Join photographers Isaac Jeffreys and Marisa Scheinfeld for a powerful visual journey into Livingston Manor’s Borscht Belt past. Through rarely seen photographs, artifacts, and archival footage, this illustrated lecture explores the people, places, and pivotal moments that shaped Catskills culture and its enduring influence. The duo will also offer a sneak peek at upcoming works from their forthcoming publications.
From the 1920s to the 1970s, the Catskill Mountains were a beloved vacation destination for millions of American Jewry. Known as the Borscht Belt, the resorts and bungalow colonies of Sullivan and Ulster Counties became a haven during a time when antisemitism excluded Jews from many facets of American life, including business, employment, social clubs, and travel. Out of that exclusion emerged something extraordinary: a vibrant, welcoming world of tradition, culture, leisure, and connection. The Borscht Belt wasn't just a vacation destination, it was a cultural Renaissance. It paired recreation with a deep sense of community, and it became the birthplace of modern stand-up comedy in the region’s theaters and showrooms.
At its peak after World War II, the Borscht Belt boasted over 535 hotels and resorts and more than 50,000 bungalows. Its legacy has rippled into American life ever since; socially, artistically, and culturally. But as time passed, much of its physical landscape has faded, with many buildings decaying or replaced. Scheinfeld and Jeffreys co-founded the Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project in 2022, along with a small group of artists and historians dedicated to preserving and honoring the memory of this iconic era.
About the Artists
Marisa Scheinfeld is a Jewish-American photographer and author who was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1980 and raised in the Catskills. She received her B.A. from the State University at Albany in 2002, and her MFA from San Diego State University in 2011. Her work is motivated an interest in regional landscape and its myriad histories, both apparent and hidden, and a drive to use the medium of photography as an act of preservation. Marisa’s work is among the collections of the Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, The Center for Jewish History, The National Yiddish Book Center, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at UC Berkeley and the Museum of Photographic Arts. Her work has appeared in publications such as National Geographic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Forbes, Paper Magazine, Village Voice, the American Historical Association and American Photography. In the fall of 2016, Cornell University Press released her first book The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland. Marisa is currently an Adjunct Professor of Photography at SUNY Purchase and working on her second book which explores hidden, alternative and fringe histories of the Catskills and Hudson Valley.
Isaac Jeffreys is a Hudson Valley native and Parsons School of Design (The New School) graduate (BFA Photography, 2022) whose work sits at the intersection of history, memory, and transformation. Focused on 20th-century spaces, especially the Mid-century modern ‘Borscht Belt’ resorts of the Catskills, Isaac uses film photography, long exposures, and carefully staged scenes to illuminate long-abandoned buildings at night, reanimating spaces left without power or presence. His images invite viewers into dreamlike ruins where nostalgia lingers and the past remains vivid. Since 2022, Isaac has served as Visual Coordinator of The Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project, where he leads research, archival curation, and manages the project’s Instagram—sharing rare collections and stories that introduce the Borscht Belt’s vintage Americana and aesthetics to a new generation. Beyond the Marker Project, Isaac has spoken at The Center for Photography at Woodstock and Modernism Week, and has shot for The Washington Post. His latest photographic series merges New York City nightlife figures with historic landmarks, deepening his exploration of the past. Currently, he is developing a photo book celebrating the vibrance and legacy of the Borscht Belt through his lens.