Update from the Archives: Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collection

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 18:44:09 +0000

Update from the Archives: Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collection Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 06/01/2018 - 12:44

The Program in Jewish Studies and the University Libraries' Special Collections, Archives, and Preservation at the University of Colorado Boulder are pleased to share the progress we have made this academic year processing the Post-Holocaust American Judaism (PHAJ) Collections!

In addition to digitizing many of collection materials and creating finding aids for all collections, we hosted multiple CU students in the collections as they conducted research and learned archival practices. We also welcomed Amy Milligan as our 2017 Jim and Diane Shneer Fellow in Post-Holocaust American Judaism and presented our third biannual Embodied Judaism Symposium: SHE in November 2017.

We invite you to learn more about our exciting progress below and explore the collections on the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections website.

The work continues! We thank you for your continued support of the PHAJ Collections. Gifts to the collections enable us to pursue digitization and copyright projects, support student fellowships, and create community learning opportunities.

Explore the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections Read Frequently Asked Questions about the Collections

What's Happening in the PHAJ Collections

Harry W. Mazal Holocaust Collection

The processing of the Harry W. Mazal Collection is nearing completion! The finding aid follows the most current standards for archival description and is now available online. The digital items in the collection, such as computer discs and hard drives, are currently being copied into the University Libraries' digital preservation system. These will soon be included in the same finding aid, which is linked on the Mazal Holocaust Collection page. The monographs and serials are almost completely cataloged and the items with preservation concerns are undergoing treatment.

Explore the Mazal Holocaust Collection

Zalman M. Schacter-Shalomi Papers

Thanks in part to an Innovative Seed Grant from ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��'s Office of Research and Innovation and a gift from the Bender Family Foundation, we have digitized and preserved many of the fragile video and audio materials in the Zalman M. Schacter-Shalomi Papers. Thank you to the University Libraries' Media Auxiliary Service team for their notable work on this project.

A generous gift from the Yesod Foundation this year is supporting student work conducting vital copyright research for the audiocassettes in the Shachter-Shalomi papers.

We have also launched a digital exhibit exploring the life and work of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and his role in shaping contemporary Judaism.

Explore the Schachter-Shalomi Papers

There is still much work to be done with the Schachter-Shalomi Papers. Help us continue our digitization and copyright projects through a gift to the PHAJ Collections!

More PHAJ Collections Updates

Watch Now: 2018 Embodied Judaism Symposium: SHE

Relive the November 2018 Biannual Embodied Judaism Symposium: SHE, exploring the concept of the Shekhinah with presentations by scholars, practitioners, and artists.

Watch SHE Online Today

Finding Aids Available for All PHAJ Collections

Finding aids for all 23 PHAJ Collections are now online! You can use these guides to explore what materials are held in each collection.

View the PHAJ Collections

Learn More ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Finding Aids

New Collection! The Vanessa L. Ochs Papers

Our newest collection features unpublished and edited manuscripts from Vanessa Ochs, Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies at the University of Virginia.

CU Archives Celebrates Its 100-Year Anniversary

Join the University Libraries June 6, 2018 for a look at the past 100 years of CU's archives. Chat with archivists working with the collections and learn more about the future of archives.

Students in the PHAJ Collections

2017- 2018 PHAJ Student Workers & Researchers

The Program in Jewish Studies and the University Libraries' Special Collections, Archives, & Preservation offer a number of student work and research opportunities in the PHAJ Collections. A big thank you to this year's student workers, Jacob Flaws, Jordan Klevdal, Ellen Gostling, and Adrian Auchterlorie!

Jacob Flaws

Jacob was a graduate student employee in the PHAJ collections throughout the academic year. His graduate research utilizes source materials from three witness groups – German perpetrators, Jewish survivors, and Polish witnesses – to triangulate and re-conceptualize the spatial reality of Treblinka.

Jordan Klevdal

Jordan served as a graduate student employee in the PHAJ collections for the duration of the academic year. Her graduate research interests include textual materiality, manifestations of nostalgia in the 20th century, and the gendering of memory.

Ellen Gostling

Ellen Gostling was the inaugural recipient of a Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections Undergraduate Scholarship. This spring, Ellen created a digital resource and research guide related to conversion practices during and after the Holocaust framed by Harry W. Mazal’s own experience.

