... one of the most recent additions.
Overview
Yale University Library’s Jewish studies collection seeks to support research and teaching in the intrinsically interdisciplinary and intersectional field of Jewish studies, which includes, among others, the study of Jewish histories, cultures as well as cultural productions, languages, thought, religion, law, and politics around the globe from antiquity to the present.
Yale University Library consciously and explicitly strives to include and represent the full diversity of Jewish voices and experiences in its collection.
Yale University Library’s Jewish studies collection also strives to support research and teaching in anti-Judaism and antisemitism, discrimination against and persecution of Jews, as well as the Holocaust.
The greatest part of Yale University Library’s Jewish studies collection is housed by the Sterling Memorial Library and Yale’s associated Library Shelving Facility, but, most likely, all of Yale’s libraries hold Judaica items, and many add continuously to the collection. According to a latest cautious estimation, the Jewish studies collection comprises around 300,000 items, thousands of which are designated as special collections materials.
History of Collection
The history of Yale University Library’s Jewish studies collection goes back to the first decades of Yale College. Then, and in the centuries after, the collecting of materials concerning Jewish languages, literatures, religion, and histories was mostly driven by Christian Hebraists’ and Orientalists’ interests, later intersecting with nineteenth-century antiquarian practices and a strong philological impetus.
Following the receipt of two major gifts in 1915, Yale University Library established a separate Judaica collection, whose breadth and diverseness grew especially under the curation of Leon Nemoy, Yale’s first curator for Hebrew and Arabic; he served at Yale from 1923 to 1966. This development was continued by the establishment of a Judaic Studies Program at Yale University in the mid-1980s and the creation of the position of the Judaic Studies Librarian, which was graciously endowed by the Joseph and Ceil Mazer foundation.
Yale University Library’s Jewish studies collection includes thousands of items which are designated as part of special collections and are in their majority housed by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library but also by Yale Divinity Library Special Collections, the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library Special Collections, the Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library Special Collections, and other special collection repositories. Among the rare materials are more than three hundred Hebraic manuscripts, thousands of premodern as well as modern printings, ephemera, periodicals, scores, and around one hundred sixty archival collections.
Materials relating to Jewish studies in all other languages are collected very selectively either to strengthen the diversity and inclusiveness of the collection or because the content of the materials relates directly to current research at Yale or represents major scholarly achievements. Yale faculty and students can request the acquisition of Jewish study materials in all languages if these relate to their research, teaching, or study. Yale faculty and students are welcome to discuss their needs of a greater selection of materials in languages not listed above with the Joseph and Ceil Mazer Librarian for Judaic Studies, who will do their best to accommodate them.
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