Milton Rogovin

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Milton Rogovin
Milton Rogovin in his darkroom
Born	December 30, 1909 (1909-12-30) (age 98) New York City, New York, United States
Education	Columbia University, 1931, Optometry
Occupation	Documentary Photographer
Spouse	Anne Snetsky (1942-2003)
Website http://www.miltonrogovin.com/

Milton Rogovin (born December 30, 1909) is a documentary photographer and has been likened to the great social documentary photographers of the 19th and 20th centuries, Lewis Hine and Jacob Riis. His photographs are in the Library of Congress, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Center for Creative Photography and other distinguished institutions around the world.

He was born in New York City. After graduating from Columbia University, Milton moved to Buffalo in 1938, setting up his own optometry business. In 1942, he married a woman by the name of Anne Snetsky. In that same year, he was inducted into the army, working as an optometrist. After being discharged from the army, Milton and his wife Anne had three children: two daughters (Ellen and Paula), and one son (Mark). He was called before the House un-American Activities Committee in 1952. Along with many other Americans, Milton was subject and victim of the Communist witch-hunts. The incident inspired Milton to turn to photography as a means of expression. For Milton, photography was a means to, above all else, keep his voice from being silenced. In his life, Milton has traveled throughout the world, taking numerous photographs, and earning highly-accredited awards. Still, out of all his work, his most impressive feat was in the development of “The Forgotten Ones.” In the work, Milton captured over a hundred families from Buffalo’s lower west side. Milton’s started the project in 1972, completing it more than thirty years later (in 2003), at the age of 92. In 1999, the Library of Congress collected more than one thousand of Rogovin’s prints.