Jordan Baumgarten - The Group for Mutual Improvement

Jordan Baumgarten
The Group for Mutual Improvement

Published by GOST Books in May 2024
Book size 21.4x28.8cm
96 pages
Hardcover
Language English

The black-and-white photographs in The Group for Mutual Improvement were taken in a vacant lot behind photographer Jordan Baumgarten's Philadelphia home. For ten years, Baumgarten and his neighbors spent much of their time together in this lot. His book documents these encounters.
The title is inspired by the Junto, also known as the Leather Apron Club, a diverse group of individuals that Benjamin Franklin brought together in colonial-era Philadelphia for the purpose of mutual improvement. They met in a tavern to discuss moral, political, current affairs, philosophy, and local affairs. Baumgarten's group was much less formal, but the discussions were no less essential.