Yiddish: A Global Culture Curatorial Acknowledgements

Yiddish: A Global Culture would not have been possible without the expertise, enthusiasm, and generous collaboration of a large community of people who understood the vision behind this exhibition and helped create it as it took shape. It is an enormous pleasure to express our thanks to everyone who worked with us to make it a reality. We could not have done it without your encouragement, your talents, and your many essential contributions. This community includes:

Yiddish Book Center Members and Supporters

Yiddish: A Global Culture draws heavily on the vast collections of books and periodicals, sheet music, typewriters, and other materials donated over the lifetime of the Yiddish Book Center by thousands of members and supporters. In a very real sense, this exhibition is your collective achievement. The books, images, and objects on display are a tangible expression of your shared love for Yiddish culture and your determination to nurture it and see it thrive for generations to come.

Exhibition Donors & Lenders

Our special thanks to the many individuals who readily agreed to contribute cherished objects, documents, and images in their possession. For generously donating and loaning materials from their personal archives, enabling us to link their family stories to a broader historical narrative, we are grateful to Beatrice Alder, Miryam Bachrach, Zachary Baker, Divyam Chaya Bernstein, Jack and Barbara Blechner, Allen Breslow, Martin Broder, Ed Colker, Sara Dobbins, Eugene Driker z’’l, Jonathan Fox, Thelma (Zelda) Frieden, Eliezer Gilboa, Shirley Ginzburg, Alice Goldfarb, Ozzy Irving Gold-Shapiro, Rita Gordonson, Eugenia Grohman, Judith Wajsman Groom, Jakob Gutterman, Vivian Guze, Shelley S. Hebert, Berna Heyman, Jessica Hirshbein and the Hirshbein and Shumiatcher families, Yael Horowitz, Faith Jones, Jerry Judin, the granddaughters of Ita Kalish, David Karpilow, Nina Korman, Michael Kramer, Bob Krasner, Klaus Kreppel, Evelyn Lang, Aaron Lansky, Joel Leivick, Harold Levine, Paul Lempel, Nathan and Leah Lifshus, Dorota Liliental, Andrea Linne, Robin Lissak, Esther Luckett z’’l, Gabrielle Martin, Victor Melman, Kristen Morgenstern, Michael Morgenstern, Goldie Morgentaler, Alicia Brackman Munves, the Novak family, Caraid O’Brien, Dan Opatoshu, the Rappaport family, Jacob Romm, Judah Ronch, Peggy Rosenblatt, Lewis Rosman, Jay Saper, Mark Saul, Chana Schachner, Nina Gordon Schwartz, Ariel Shapiro, Isabell Shnider Sreiberg, Sydney Stoller, Jenny Tango, Lea Tenenbaum, Giovanna Thu Long Truong, John and Elsa Weber, Hilary Wolf, Carol Gordon Wulfson, Sherri Krasner Zelazny, and Marvin Zuckerman.