Adrian Auchterlorie

Adrian is currently conducting copyright research for the digitized audiocassetes in the Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi Papers, determining potential copyright holders on digitized materials held in the collections. Adrian's work has been supported by a grant from the Yesod Foundation.

Summer 2018 Graduate Fellows

The Program in Jewish Studies, in partnership with the Center for Humanities and the Arts (CHA) and the Department of History, annually provide three graduate student summer research fellowships.

This Summer 2018, Kelly Walsh and Emily Frazier-Rath are recipients of the CHA-Jewish Studies Post-Holocaust American Judaism Summer Fellowship, and Jacob Flaws is the recipient of the History-Jewish Studies Archives Summer Fellowship. In addition to conducting their own original research in the PHAJ collections, these fellows will work alongside librarians and archivists on projects such as researching, designing, and curating digital exhibits. They will present their final PHAJ projects at a Fall graduate symposium.

Kelley Ann Walsh

Kelly, an MFA candidate in Dance, focuses her research on the contributions of Jewish-Appalachians to Appalachian dance and culture and the reasons why Jewish-Appalachian population is declining.

Emily Frazier-Rath

Emily, a PhD candidate in German Studies, is doing research on the intersections between Jewish and Roma activism in post-war Germany that center on remembering the Holocaust/Porajmos.

Jacob Flaws

Jacob, a PhD candidate in History, will be spending time with the Harry W. Mazal Holocaust Collections and will produce a showcase about how the collection contains materials on many diverse topics.

Our 2018 summer fellows' digital exhibits will be available for viewing on the PHAJ Collections website this coming Fall 2018.

Check out now the online exhibits from our past 2017 summer fellows, Adi Nester, Amber Manning, and Jason Hogstad!

The Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections focus on Judaism and the Jewish-American experience from roughly the late 1940s to the present. The material collected sheds light on the religious, cultural, and social movements of American Judaism.

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Archivist Jane Thaler Published in The Rocky Mountain Archivist

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Sep 2017 17:51:51 +0000

Archivist Jane Thaler Published in The Rocky Mountain Archivist Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 09/08/2017 - 11:51

Project Archivist Jane Thaler was recently published in The Society of Rocky Mountain Archivists' (SRMA) newsletter. Thaler, who works in conjunction with the University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives and the Program in Jewish Studies, is the driving force in the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections. Each newsletter, SRMA showcases new and noteworthy archival collections in the Rocky Mountain region.

This month's featured collection is that of Alan Lew, a Zen Rabbi, author, poet, TV host, and much more. Lew's papers contain materials ranging from his coursework at the Jewish Theological Seminary, his unpublished poetry and short stories dating as far back as the 1960s, early drafts and manuscripts of his published writings, materials relating to his sermons and public speaking, as well as personal correspondence and materials relating to his life a s a rabbi and public speaker. Additionally, this collection contains material of years spent researching and writing his unpublished book on the history of his family, The Life That Ran Through Me, which he finished shortly before his death and the entire run of the Mosaic series.

Read The Society of Rocky Mountain Archivists' Newsletter

Learn More ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections

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Announcing the New Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections Website

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 16:58:49 +0000

Announcing the New Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections Website Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/12/2017 - 10:58

The Program in Jewish Studies and University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives are pleased to announce the launch of the new Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections website.

The website highlights materials held in the 21 Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections and enables users to explore finding aids, audio/visual materials, photos, and interact with the collections' materials.

The website also has information about the archival process as well as our other Post-Holocaust initiatives, including the biannual Embodied Judaism symposia, fellowships for graduate students and visiting scholars, and ways to support the Collections.

The Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections are archival holdings at the University of Colorado Boulder focused on Judaism and the Jewish-American experience from roughly the late 1940s to the present. The material collected aims to shed light on the religious, cultural, and social movements of American Judaism as well as on the various philosophies of Judaism and Jewish organizations in the relevant period.

Explore the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections

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Shneer's "Through Soviet Jewish Eyes" exhibit opens in Chicago, in Russian

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 22:04:32 +0000

Shneer's "Through Soviet Jewish Eyes" exhibit opens in Chicago, in Russian Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/06/2015 - 15:04

To a packed house of more than 400 people, on Sunday, February 22, David Shneer, Louis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History and Professor of History, Religious Studies and Jewish Studies, gave the keynote lecture at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center for the opening of Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust, the photography exhibition based on his award-winning book. The next morning, in honor of the Day in Honor of Defenders of the Fatherland, a Soviet-era holiday that once was called Soviet Army Day, Shneer gave the same talk in Russian to a crowd of 150 Soviet Jewish war veterans and Holocaust survivors.

