OUR TEAM
Marisa Scheinfeld, Founder & Project Director
Louis Inghilterra Co-Founder, Research & Archival Coordinator
Louis Inghilterra Co-Founder, Research & Archival Coordinator
Marisa Scheinfeld is a 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 by an interest in the landscape and its embedded histories, both apparent and hidde
Marisa Scheinfeld is a 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 by an interest in the landscape and its embedded histories, both apparent and hidden.
Marisa's photographic projects and books are among the collections of the Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, Yeshiva University Museum, The National Yiddish Book Center, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art & Life at UC Berkeley and The Edmund and Nancy K. Dubois Library at the Museum of Photographic Arts. She is a frequent guest lecturer and her photographs have been exhibited widely throughout the United States and in the UK. Her work has appeared in publications such as National Geographic, The New York Times, National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Village Voice, American Photography and Tablet Magazine.
In 2016, Cornell University Press released her first book entitled 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.
Louis Inghilterra Co-Founder, Research & Archival Coordinator
Louis Inghilterra Co-Founder, Research & Archival Coordinator
Louis Inghilterra Co-Founder, Research & Archival Coordinator
Louis Inghilterra is an avid Borscht Belt historian currently completing his final year at Colorado State University (CSU) where he is earning a B.S. in Interior Design, Architecture and Historic Preservation. Louis was born in 1999 and has lived in Chappaqua, NY, Katonah, NY, Harrisburg, PA and Fort Collins, CO.
Starting from a very you
Louis Inghilterra is an avid Borscht Belt historian currently completing his final year at Colorado State University (CSU) where he is earning a B.S. in Interior Design, Architecture and Historic Preservation. Louis was born in 1999 and has lived in Chappaqua, NY, Katonah, NY, Harrisburg, PA and Fort Collins, CO.
Starting from a very young age, Louis always had a passion for antiques, historic objects, and historic places. At the age of 11 while researching an abandoned hospital in his hometown of Katonah, NY, Louis discovered the abandoned resorts of the Borscht Belt. Since then, Louis has explored and photographed nearly all of the abandoned ruins that once made up the Borscht Belt. In addition, he has amassed a substantial collection over 200 postcards, brochures, and various forms of ephemera from the Borscht belt era.
Recently, Louis has applied his passion for the Borscht Belt by doing a series of Independent Study projects within the Interior Architecture and Design Program at CSU. By utilizing an architectural modeling software called Revit, Louis recreated a digital model of the famous Indoor Pool building at Grossinger’s Resort in Liberty, NY. With the Indoor Pool and entire hotel demolished in 2018, Louis recreated a model of the pool by tracing existing floor plans, architectural renderings and interpreting photographs to digitally reconstruct the historic building. The project was featured at two research fairs at the University and was featured on an episode of the Borscht Belt Tattler podcast.
Acting as one of the historic interpreters for this project, Louis additionally provides assistance with helping to locate sites for marker placement, the selection of images for historical markers and will be creating both a a physical and digital map to accommodate a self-guided driving tour of the historical marker system.
Kelli Huggins Historian & Copywriter
Louis Inghilterra Co-Founder, Research & Archival Coordinator
Jerry Klinger President, Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation
Kelli Huggins is a historian, museum professional, and amateur artist with a penchant for the bizarre and forgotten.
She is a specialist in Catskill history and animal history and her current book project is about canine celebrity in the 1800s that focuses on Railroad Jack and Owney, two real-life, famous train-riding dogs.
She won the 20
Kelli Huggins is a historian, museum professional, and amateur artist with a penchant for the bizarre and forgotten.
She is a specialist in Catskill history and animal history and her current book project is about canine celebrity in the 1800s that focuses on Railroad Jack and Owney, two real-life, famous train-riding dogs.
She won the 2016 and 2017 Researching the Empire State Writing Contests for the essays “Flocks of Kittens and Litters of Chicks: Interspecies Adoption in New York, 1880-1920” and “Death Rays: The Murder That Put X-Rays on Trial.”
Kelli has a B.A. in History and American Studies from Siena College (2010) and earned her Master’s in History from the University of Delaware (2013).
Jerry Klinger President, Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation
Louis Inghilterra Co-Founder, Research & Archival Coordinator
Jerry Klinger President, Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation
Jerry Klinger is the president and founder of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation (www.JASHP.org). The Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation is a non-profit, volunteer organization. The purpose of the Society is to identify and recognize sites of American Jewish Historical interest. The Society sponsors and p
Jerry Klinger is the president and founder of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation (www.JASHP.org). The Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation is a non-profit, volunteer organization. The purpose of the Society is to identify and recognize sites of American Jewish Historical interest. The Society sponsors and promotes programs of local and national historic interest.
Jerry is the son of Survivors of Buchenwald and Bergen Belsen. A former Yeshivah student, Jerry served with the IDF in the Sinai and is the author of over 100 articles and publications ranging from the Jerusalem Post to the Prairie Connection to the San Diego Jewish World.
Jerry is frequently interviewed on T.V. and on Radio about the American Jewish experience. To date, the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation has completed projects in 40 US. States and in 6 countries. Over 7,000,000 people annually benefit from one of JASHP's efforts. JASHP has also completed 18 projects in Israel. On November 29, 2022, JASHP completed the first-ever historical memorial to the central birthing event for the modern state of Israel - the U.N. Partition Resolution.