The Global Yiddish Village

Yiddish: A Global Culture benefited greatly from the advice and expertise of the worldwide community of Yiddish scholars and enthusiasts. With incredible generosity, many of you shared your wisdom, family stories, and information or images from your own research, helping in myriad ways to shape the exhibition at different stages of its development. We are especially grateful to Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska, the Archive of Historical and Ethnographic Yiddish Memories project (Jeffrey Veidlinger and Dov-Ber Kerler), Shani Avni, Alona Bach, Shane Baker, Zachary Baker, Sima Beeri, Elissa Bemporad, Danny Bloodstein, David Braun, Ayelet Brinn, Ellen Cassedy, Malena Chinski, Nati Cohen, Dariusz Dekert, David Engel, Gennadi Estraikh, Asaf Galay, Daniel Galay, Efrat Gal-Ed, Amelia Glaser, Samuel Glauber, Sonia Gollance, Itzik Gottesman, Anahi Guelman, Kathryn Hellerstein, Miriam Isaacs, Faith Jones, Mariusz Kalczewiak, Débora Kantor, Dovid Katz, Sam Kassow, Ellie Kellman, Irena Klepfisz, Jake Krakovsky, Michael Kramer, Mikhail Krutikov, Vivi Lachs, Steven Lasky, Agi Legutko, Paul Lempel, Guido Massino, Tony Michels, Goldie Morgentaler, Samson Munn, Piotr Nazaruk, Anita Norich, Sam Norich, Rob Adler Peckerar, Renata Piatkowska, Shachar Pinsker, Eddy Portnoy, Norma Fain Pratt, Alyssa Quint, David Roskies, Aaron Rubinstein, Nahma Sandrow, Jay Saper, Henry Sapoznik, Uri Schreter, Jan Schwarz, Philip Schwartz, Miryem-Khaye Seigel, Uwe Seltmann, Eve Sicular, Jonathan Slaff, Teresa Smiechowska, Daniel Soyer, Karolina Szymaniak, Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, Miriam Udel, Nick Underwood, Yusuf Tolga Unker, Jeffrey Veidlinger, Nerina Visacovsky, Nina Warnke, Ruth Wisse, Mikhl Yashinsky, Marvin Zuckerman, and the formidable collective knowledge and brainpower of the Yidforsh (Yiddish Research) Facebook group.

Photo & Image Credits

We relied on the expertise, perseverance, and goodwill of curators, librarians and archivists on several continents to help provide the hundreds of images on display in Yiddish: A Global Culture. We are especially grateful to the following museums, archives, and libraries and their staff:

American Jewish Historical Society (Megan Scauri)
ANU – Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv, Israel
Archives Galerie Le Minotaure, Paris (Judit Baranyai, Maria Tyl)
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University (Yasmin Ramadan)
Blavatnik Archive Foundation (Natalia Smotrov)
Boston Public Library Arts Department
Bridgeman Images (Wendy Zieger)
The British Library (Sandra Powlette)
CeDoB Pinie Katz – ICUF, Buenos Aires (Nerina Visacovsky)
The Center for Jewish Art, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Center for Jewish History, New York
Centro Marc Turkow, Buenos Aires (Ezequiel Semo)
Congress for Jewish Culture
The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute (Monika Krawczyk, Agnieszka Reszka, Patrycja Skwierczynska, Agnieszka Zolkiewska)
Forward Archives (Chana Pollock)
Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum, Israel / Photo Archive (Shoshi Norman)
The Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center, Tel Aviv University (Anat Shimoni)
Harvard University Libraries
Jewish Historical Collection, London
Jewish Museum, London (Adam Corsini)
Jewish Public Library Archives, Montreal (Veronica Della-Foresta)
Jewish Theater, Warsaw (Monika Tuniewicz)
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University (Melissa Holland and Steven Calco)
Library of Congress
mahJ, Paris (Nicolas Feuillie, Pascale Samuel)
Marc Turkow Center – AMIA, Buenos Aires, Argentina (Ezequiel Semo, Photo Archive)
Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture, University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries (Tom Caw)
McGill University Library (Rare Books and Special Collections)
Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod, Israel (Judith Bejerano)
MoBY: Museums of Bat-Yam (Leoni Schein, Hila Cohen-Schneiderman and Daniela Ejzykowicz)
Museum of the City of New York
National Digital Archives, Poland (Renata Balewska)
The National Library of Israel, Jerusalem (Rachel Misrati)
National Library of Poland
The New York Public Library (Amanda Seigel, Lyudmila Sholokhova)
OLA, The New School (Martin Gromez)
Paris Yiddish Center, Medem Library (Natalia Krynicka)
Philipps-Universität Marburg (Dr Lea Schäfer)
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives
University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries
Yad Vashem Photo Archive, Jerusalem (Emanuel Saunders)
Yeshiva University Museum
Yiddishkayt, Los Angeles, CA
YIVO Archives for Jewish Research, New York (Stefanie Halpern, Vital Zajko)
Zurich Central Library

Sponsors

For their generous financial support of this exhibition, we thank: 