This is the first time the show has been presented bilingually in Russian and English, and one of the few shows travelling the country in Russian. The Chicago Russian-speaking community warmly received Shneer, gave him materials that are now being deposited in the Mazal Holocaust Collection in the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Archive, and made sure to let him know that his mother must be proud.

Shneer was also featured on local Chicago radio station, WBEZ 91.5, highlighting his new exhibit.

Read the full-length article about the opening

Listen to Shneer's WBEZ radio interview

On Wednesday, March 25 at 7PM (local time), Shneer’s new book, Trümmerfrau der Seele, about the Dutch Jewish, Yiddish singer and Holocaust survivor Lin Jaldati, will have its formal launch at the Berlin Jewish Community headquarters, Fasanenstrasse 79-80. In Shneer’s absence, Jaldati’s daughter and Shneer’s collaborator, Jalda Rebling, will give a talk about her mother’s life. This event will be in German.

This past Saturday, March 7 from 1PM – 4PM, CU on the Weekend hosted Shneer for a mini-course seminar exploring the new and growing field of Post-Holocaust American Judaism studies. This is the Program in Jewish Studies’ inaugural event at the new CU South Denver campus in Parker. Post World War II America is often characterized negatively by suburbanization and the rise of a bland consumer culture obsessed with accumulation rather than reflection. But it is also the period when the United States became the fertile petri dish for new kinds of Judaism. From Brooklyn-based Chabad Lubavitch Hasidism to 1960s ‘Do-It-Yourself’ Judaism and American Zionism, this mini-course examined American Judaism from World War II to the present. Professor Shneer will paid particular attention to materials now housed at the University of Colorado Library Archives and Special Collections Post Holocaust American Judaism Archive, which contains materials documenting this movement, from Arthur Waskow’s Freedom Seders to Zalman Schachter Shalomi’s early ideas about deep ecumenicism.

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Listen to CPR's Colorado Matters interview with David Shneer and Aimee Mazal Skillin here!

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 06:00:00 +0000

Listen to CPR's Colorado Matters interview with David Shneer and Aimee Mazal Skillin here! Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/04/2014 - 23:00

CU Professor David Shneer and Aimee Mazal Skillin, daughter of Harry W. Mazal, spoke to CPR's Colorado Matters Wednesday, March 5 at 10AM about the recent donation of the Mazal Holocaust Collection. Listen to the complete interview here! http://www.cpr.org/news/story/cu-boulder-receives-huge-holocaust-archive

Help us make this amazing collection available to the public by giving to the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Archive Fund. Dontations can be made on-line here. Thank you!

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Gift of Mazal Holocaust Collection to Post-Holocaust American Judaism Archive will draw scholars from around world

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 07:00:00 +0000

Gift of Mazal Holocaust Collection to Post-Holocaust American Judaism Archive will draw scholars from around world Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/03/2014 - 00:00

The Mazal Holocaust Collection, considered the world’s largest privately owned Holocaust archive and the most significant U.S. collection outside of the Holocaust museums in New York and Washington, D.C., has been donated to the University of Colorado Boulder.

The highly regarded collection is comprised of more than 20,000 books and 500,000 documents, pamphlets, photographs and other materials, including original transcripts of the Nuremburg trials. Five thousand of the volumes are limited editions and rare books.

“This acquisition will transform CU-Boulder into a global center of scholarship on the 20th century Jewish experience,” said Professor David Shneer, the Louis P. Singer Chair in Jewish History and director of the Program in Jewish Studies. “By anchoring the university’s Archive of Post-Holocaust American Judaism with the story of the Holocaust itself and the destruction of much of European Jewish religious and cultural life, CU is now one of the only places in the world to be able to demonstrate how global Jewish life continued and flourished in the United States after World War II.”

