Education
University of Pennsylvania.
University of Pennsylvania.
The Rosskams were part of a group of talented photographers hired by Roy Stryker, the head of the Federal Security Agency between 1935 and 1944, during what is often called the "Golden Age of Documentary Photography". Louise Rosskam was born into a large Jewish family, the youngest of eight children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1910. Her father was Morris Rosenbaum, who had emigrated from Hungary at age fourteen.
Her mother was Hannah Rottenberg from New New York
In 1929, Louise met Edwin Rosskam, an artist and aspiring photographer who would help Louise develop her talent. In 1933, Louise graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Biology.
Many of their photos taken while working for the Government agencies are now in the archives of the Library of Congress, and are part of the public domain. In 1948, the Rosskams published Towboat River, a photographic book detailing life on the Mississippi River.
Residents of Roosevelt, New Jersey, the Rosskams had two daughters, Anita and Susan.
Louise Rosskam died in New Jersey in 2003.