Art News

Late New York photographer Milton Rogovin’s FBI file reveals scrutiny during era of paranoia

BUFFALO (AP).- Before photographer Milton Rogovin began documenting the lives of the poor and working class, the U.S. government was documenting Rogovin, relying on a network of informants in an era of paranoia toward suspected communists. “He is dangerous to the internal security because of his strong adherence to Marxist-Leninist principles,” read an internal FBI memo dated April 8, 1968. It is one of more than 600 pages of material on Rogovin secretly compiled by the FBI from the 1940s to the 1970s. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the file with the approach of the first anniversary of Rogovin’s Jan. 18, 2011 death at the age of 101. The file contains memos from former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, informant-provided chronologies of Rogovin’s attendance and comments at Buffalo Communist Party meetings, handwriting samples