LibGuides: Jewish Life and History at Brown University: Judaica and Jewish Studies Resources

Dr. Steven Ungerleider Collection of Haggadot

The Dr. Steven Ungerleider Collection of Haggadot was given to the Library by Dr. Steven Ungerleider, in memory of his father Samuel Ungerleider, Jr., Class of 1939. This collection of Haggadot–the text recited on the first two nights of the Jewish Passover–is remarkable for its geographic, linguistic, and temporal diversity. The collection comprises haggadot from Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and the Near East. It incorporates a wide range of Jewish vernacular languages, from Yiddish and Ladino to Judeo-Italian and Judeo-Arabic in representative exemplars from Jewish communities across the globe, many long since dispersed. The collection covers more than four hundred years of Jewish culture. Materials in this collection are viewable online or in our reading room, with access options listed below.

Digital Database of Ungerleider Collection of Haggadot
The Ungerleider Collection has been digitized for access and use from anywhere, complete with a map for users to explore materials by geographic region.
Recording of the Ungerleider Haggadot Symposium, October 19, 2018
On Friday, October 19, 2018, the Brown University Library hosted the Ungerleider Haggadot Symposium, drawing on material from the Dr. Steven Ungerleider Collection of Haggadot. A recording of the proceedings is available on YouTube at the link above.
Ungerleider Collection in the Brown University Library Catalog (BruKnow)
Browse Library records of the Haggadot in the Ungerleider Collection, and see options for access through a research appointment.

Yiddish Language Materials

In 1967, the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays, supported by Richard Salomon, Class of 1932, and a group of donors gathered by Rabbi William Braude of Temple Beth-El in Providence, acquired over 1,000 works of Yiddish-American poetry and drama, along with 700 pieces of sheet music and 53 plays and operettas in manuscript from Menache Vaxer, a bookseller in New York. This single purchase provided the Hay Library with one of the most significant collections of Yiddish literature and theatre in the United States, a collection that was subsequently augmented by additional gifts, notably with a gift from William Sadowsky via the National Yiddish Book Center.

Digitized Yiddish Sheet Music, 1890-1923.
The Yiddish language sheet music in this digital collection is part of the large Sheet Music Collection at the John Hay Library. The digital collection available at this link is composed of 327 public domain (pre-1923) titles.
Yiddish sheet music, 1880s-1940s.
While public domain materials from the Yiddish sheet music holdings have been digitized, the entirety of the 16 box collection is available for viewing at the John Hay Library with a research appointment.
Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays (Brown University). Yiddish Language Periodicals.
Collected at this webpage are the catalog records for the Hay Library's sub-collection of Yiddish language periodicals, within the larger Harris Collection. These materials are available for viewing at the John Hay Library with a research appointment.

Rare Books

Schindler, Valentin. Lexicon pentaglotton, Hebraicum, Chaldaicum, Syriacum, Talmudico-Rabbinicum, et Arabicum, 1612.
The first known book in the library was a gift from its president, being Valentin Schindler’s Lexicon Pentaglotten, Hebraicum, Chaldaicum, Syriacum ... Rabbinicum & Arabicum, Hanoviae, 1612, which bore the inscription, “The gift of the Revd. James Manning to Rhode Island College June 17th, 1767.” The "Lexicon Pentaglotton Hebraicum, Chaldaicum, Syriacum" was a pioneering dictionary that significantly impacted early Hebrew studies. It was a multi-lingual lexicon, comparing Hebrew words to cognate words in related Semitic languages like Chaldaic, Syriac, and Arabic. This approach helped scholars understand Hebrew by examining its linguistic connections with other ancient languages.
Moses Mendelssohn holdings - BruKnow catalog search
John Hay library holds multiple books written by Moses Mendelssohn, an influential German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. Available are the original German text of Jerusalem, oder über religiöse Macht und Judenthum, and the English translation, Jerusalem, a Treatise on Religious Power and Judaism.
Michael J. Ciaraldi Collection of Comic Books and Comic Art
The Hay Library is the proud steward of the Michael J. Ciaraldi Collection of Comic Books and Comic Art, which covers a wide breadth of material in the medium, including works by Jewish pioneers in the field such as Will Eisner, Jerry Siegel, and Joe Shuster.

Manuscript Collections

The Hay Library's Manuscripts Collections hold a wide variety of material relating to Jewish Studies, notable Jewish alumni, and prominent community members who have donated their papers to the University. Below are a sample of prominent collections that may be of interest. These materials require either an in-person research appointment in our reading room or a digitization request (up to 300 pages per semester) to view. More information on how to access these materials can be found here: Visiting Special Collections Research Guide

Rabbi Baruch Korff papers, 1937-1988. (MS.84.3)
The Rabbi Baruch Korff Papers, donated to the University in 1983 with later supplements, consist of the personal files of Rabbi Korff, who in addition to his career as a clergyman, was also a political advisor and activist, diplomat, author, lecturer, and television panelist. His papers also include retained files of several political committees with which he was associated during the 1940s and 1970s. In 1983 he donated his farm in Rehoboth, Massachusetts to Brown University and moved to Providence, to act as consultant to the University with respect to the endowed scholarship, faculty prize, and archive funds that he founded.
S. J. Perelman Papers, 1914-1987. (MS.87.2)
S.J. Perelman was a Jewish humorist, screenwriter, and dramatist, noted for his adept word play and wild imagination. Perelman wrote many humorous short pieces for The New Yorker magazine as well as screenplays for two Marx Brothers movies and Around the World in Eighty Days for which Perelman received an Academy Award. S.J. Perelman attended Brown University (class of 1925) as did his future brother-in-law, Nathanael West (class of 1924). Perelman's wife, Laura West Perelman, graduated from Pembroke College, Brown University (class of 1930) and went on to collaborate with her husband on several screenplays and plays. While at Brown University, S.J. Perelman became a cartoonist for the Brown Jug, the campus humor magazine. The papers in this collection consist of correspondence to and from Perelman, manuscript drafts and, working files, and photographs of the Perelman and West families.
David H. Hirsch papers, 1826 - 2000. (MS.2012.030)
David Harry Hirsch (1930-1999) taught English, American literature, and Judaic Studies at Brown University from 1961 until his death in 1999. In addition to his Brown University position, Hirsch was president of the Poe Studies Association from 1986-1988 and a visiting lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv, during 1966-1967. Professor Hirsch introduced the literature of the Holocaust to the Brown University curriculum in 1983, and he taught courses in Holocaust memoir, song, poetry, and fiction.