to assist her husband not only in the office, but out on the water, sometimes driving the chase boat. Ruth fell ill in the early 1970s and died in 1979.
In 1981, Stanley elected to close the studio, putting the collection in storage. The collection, which comprises images from 1881 to 1981, was offered for sale and bought by Mystic Seaport in 1984.

Stanley continued working and spent more time abroad. This led to a chance meeting with his future wife, Heather Hanley, an amateur photographer and travel writer and they were married in 1986.

William Rodenfeld (1921-2006)

 

William was born in May of 1921 and died in March of 2006. He wrote, "that all the children, from very early on were involved with the business. There is no date or time on the beginning, there were always cameras and equipment around. As soon as we could walk and carry photographic equipment, you went on "jobs"."

William, as all the sons did, worked out in the field and in the darkroom. Many times William operated the boat FOTO during assignments, a position he held increasingly from 1935 or 1936 until 1968. The one who operated the photographers boat needed to put the photographer in exactly the right position to 'shoot'.

After leaving the family business in 1968 he joined NAEBM, the National Association of Engine and Boat Manufacturers, where among other duties he instructed at the Westlawn School of Yacht Design. Later he joined the ABYC which stands for the American Boat & Yacht Council. During these years he served as a US Delegate to IMCO (now IMO) the International Maritime Consultative Org. in London during the rewrite of the International Rules of the Road. At the same time he served on the Coast Guard's RORAC, the Rules of the Road Advisory Committee, and helped with the rewrite of the Inland Rules of the Road. He also served the U.S. and boating world by working for the International Standards Organization.

 

 
YACHTS OF THE AMERICA'S CUP - ROSENFELD & SONS

PAGE 1

MRP1
PHOTOS 1 - 40

PAGE 2

MRP2
PHOTOS 41 - 80

PAGE 3

MRP3
PHOTOS 81 - 103

 

SOME BOOKS OF THE FAMILY

BookMR1 BookMR2 BookMR3 BookMR4 BookMR5

 

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