October 2, 2013

Center for Jewish History to open a rare books room

by

The Center for Jewish History in New York

A new sanctuary for rare and valuable Jewish texts is set to open this weekend, Robin Pogrebin writes for the New York Times’s Arts Beat blog. The Center for Jewish History in New York will cut the red ribbon on the David Berg Rare Book Room on Sunday.

The new space will preserve first editions, rare illuminated manuscripts, and important correspondence, including works by Albert Einstein, Emma Lazarus, and Franz Kafka. The CJH’s chief operating officer, Michael S. Glickman, explained that the room won’t just be a restricted area to keep the works safe: “It gives them a permanent home for public exploration and viewing. I think this will open up eyes and perhaps people will find something they didn’t know was of interest to them.”

The Berg room was made possible by a $2.5-million grant from the David Berg Foundation, a supporter of cultural institutions. It’s the first time that the CJH will have a shared exhibition space for its five partner institutions: the American Jewish Historical Society, the American Sephardi Federation, the Leo Baeck Institute, the Yeshiva University Museum, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

The David Berg Rare Book Room will open this Sunday at the CJH, at 15 W 16th Street in Manhattan.

 

Nick Davies is a publicist at Melville House.

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