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Jewish Theological Seminary Library

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The Jewish Theological Seminary Library is one of the largest Jewish libraries in the world. Founded in 1893, it is located at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City, New York, and holds over 400,000 volumes, as well as extensive rare materials collections, including the world's largest collection of Hebrew manuscripts.[1] It is an affiliate of the Columbia University Libraries.[2]

History

See also: Jewish Theological Seminary library fire

The library of the Jewish Theological Seminary was founded in 1893 through donations from private individuals including Cyrus Adler, Mortimer L. Schiff, Felix M. Warburg, Louis Marshall, Mayer Sulzberger, and Elkan Nathan Adler.[1] The Jewish Museum was founded at the library in 1904 through a gift from Sulzberger of over 400 pieces of Jewish ceremonial art, and it would stay at the seminary for more than four decades.[3] Alexander Marx served as its librarian from 1903 to 1953. On his arrival the library contained 5,000 and three manuscripts; under his direction it would grow into one of the most significant collections of Judaica in North America, coming to hold 165,000 books and over 9,000 Hebrew, Samaritan, Aramaic, and Yiddish manuscripts by the time of his death.[4]

On April 18, 1966, the library caught fire, destroying some 70,000 volumes, including forty Torahs.[5] The library's rare books and manuscripts collection was kept in a separate area and so was unharmed.[1] The library was moved to a temporary location and reopened in September of that year, and would stay there until a new building for the library was completed in 1983.[1]

Collection

The Jewish Theological Seminary Library holds over 11,000 Hebrew manuscripts, making it the largest such collection in the world. Additionally, it has 43,000 fragments from the Cairo Geniza, over 500 ketubahs, and 4,000 rare and significant broadsides published from the 16th to 20th centuries.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "About The Library". www.jtsa.edu. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  2. ^ "Libraries & Affiliates | Columbia University Libraries". library.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  3. ^ "The Jewish Museum - About". thejewishmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  4. ^ "Alexander Marx". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  5. ^ "Forty Torahs Destroyed in Jewish Theological Seminary Fire". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 1966-04-25. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  6. ^ "Library Special Collections". www.jtsa.edu. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
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