Jewish communal registers (Pinkese kehilah) collection
Item
Country
US
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
Sterling Memorial Library. 120 High Street, 06511 New Haven, CT
Contact information: phone number
001 (203) 432 1735
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
mssa.assist@yale.edu
Reference number
MS 1824
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state)
Jewish communal registers (Pinkese kehilah) collection
Language of title
eng
heb
Creator / accumulator
Yale University Library. Judaica Collection
Date(s)
1623/1960
Language(s)
deu
dut
eng
heb
lad
lat
yid
Extent
21.46 linear metres (61 boxes)
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This collection comprises register books of various Jewish communities, mainly in Europe, with a few from the Middle East and the United States. It includes minute books of synagogues and social welfare committees, account books, school registers, and wills. The collection contains the record "Pinkas kehilat Mantovah", dated from 1623-1624, concerning the Jewish community of Mantua (box 18). It includes lists of local yeshivot, decisions of the community council, and accounts of events that took place in the community at the beginning of the 17th century. This appears to be a rare document that was saved from the destruction of the ghetto and expulsion of the Jews during the War of the Mantuan Succession in 1629-30.
Archival history
The registers were purchased by the Judaica Collection and transferred to Manuscripts and Archives from 2002 to 2015. Most of the registers were purchased from Yeshayahu Vinograd, Jerusalem, 2002-2003. One was purchased at auction from Kestenbaum & Company, New York, in 2002. Others were purchased from Bery Gross, New York, in 2003. Additional registers were purchased 2004-2008 from Bery Gross, New York, and Yeshayahu Vinograd and Moshe Rosenfeld, Jerusalem. One was purchased from Kestenbaum & Company on the Rosalyn and Joseph Newman Collection Fund, 2015.
Administrative / Biographical history
Yale has a long and rich tradition in the study of Jewish religion, history, and thought dating back to Yale's founding when the Hebrew language was a required course of study. An undergraduate major in Judaic Studies, and a graduate program training future academic leaders, was begun in the mid-1980s.
Following the receipt of two major gifts in 1915, the Yale Library established a separate Judaica collection, which is recognised as one of the major collections of Judaica in the USA. The focus of the approximately 300,000-volume collection, which includes manuscripts and rare books, is biblical, classical, medieval, and modern periods of Jewish literature and history, and supports the research needs of the faculty and students of the university's Judaic Studies Program and of the broader academic community.
Rare materials are housed in the Manuscripts and Archives Department of the Sterling Memorial Library and in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Among the rare and unusual Judaica at the Beinecke Library are some 200 manuscripts and 45 incunabula. Special features include the Alexander Kohut Memorial Collection of Judaica, Selah Merrill Collection of Josephus, the Goodhart Collection of Philo imprints, and the Sholem Asch Collection, a collection of illuminated Jewish marriage contracts, and a collection of Jewish illuminated votive plaques.
Following the receipt of two major gifts in 1915, the Yale Library established a separate Judaica collection, which is recognised as one of the major collections of Judaica in the USA. The focus of the approximately 300,000-volume collection, which includes manuscripts and rare books, is biblical, classical, medieval, and modern periods of Jewish literature and history, and supports the research needs of the faculty and students of the university's Judaic Studies Program and of the broader academic community.
Rare materials are housed in the Manuscripts and Archives Department of the Sterling Memorial Library and in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Among the rare and unusual Judaica at the Beinecke Library are some 200 manuscripts and 45 incunabula. Special features include the Alexander Kohut Memorial Collection of Judaica, Selah Merrill Collection of Josephus, the Goodhart Collection of Philo imprints, and the Sholem Asch Collection, a collection of illuminated Jewish marriage contracts, and a collection of Jewish illuminated votive plaques.
Access points: locations
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
The collection is arranged as received from the Judaica Collection.
Access, restrictions
The materials are open for research. Selected volumes in boxes 18, 19, and 27 are available on microfilm.
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2022
Bibliography
Linked resources
Filter by property
| Title | Alternate label | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Sterling Memorial Library/Yale University Library | Collections (official language of the state) |