From the Vault Unexpected finds and treasures from the Yiddish Book Center and the stories behind the Center's collections Just Wait Till I Grow Up! And Other Recent Donations Far from slowing donations of Yiddish books, our bibliographer reports that the pandemic seems to have prompted a deluge. 1930s Yiddish Booklets about Women We see a lot of multi-part books at the Yiddish Book Center—bound collections of individual stories, plays, radical tracts, or popular knowledge pamphlets—but this is a first. Yiddish, Sex, and the Post Office A manual on sexual health for Jewish immigrants in the early twentieth century The Bund on the Leningrad Trials A document from 1970 illustrates how the Bund struggled to position itself in the bipolarity of the Cold War The Story of M. Pakntreger An Author by the Name of 'Book Peddler' A Very Special "Baby" (Typewriter) A look at Chava Rosenfarb's portable Hermes Baby typewriter Pogrom Literature and Collective Memory Memorializing communities lost to pogroms after the Russian Revolution Reading the Readers Most of the books at the Center contain little pieces of evidence revealing who they were once owned by Whispers from Libraries What we can learn from stamps and card catalogs Tokyo Storm Warning A Look at the Not-So-Surprising Connection Between Yiddish and Japanese Literature Togbukh fun a veverke (Diary of a Squirrel) A year in the life of a Yiddish-speaking squirrel from interwar Poland Peace, Love, and Understanding: Exploring Yiddish Culture through Sheet Music An exploration of the Center’s Yiddish sheet music collection—a tremendous resource that helps bring Yiddish language and culture to life. Adventures of a Bad Researcher: The Mystery of the Last Yiddish Linotype The Yiddish Linotype at the Yiddish Book Center, once belonging to the Forverts newspaper, begs all kinds of questions about its past. Yiddish Dictionaries, Large and Small We have Yiddish dictionaries for every occasion Chicago Crime and a Strange Countess: King of Thrillers Translated into Yiddish The works of Edgar Wallace have largely faded into obscurity, but they remain well preserved in Yiddish translation. Painted from Memory: Saul Raskin and the Question of Jewish Art A look at the work of multitalented, multimedia artist and art critic Saul Raskin. The Story Behind the Yiddish Book Center's Yiddish Typewriter Collection These machines have stories to tell about the people who made and used them From Cabbage to Galaxies: The Incredible Range of Kultur-Lige’s Publishing An examination Kultur-lige’s various series for adults and children, which reveal the impressive range of Kultur-lige’s publications throughout the 1920s and 30s Who was Elkhonen Zeitlin? A chance discovery reveals a work of multiple literary layers. Man Out of Time: Allen Ginsberg in Montreal When the McGill Hillel hosted Allen Ginsberg for a two night series in 1969, the legendary beat poet opened up about his life, his faith, and his politics. Watching the (Yiddish) Detectives The complexities of meaning, identity, and language in Yiddish detective fiction—past and present. Converts, Bible Scholars, and Yiddishists There's a story behind every one of the Center's books—sometimes you just have to dig a little to find it. The Lives of Yiddish Readers We often discover surprises in the boxes of books we receive. These objects, like the books they accompany, have stories to tell. A Soviet Children's Poem about Cleanliness A few weeks ago, we found a small stack of colorful booklets with a young girl, a cat, and what looks like a tallis on the front. Gevalt in Our Stars A brief history of Yiddish astrologic practices Fonen in blut (Bloodied Flags) Jews were among the first to take up arms and fight against the fascists during the Spanish Civil War. Love! Vengeance! Espionage! Shund Stories Escape a Fire "Dos yam-meydele" ("The Little Mermaid") Fairy tales and the Jewish imagination Make America Your Country as Well as Your Home A 1920s booklet aimed to help Jewish immigrants to the United States, in both Yiddish and English. Avoid Banal Jokes A guide to some of the more colorful guides in our collections Toysnd un eyne nakht (One Thousand and One Nights) A nineteenth-century edition of what would become a Yiddish classic. Gezangen fun gerangl un oyfkum (Songs of Struggle and Resurgence) Coping with the horrors of the Second World War through music The Yiddish Photograph What is Jewish photography? What is Yiddish photography? Hear and Attend and Listen Yiddish translators took to Rudyard Kipling like a cobra to a feast of baby birds. Eating the Archives A brown paper bag on the outside. A world of culinary heritage within. Di Yerushe When Sarah Traister Moskovitz heard Aaron Lansky give a speech, it rekindled her passion for Yiddish—and inspired a poem. Before Spandex A rare Yiddish tailors’ manual—and the industrious department store owner behind it The Hotel That Doesn't Exist The wandering of a book from Mexico tells a larger story of Jewish wandering. Celia Dropkin's Paintings In her final years, the poet replaced her pen with a paintbrush. Di ershte bagegenish Di ershte bagegenish (First Encounter) a bibliographic rarity The Bold, Intimate Writing of Blume Lempel Former Yiddish Book Center translation fellow Ellen Cassedy on her new work Grace Paley Reads at the Yiddish Book Center In 2002, Grace Paley, the legendary writer of short fiction, read from her work at the Yiddish Book Center's Great Jewish Books Conference
