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Exhibits and Collections

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Jewish American Heritage Month

On April 20, 2006, President George W. Bush proclaimed May as Jewish American Heritage Month. Since then, annual proclamations have been issued by presidents and other governing bodies. Explore a selection items in the Smithsonian's collections that reflect the Jewish American experience as well as the significant role Jewish Americans and those with Jewish American heritage have played in shaping the nation's history and identity.

Smithsonian

Image Credit: Smithsonian, National Museum of American History, CC0

Exhibits and Collections

The Aaron Copland Collection The Abraham A. Schwadron “Chad Gadya” Collection (Finding Aid) American Jewish Women: Area Studies Collections Archived websites related to Jewish studies Arthur Szyk: Artist for Freedom David Diamond Papers, 1915-2003 (Finding Aid) Ernest Bloch Collection Emile Berliner and the Birth of the Recording Industry Frieda Fromm-Reichmann papers From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America Felix Mendelssohn at the Library of Congress Hebraic Manuscripts The Hannah Arendt Papers Irving Fine Collection Hebraic Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division, Library of Congress: Research Resources The Leonard Bernstein Collection Jewish Culture and Traditions: Resources in the American Folklife Center Leonard Bernstein: Writings By, From, and To Prints, Photos and Manuscripts from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (World Digital Library Collection) Roman Totenberg Papers Roman Totenberg Papers: Totenberg-Wilk Holocaust Material Scrolls from the Dead Sea Sixteenth-Century Hebrew Books at the Library of Congress Words Like Sapphires: 100 Years of Hebraica at the Library of Congress, 1912-2012 Selections of Prayer Materials from Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia Yiddish American Popular Sheet Music Yiddish American popular songs, 1895-1950 Yiddish Language Play Scripts from the Lawrence Marwick Collection

Today in History

January 13: The Last of the Red Hot Mamas January 26: The Capitulation Protocol February 11: Emma Goldman March 15: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire May 15: Sholem Aleichem, Beloved Yiddish Author June 22: Houdini, King of Handcuffs August 17: “To Bigotry No Sanction, To Persecution No Assistance” November 14: Aaron Copland December 17: Happy Hanukkah

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers

Digitized Jewish Newspapers The Dreyfuss Affair: Topics in Chronicling America Louis D. Brandeis: Topics in Chronicling America Trial and Lynching of Leo Frank: Topics in Chronicling America Victor Berger: Topics in Chronicling America “Condition of the Jews Today” – New-York Daily Tribune, August 25, 1901 “Future of Judaism in America” “Part Played by the Hebrew in the History of the Nation and State” – The Salt Lake Herald, November 19, 1905 “Some New Books - The Jewish Encyclopedia” – The (New York) Sun, September 28, 1902 “Part Played by the Hebrew in the History of the Nation and State” – The Salt Lake Herald, November 19, 1905

Bound volumes in the People’s Relief Committee for Jewish War Sufferers Records Butte-Silver Bow Jewish Community Collection from the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives (site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein (project supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) The Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections from the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) The Gershwin Initiative (project supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) The Language and Culture Archive of Ashkenazic Jewry from Columbia University (site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Lower East Side Tenement Museum (supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Repositioning Florida's Judaic Library: Increasing Access to Humanities Resources from Florida, Latin America, and the Caribbean (NEH Challenge Grant recipient) Seattle Sephardic Legacies from the University of Washington Stroum Center for Jewish Studies (site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Stanton Family Collection from the Center for Jewish History (site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Voices from the Shtetl: The Yiddish Memories Project Wexler Oral History Project from the National Yiddish Book Center (site supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities) When the Golden Door Closed, they Carried the Torch (Center for Jewish History & American Jewish Historical Society, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities)