Judaica and Hebraica Collections
The Collections
Locations
Manuscript &
archival collections in the Stanford University Libraries
Overview: Scope of the Collections
The Judaica and Hebraica Collections in the Stanford
University Libraries support research and instruction in all aspects
of Jewish Studies: history; literature; linguistics; cultural
studies; contemporary social, political and cultural developments
in the United States, Israel and throughout the world.
Hebraica refers to
materials in the Hebrew alphabet (in the Hebrew, Yiddish or Ladino
languages, for example), while Judaica encompasses materials
on Jews and Judaism, written in other languages. The Judaica and
Hebraica collections at Stanford include particularly extensive
coverage of the following areas:
- Hebrew and Yiddish literature,
- Hebrew language and linguistics,
- Jewish cultural, economic, political, social,
religious history and material culture.
Chronological Periods:
Ancient and Medieval: Core resources in all relevant fields:
Biblical, Rabbinic, and medieval treatises, commentaries, and exegesis.
Eighteenth- to twentieth-century collections focus on religious,
social, economic, and cultural aspects of Jewish life; political
and social emancipation of Jews in Western and Eastern Europe; and
the emergence of Zionism and the founding of the State of Israel.
Judaica and Hebraica home page
Background on the Collections
The Taube-Baron Collection of Jewish History
and Culture
Cover of the exhibition catalogue, Of Many Generations:
Judaica and Hebraica from the Taube / Baron Collection, prepared
by David L. Langenberg (Stanford University Libraries, 1989).
Image is from: Antoine Calmet. Dictionnaire historique, critique,
chronologique...de la Bible (Paris: 1730).
The first large collection acquired by the Stanford University
Libraries to support the Jewish Studies Program was that of Professor
Salo Wittmayer Baron (1895-1989), purchased in December
1985. Prof. Baron, of Columbia University, held the first Jewish
History chair established in the United States (1930-1963). His
20,000-volume collection includes Hebrew editions of the Bible dating
from the 15th century, rare volumes of Jewish literature and history
from Eastern Europe and around the world, works on Jewish Americana,
Jewish anthropology and sociology, and thousands of pamphlets and
journals. It also includes Baron's own publications and the personal
research files that he used to write his 18-volume Social and
Religious History of the Jews.
The Baron collection was acquired with the generous support of
the Jewish Community Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Federation
of San Francisco, the Peninsula, and Marin and Sonoma Counties,
and the family of Tad Taube. In recognition of Mr. Taube's appreciation
of the need for a major collection of Judaica and Hebraica at Stanford
University, the collection has been designated the Taube-Baron
Collection of Jewish History and Culture.
(Adapted from Nancy Henry, "University purchases Baron
books," Stanford Daily, February, 18, 1986.)
The Samson / Copenhagen Judaica Collection
The
first printed bibliography of Hebraica, in Hebrew, by a Jewish author:
Sifte yeshenim,
by Shabbetai Meshorer Bass (Amsterdam: David Tartas, 1680).
(From the Samson / Copenhagen Judaica Collection, Stanford University
Libraries, Department of Special Collections.)
As described in the Stanford
Report, this collection includes close to 2,000 works printed
in over 115 locations from 1517 to 1939. These books cover a wide
range of topics, including Bible and Talmud texts and commentaries,
Jewish law and ritual, Jewish liturgy, rabbinical responsa, treatises
on Jewish law (halakhah), scientific works in Hebrew, kabbalah,
apologetics, bibliography, the sciences, ephemeral publications
relating to the Jewish communities of Denmark and other Northern
European countries, and even poetry. About half of the books were
printed before 1800 in places as far flung as Amsterdam and Calcutta.
Enhancing their value for research, many of the volumes contain
handwritten, marginal notations by rabbis and other scholars. The
collection also contains a small number of manuscripts documenting
religious life in Denmark's small but influential Jewish community.
The books in the Samson Collection belonged to the Jewish Community
of Copenhagen, Denmark, until the early 1980s, when they were purchased
by Herman R. Samson, a native of Copenhagen. Their acquisition by
Stanford in 2003 was made possible by a lead grant from the Koret
Foundation, with funding assistance from the Jewish Community Endowment
Fund and private donors.
Street pavers, Tel Aviv, 1930s.
(From the Eliasaf Robinson Collection on Tel Aviv, Stanford
University Libraries, Department of Special Collections.)
Over a period of close to 40 years Eliasaf Robinson, one of the
most prominent antiquarian booksellers in Israel, collected books,
pamphlets, journals, documents, photographs, posters, maps, architectural
plans, and ephemera relating to the early history of the "First
Hebrew City," Tel Aviv. Taken as a whole, these materials provide
invaluable documentation on the political, economic, and cultural
development of the Israeli metropolis during its formative decades.
The collection includes several Ottoman land deeds (kushans)
for lots purchased in 1909 by the first Jewish settlers, who built
Tel Aviv as a new Jewish suburb outside of the Arab city of Jaffa.
Major portions of the Eliasaf Robinson Collection on Tel Aviv have been digitized.
Stanford acquired this collection at the end of 2005, with support
from Koret Foundation Funds and the Jewish Community Endowment Fund.
(Based on the article "Library acquires Tel
Aviv Collection," in the Stanford
Report, March 17, 2006 .)
Other major collections:
The collection of the Israeli publisher and editor Israel
Cohen (1905-1986) contains over 12,000 volumes of
monographs and periodicals, mostly in Hebrew. The Cohen Collection
is especially rich in modern Hebrew literature, but also covers
every aspect of Hebrew literature from the Biblical to the contemporary.
The Cohen Collection was acquired with the generous support of the
Koret Foundation.
The Jo and Rabbi Jacob Milgrom Collection.
Rabbi Milgrom was professor of Near Eastern Studies at University
of California, Berkeley. This collection contains over 5,000 monographs
and serial titles in Hebrew and English, and is particularly strong
in biblical and rabbinical literature.
The collection of the late Rabbi William G. Braude
(1907-1988), containing over 6,000 volumes, is strong in its
holdings of early biblical and rabbinical exegesis and homiletics.
It was purchased through the generosity of the Ron and Anita Wornick
Family Foundation and is therefore known as the Wornick/Braude
Collection.
The Ezra Lahad Collection, containing over 2,000
titles in Hebrew and Yiddish, and constituting a major resource
on the Yiddish and Hebrew theaters. Ezra Lahad (1918-1995) emigrated
to Palestine in 1935 and collected extensively on the Yiddish theater.
Smaller collections have also helped us to enrich our holdings in
specific areas. The Barbara and Ken Oshman Fund and the Lucius N.
Littauer Foundation have provided support for the processing and
preservation of these materials.
The University of California at
Berkeley also possesses extensive Judaica and Hebraica research
collections, to which members of the Stanford community have ready
access through the Research Library
Cooperative Program (RLCP).
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Locations of the collections
Information
Center (1st floor, Green East)
Encyclopedias, dictionaries, indexes, general bibliographies. Reference
assistance is provided by the Information Center staff and by the
Reinhard Family Curator of Judaica and Hebraica Collections (office
in the McDermott Suite, 3rd floor, Bing Wing).
Humanities
and Area Studies Resource Center (Lane Room, 2nd
floor, Bing Wing)
Lexicons, subject bibliographies, biographical dictionaries, published
library catalogs, other specialized reference works; CD-ROMs.
Main
Stacks
Collections of Judaica and Hebraica material, mainly in the humanities
and the social sciences. Additional titles are shelved in the Stanford
Auxiliary Libraries (SAL1&2 and SAL3).
Current
periodicals (1st floor, Green East)
A selection of current newspapers and journals (older volumes are
in the stacks).
Special
Collections and University Archives (Reading room: 2nd floor,
Bing Wing)
Rare and unique materials, such as early imprints (Italy, Ottoman
Empire, Amsterdam, 19th century early Eastern European titles),
important first editions and works of later periods; private and
press prints, and related material; valuable music scores and autographs;
manuscripts and autographs; portraits, maps, etc. Finding
aids for many manuscript collections are accessible
online.
