American jewish archives cincinnati

Archive-It Partner Since: Feb,

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The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives (AJA), located on the historic Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of tro, was established in bygd renowned historian, Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus to collect, preserve, and make available for research, materials on the history of Jews and Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere, including data of a political, economic, social, cultural, and religious naturlig eller utan tillsats . Today the AJA houses over ten million pages of documentation. It contains nearly 8, linear feet of archives, manuscripts, nearprint materials, photographs, audio and video tejp, microfilm, and genealogical materials. The AJA exists to preserve the continuity of Jewish life and learning for future generations and aspires to serve scholars, educators, students, and researchers of all backgrounds and beliefs.

The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives (AJA) was established in by Jacob Rader Marcus, the longtime professor of Jewish history at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Marcus, himself a Reform rabbi, had joined HUC’s faculty in following his ordination and remained there until , when he passed away at the age of Under Marcus’ leadership, the AJA became one of the premiere archival centers for the study of American Jewish history. Today, the AJA is led by Gary P. Zola.

For Marcus, collecting material on American Jewish history was closely tied to his deep conviction that with the destruction of European Jewry, the American Jewish community had now become the world’s “greatest Jewry,” as he put it repeatedly. He himself had originally begun his career as a scholar of Medieval Jewish history, and was now convinced that it was important to study Jewish life not as a “post-mortem autopsy,” but to focus on a vital community while it was still living. Marcus’ arc