The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom

Our major funders: The Kaplen Brothers Fund, Estate of Dr Thomas Zand, The Simha and Sara Lainer Family Foundation, Dr Martin Peretz, Arthur Sands, Leona Kern, The David Berg Foundation, Dr. Jesse M. Abraham and Amy Peck Abraham, The Morris and Beverly Baker Foundation, The Malka Fund at Jewish Communal Fund, Linda and Michael Schmelzer, Ben Shneiderman, Dr. Matthew A. Budd and Rosalind E. Gorin Fund at Combined Jewish Philanthropies

Story Case and Table Case Donors: The Family of Eugene Driker, Peter D. Mark, Herbert Druker and Carol Raspler, Doris Fine, Bob and Sylvia Fine, David and Patricia Fisher, Ralph and Audrey Friedner, Ethelle Katz, Sandy Plotkin, The Priebatsch Family Fund, gift in memory of Betty Iskowitz Weinstein and Irene Weinstein Goldberg, Rabbi Louis Stein, Judith Gold Stitzel, Sara Klompus Stern and Philip Stern, Sara W. Fishman, Harriet and Alvin Saperstein

Honor Roll Donors: Donna K. and Howard I. Bass, Paul and Judith Berg, Norman Berman and Sheri Abrams, Robert M. Bernacchi, Jay and Gail Boyar, Ellen G. and Marshall B. Cole, Michael Cynamon and Wendy Ressler, Judith G. Dein and Alan Reisch, Penina Glazer, Sylvia G. Gordon, Sandra Greenberg, Harriet Gruber, Alice Hefler, Dr Bernard and Anita Hertzman, Alan S. and Marcy Honig, Arthur and Gina Horwitz, Donald L. Laufer, Lisa Lehr, Michael Luckens and Sharon Shumack, Donald and Regina Miller, Dr. Regina H. Nash in memory of Morton Nash, The Tayere Norma Fund, Frances C. Novack, Gerrie Nussdorf PhD, Jay Reinfeld, Moisei and Zoya Reyzis, Marian K. Ripps z”l, Dr. Esther H. Rose, Mark and Etta Rosen, Mordecai Rosenfeld, Esta R. Schwartz, Terry E. Singer, Jonathan and Judith Stein, Ruth Stark and Abraham Malz, Mae Rockland Tupa, Kurt Y. Tutter, The Weinreb-Berenda-Carter Foundation, Denise P. Wernikoff, Mary Wilson, Ghita Wolpowitz, and one anonymous donor.

The Project Team

This exhibition would not have been possible without the immensely dedicated staff of the Yiddish Book Center and many other professional colleagues. At the Center, special thanks are due to Aaron Lansky, President, and Susan Bronson, Executive Director; they conceived of this project and championed it through the COVID pandemic and many other challenges. I would also like to express my enormous gratitude to the many other colleagues whose expertise, ingenuity, and attention to detail were indispensable: Lisa Newman, Project Director; Jeff Hayes, Project Manager; Mindl Cohen and Caraid O’Brien, Curators; Ezra Glinter, Senior Editor; Charlotte Apter, Joey Reisberg, and Caleb Sher for editing, research, and translation support; and all other Yiddish Book Center staff past and present, as well as fellows, interns, docents and volunteers. 

Special appreciation is due to our expert professional team: Amy Reichert Design, architect; Alexander Isley Inc. Designers, visual design; Artfx, fabrication; Joanne Rosenthal, curatorial consultant; Michael Grinley, Bob Horton, Kandy Littrell, for the ingenuity and expertise they brought to the project; Greg Lauzon, copy editor; Yankl Salant, Yiddish editor; Ben Barnhart, photography; Carolyn Frisa (Works on Paper LLC), book and works on paper conservation; Anne O’Connor (O’Connor Art Conservation), picture conservation; Trefler Restoration, leather conservation; Martin Haake Illustrations, mural artwork. 

David Mazower
Chief Curator and Writer, Yiddish: A Global Culture