Rare Book and Manuscript Collection
Item
Country
US
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
3101 Clifton Avenue, 45220-2488 Cincinnati, OH
Contact information: phone number
001 (513) 487 3276
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
klau@huc.edu
Reference number
Ms.
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state)
Rare Book and Manuscript Collection
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
Hebrew Union College
Language(s)
heb
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
The Rare Book and Manuscript Collection aggregates a rich group of manuscripts, books, bookplates, stamps, maps, and broadsides. The collection includes numerous Hebrew manuscripts, in particular bibles and liturgical works. Among them, there is an illuminated Hebrew Bible produced in Lisbon in 1475 (Ms. 2). The manuscript was written in square Sephardic script by a scribe named Samuel, son of Samuel ibn Musa, and another one unidentified. It includes Massorah Magna and Massorah Parva. The first and last folios of the manuscript are adorned in Mudéjar style with vegetable and geometric motifs.
Another highlight of this collection related to the Western Sephardic Diaspora is a Seder Hagadah shell Pesah containing a commentary by Isaac Abravanel decorated with oil-paint miniatures (Ms. 445). This Hagadah was copied by Jankew Sofer ben Rabbi Judah Loeb Shamash in Hamburg-Altona in 1740/41. A digital copy is available on the HUC-JIR Manuscript website.
Another highlight of this collection related to the Western Sephardic Diaspora is a Seder Hagadah shell Pesah containing a commentary by Isaac Abravanel decorated with oil-paint miniatures (Ms. 445). This Hagadah was copied by Jankew Sofer ben Rabbi Judah Loeb Shamash in Hamburg-Altona in 1740/41. A digital copy is available on the HUC-JIR Manuscript website.
Archival history
The Rare Book and Manuscript Collection of the Klau Library is composed of manuscripts and printed books from several provenances, acquired by the library over its history. The Lisbon bible mentioned above (Ms. 2) was part of the collection of Joseph Schonthal (1854-1929), who had donated it to the Hebrew Union College.
Administrative / Biographical history
The Hebrew Union College was founded in 1875 in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the initiative of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900). Its creation occurred in the sequence of the creation of the Union for Reform Judaism (formerly Union of American Hebrew Congregations) two years earlier. Thus, the Hebrew Union College became the first permanent Jewish institution of higher learning in North America.
In 1950, it was merged with the Jewish Institute of Religion, founded in 1922 in New York by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise (1874-1949). A third centre was opened in Los Angeles in 1954, and a fourth was established in Jerusalem in 1963 to serve as a post-doctoral school of archaeological and biblical studies.
The Klau Library opened in 2009 and functions both as a campus library and the main research library within the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Library system. It contains one of the largest American collections of Hebraica, including about 530,000 printed books, 1,200 current periodical subscriptions, 2,500 manuscript codices and many thousands of manuscript pages, 19,000 microfiche and 19,000 reels of microfilm, 100,000 digital images from manuscripts and early printed books, 3,300 sound recordings, 14,000 books in the Rare Book Room, and numerous non-book collections, such as maps, slides, filmstrips, bookplates, stamps, computer programs, games, and kits. Particular strengths of the collection include Ancient Near East Studies, Archives (non-American), Bible, Cabala, Calendars, Early Christianity, History, Jewish Americana, Maimonides, Philosophy, Rabbinics, Responsa, Spinozana, Wit and Humor, and Yiddish.
In 1950, it was merged with the Jewish Institute of Religion, founded in 1922 in New York by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise (1874-1949). A third centre was opened in Los Angeles in 1954, and a fourth was established in Jerusalem in 1963 to serve as a post-doctoral school of archaeological and biblical studies.
The Klau Library opened in 2009 and functions both as a campus library and the main research library within the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Library system. It contains one of the largest American collections of Hebraica, including about 530,000 printed books, 1,200 current periodical subscriptions, 2,500 manuscript codices and many thousands of manuscript pages, 19,000 microfiche and 19,000 reels of microfilm, 100,000 digital images from manuscripts and early printed books, 3,300 sound recordings, 14,000 books in the Rare Book Room, and numerous non-book collections, such as maps, slides, filmstrips, bookplates, stamps, computer programs, games, and kits. Particular strengths of the collection include Ancient Near East Studies, Archives (non-American), Bible, Cabala, Calendars, Early Christianity, History, Jewish Americana, Maimonides, Philosophy, Rabbinics, Responsa, Spinozana, Wit and Humor, and Yiddish.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2022
Bibliography
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