Surprise Lake Camp was established in 1902 by the Educational Alliance to provide underprivileged Jewish boys from New York City’s Lower East Side tenements with summer vacations in rural Cold Spring. The camp operated summer and winter programs, offering enriching experiences that integrated religious, recreational, and artistic growth and providing nutritious meals and medical/dental services, regardless of families’ ability to pay. The oldest Jewish resident camp in the United States, Surprise Lake Camp recently celebrated its 110th anniversary and continues to serve Jewish boys and girls from the New York metropolitan area, providing generous scholarships; Eddie Cantor, Jerry Stiller, and Neil Diamond are among its famous alumni.

For all uses of photographs by Roman Vishniac contact ICP at: vishniac_archive@icp.org.