Jonsson
Library of Government Documents
Government publications.
Media
Microtext (Lower level, Green East Wing)
Books, journals, newspapers on microfilm and microfiche.
CDs, videos, DVDs.
Education Library
(Cubberley)
Materials on Jewish education.
Hoover
Institution - Judaica in the Collections of the Hoover Institution
Archives
Contents: Russians, Soviets, and Jews; Jews and Politics
in the 20th Century;
The Holocaust; Jewish Intellectuals in the United States; Israel.
Archive
of Recorded Sound
Sound recordings, including Jewish cantorial and folk music on
LPs.
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Manuscript & archival collections in the
Stanford University Libraries
Salo W. Baron Papers, ca. 1900-1980 [M0580]. Approximately
398 linear ft.
Gift of the Salo W. and Jeannette M. Baron Foundation, 1990.
Supplements the Taube-Baron Collection of Jewish History and Culture,
acquired in 1985. Rare books from that collection are also housed
in Special Collections.
The finding
aid for this collection is available online.
Jewish Social Studies Records,
1931-1987 [M0670]. 57 linear feet.
Correspondence, manuscripts, financial records, and subscription
records, 1934-1987; correspondence pertaining to the Conference
on Jewish Relations, 1931-1956; and materials pertaining to the
Jewish Cultural Reconstruction.
Complements the Salo W. Baron Papers [M0580].
The finding
aid for this collection is available online.
Joshua A. Fishman and Gella Schweid Fishman family
archive, ca. 1890-1993 [M0695]. Approximately
330 linear ft.
Gift of Dr. Joshua A. and Mrs. Gella Schweid Fishman, 1994.
Material from five generations of a Yiddish-activist family, including
correspondence, sociolinguistic files (by language and country),
data cards and tapes, working subject files, photographs, cassettes,
etc.
Processing of the correspondence, published and manuscripts lectures,
and talks of Joshua Fishman has been completed. Contact Special
Collections staff for date of availability of the rest of his papers.
Correspondence to and from Joshua A. Fishman is accessible to researchers
only by permission of either Dr. or Mrs. Fishman. The Rukhl Fishman
material is processed [M0778] and available for researchers, as
are the Gella Schweid Fishman papers (M695). See separate records
for descriptions of these materials.
Rukhl Fishman (1935-1984) Papers, 1940-1990 [M0778]. 5.5
linear ft.
Deposited by Dr. Joshua A. and Mrs. Gella Schweid Fishman, 1993.
American-born Yiddish poet living in Israel until her death in
1984; sister of Joshua A. Fishman.
Incoming and outgoing correspondence, poetry manuscripts, news
clippings, subject files, personal documents, and school/youth activities.
Partially restricted. For more information contact the Manuscripts
Librarian.
See also the Joshua A. Fishman and Gella Schweid Fishman family
archives [M0695] for Rukhl Fishman correspondence with other family
members.
The finding
aid for this collection is available online.
Secular Yiddish Schools in America : collection, 1915-2001
[M0732]. 42.5 linear ft.
Gift of many donors, 1994-2001.
A collection formed through the efforts of Gella Schweid Fishman
and Martha G. Krow-Lucal with support from The
Friends of the Secular Yiddish Schools in America Collection (SYSA).
Materials include curricula, newsletters, instruction books, song
books, school board minutes, photographs, news clippings, memoirs,
ephemera and correspondence.
Searchable database and unpublished finding aid available.
The finding
aid for this collection is available online.
Jewish life in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1981-1998 [M0939].
2 linear ft., 1 record container, 1 oversize map folder.
Material collected from many local synagogues, individuals, organizations,
and businesses.
The collection documents non-traditional Jewish life in the Bay
Area, especially creations around life-cycle events. For example,
there are AIDS memorial ceremonies, bar- and bat-mitzvah programs,
gay and lesbian ceremonies and celebrations.
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Last modified:
September 8, 2010
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