The archive is the life work of Harry W. Mazal, a retired businessman from Mexico City who made San Antonio, Texas, his home and became an internationally recognized Holocaust collector and researcher. Working with numerous volunteers, Mazal dedicated his life to creating a vast repository committed to defending the voices and memories of the victims of the Holocaust around the world by promoting scholarly research related to Holocaust studies, Holocaust denial, anti-Semitism and bigotry.

Materials from the Mazal Holocaust Collection played an important role in the unsuccessful libel case brought by Holocaust-denier David Irving against Emory University Professor Deborah Lipstadt, a noted Holocaust scholar and historian.

“The Mazal Holocaust Collection is a unique collection of materials about the Holocaust,” Lipstadt said. “It will help make the University of Colorado Boulder one of the premier places for research on a myriad of aspects of the Holocaust. It is an amazing collection of documents which will be an asset to students at the university and researchers throughout the world.”

After Mazal’s death in 2011, his family wanted to ensure that his life’s work and legacy would continue to be available to scholars, researchers and educators around the world. A portion of the books from the Mazal Library has been donated to the new Texas A&M University–San Antonio. The rest of the library, including the highly valued archive and limited edition books, has been donated to CU-Boulder.

“The Mazal Holocaust Library was everything to Harry,” said daughter Aimee Mazal Skillin of Lone Tree, Colo. “It was his heart and soul and he made it his mission to debunk Holocaust deniers. His archive material was vast and CU has the capability to maintain, restore and share these valuable resources with the world.”

The materials were donated to Archives and Special Collections in CU-Boulder’s University Libraries and the Program in Jewish Studies. The collection will enhance scholarship and support research initiatives in a variety of disciplines and programs, said Steven Leigh, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

“I’ve been very impressed at how actively our faculty scholars have helped with this important collection,” Leigh said. “Professor Shneer reached out broadly across the campus and received tremendous support from so many of our people in all different areas of scholarship. The strong and uniformly positive responses that he received speak to the importance of the collection, as well as to its long-term positive impacts for CU-Boulder. The entire campus is excited by this generous gift.”

The Mazal Holocaust Collection will need a great deal of immediate attention and resources according to Bruce Montgomery, faculty director for Archives and Special Collections.

“The collection includes documents and rare materials that are fragile and require preservation -- making this a priority initiative at CU,” Montgomery said. “We anticipate considerable demand and interest and with supplemental funding, we hope to have a large portion of the collection accessible to researchers by the end of 2014.”

The Mazal Holocaust Collection will be housed within the Archive of Post-Holocaust American Judaism. The archive will examine Judaism and the Jewish experience through the lens of religious, cultural and social movements in America, as well as various philosophies of Judaism and Jewish organizations from the late 1940s to the present.

The Archive of Post-Holocaust American Judaism includes the most complete collection of materials documenting the Jewish Renewal movement, including the personal collection from the movement’s founder, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, as well as rabbis Arthur Waskow, Leah Novick and Michael Lerner, who also is editor of Tikkun magazine. Together these collections describe the revitalization of Judaism in America since World War II, emphasizing the cultural, ethical and mystical traditions in Judaism and Jewish culture that blossomed in the postwar U.S.

Noted scholar Shaul Magid, professor of religious studies and the Jay and Jeannie Schottenstein Chair in Modern Judaism at Indiana University Bloomington, champions ideas demonstrated by CU-Boulder’s Archive of Post-Holocaust American Judaism in his most recent book on American Post-Judaism. Magid will be a visiting scholar at CU-Boulder March 5-7 including an evening public lecture on March 6.

“One of Harry’s missions in life was education,” said Skillin. “The fact that CU has the resources to make these archives available to students and scholars alike promotes education of the Holocaust. We have no doubt that Harry is smiling from above and are grateful that his collection will live on and continue to educate.”

Editors: Photographs of part of the Mazal Holocaust Collection and David Shneer are available by entering the search term “Mazal” at http://photography.colorado.edu/res/sites/news/.

Contact:

David Shneer, Program in Jewish Studies, 303-492-8698 or 303-961-0894

Bruce Montgomery, Archives and Special Collections, 303-492-8698 or 303-961-0894

Thea Lindquist, University Libraries, 303-492-8698 or 303-961-0894

Peter Caughey, CU-Boulder media relations, 303-492-4007

Editors: Media may make arrangements to view a portion of the Mazal collection by contacting our offices at CUJewishStudies@colorado.edu.

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