This collection brings together two major archival sources: the Yad Tabenkin Archives and the Kibbutz Na’an Archives which, combined, paint a broad picture of the history of Israel’s kibbutz movement and the expansion of Jewish communities across the land, from the 1940s all the way to the eighties.
The Yad Tabenkin Archives are a public archive operating under the Yad Tabenkin Foundation, and supervised by the Israel State Archives. It began at Kibbutz Ein Harod Meuhad* (*Hebrew for ‘united,’) where in 1927, the United Kibbutz Movement was founded. In 1957, a decision was passed to create the movement’s archive in Ein Harod, and following the death of Yitzhak Tabenkin, a public council dedicated to his memory was established in 1971, along with the Kibbutz Movement History Archives.
The Kibbutz Na’an Archives are based on a comprehensive body of documentary footage, spanning decades. The late Gideon Ucko, who was a kibbutz member, shot and edited dozens of videos containing invaluable footage of kibbutz life and the kibbutz movement, itself. Following his death in 1975, his son, the late Ilan Ucko, along with the late Assi Rossak took over and resumed documenting Na’an life in the subsequent decades, thereby maintaining this pioneering documenting enterprise that laid the foundations for this collection. For 25 years, they were the sole custodians of this collection until 2001, when the majority of footage was handed over to the Israel Film Archive for safekeeping.
Uniting these two archives creates a truly formidable cinematic collection which, at times, also features shared footage across both archives. The collection shines a fascinating light on the earliest days of the kibbutz movement, filmmaking in and around kibbutzim, and the day-to-day life and collective holidays – through footage spanning celebrations, ceremonies, treks and hikes, work culture, and cultural life in the State of Israel’s nascent days.
This is a film collection of immense historical significance that will, no doubt, serve as an invaluable source of information for scholars, filmmakers, students, museums, various organisations, etc. The Kibbutz Na’an Archives and Yad Tabenkin Archives, respectively, have kindly entrusted this collection with the Israel Film Archive that is now in charge of its ongoing management and maintenance, scientific preservation, and long-term accessibility to the general public.