Isaac Jeffreys Visual Coordinator
John Conway Sullivan County Historian
John Conway Sullivan County Historian
Isaac Foss Jeffreys is a photographer who lives and works in and around New York, NY. Isaac grew up in the tranquil and historic Hudson Valley/Catskills region, and returns to the area to create work as much as he can.
Drawn to artistic mediums from a young age, Isaac earned a Photography BFA from Parsons School of Design (The New School)
Isaac Foss Jeffreys is a photographer who lives and works in and around New York, NY. Isaac grew up in the tranquil and historic Hudson Valley/Catskills region, and returns to the area to create work as much as he can.
Drawn to artistic mediums from a young age, Isaac earned a Photography BFA from Parsons School of Design (The New School) in 2022. The architecture and atmosphere at many of the Borscht Belt's resorts seemed like the perfect marriage of Jeffreys’ interests ranging from architecture, set design, culture/entertainment, tourism history, and the vivid sentimentality of what we now define as the 'past'.
Working with a variety of mediums within film, ranging from medium to large format photography, Isaac’s work is a communication with the past, and oftentimes he photographs at night to achieve surreal effects within his imagery. He sees the Borscht Belt as a cultural renaissance, and creates work that serve as a reflection and response to the poignant era.
Isaac is currently working on a photo book that will showcase the vibrance of the Borscht Belt through his lens. He's been featured on The Borscht Belt Tattler Podcast, Merch Motel Radio, and designed a collaborative collection of Borscht Belt merchandise with Merch Motel in 2022.
John Conway Sullivan County Historian
John Conway Sullivan County Historian
John Conway Sullivan County Historian
John Conway was born and raised in Sullivan County and educated at Georgia Institute of Technology. He has been the Sullivan County Historian since 1993. He was an adjunct professor at SUNY Sullivan from 1998 to 2016, teaching a course on Sullivan County History, and has taught the History of the Catskills for various Elderhostel and Lif
John Conway was born and raised in Sullivan County and educated at Georgia Institute of Technology. He has been the Sullivan County Historian since 1993. He was an adjunct professor at SUNY Sullivan from 1998 to 2016, teaching a course on Sullivan County History, and has taught the History of the Catskills for various Elderhostel and Lifelong Learning programs. He is a founder and president of The Delaware Company (thedelawarecompany.org), a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote and support the history and historic landmarks of the Upper Delaware River Valley and beyond.
He is the author of nine books and has written a weekly newspaper column on local history since 1987. He was a contributor to the Encyclopedia of New York State. He spent nearly 20 years hosting radio talk shows on four different stations, and is regularly asked to provide a historical context for Sullivan County news events by the New York Times, Associated Press and various other national print and broadcast news organizations.
He has appeared on several different television shows in the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain, discussing Catskills history, and collaborated with the Times Herald-Record newspaper on a series of award winning video documentaries, which are available for screening at www.classiccatskils.com.
Scott Eckers Historian & Educator
John Conway Sullivan County Historian
Scott Eckers Historian & Educator
Author, educator and entertainer Dr. Scott M. Eckers is a trustee and past president of the East Meadow Union Free School District. In 2016, he wrote East Meadow, part of Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series, and helped to establish and curate the Swan Lake Historical Pavilion in the Sullivan County Catskills. Scott contributed t
Author, educator and entertainer Dr. Scott M. Eckers is a trustee and past president of the East Meadow Union Free School District. In 2016, he wrote East Meadow, part of Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series, and helped to establish and curate the Swan Lake Historical Pavilion in the Sullivan County Catskills. Scott contributed to the writing and images for the Swan Lake, NY historic marker.
the borscht belt by marisa scheinfeld
Today the Borscht Belt is recalled through the nostalgic lens of summer swims, Saturday night dances and comedy performances. But its current state, like that of many other formerly glorious regions, is nothing like its earlier status. Forgotten about and exhausted, much of its structural environment has been left to decay. The Borscht Belt, which features essays by Stefan Kanfer and Jenna Weissman Joselit, presents Marisa Scheinfeld's photographs of abandoned sites where resorts, hotels and bungalow colonies once boomed in the Catskill Mountain region of upstate New York.
The book assembles images Scheinfeld has shot inside and outside locations that once buzzed with life as year-round havens for generations of people. Some of the structures have been lying abandoned for periods ranging from four to twenty years, depending on the specific hotel, or bungalow colony, and the conditions under which it closed. Other sites ave since been demolished, or repurposed, making this book an even more significant documentation of a pivotal era in American Jewish history.
The Borscht Belt, presents a contemporary view of more than forty hotel and bungalow sites. From entire expanses of abandoned properties to small lots containing drained swimming pools, the remains of the Borscht Belt era now lie forgotten, overgrown and vacant. In the absence of human activity, nature has reclaimed the sites, having encroached upon or completely overtaken them. Many of the interiors have been vandalized or marked by paintball players and graffiti artists. Each ruin lies radically altered by the elements and effects of time. Scheinfeld's images record all of these developments.
