Support YIVO's Centennial!
Dear Friend,
Entering our second century, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research has both enormous possibility and responsibility to engage new generations in finding the meaning of their Jewish heritage and to sustain its mission of preserving and perpetuating Eastern European Jewry history and culture.
Thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of our loyal supporters, YIVO has already surpassed 95% of our $40 million Centennial Campaign goal. This campaign will strengthen YIVO as an institution of higher learning, a cultural organization, and a destination for learners of all ages around the world.
The vastness of YIVO’s Archives—some 24 million documents and 400,000 books spanning six centuries and 60-plus countries—can be challenging to grasp. Individual archival projects bring these holdings to life, illuminating the lived experiences of individuals, families, and communities that form the fabric of history and collective memory. More than five million archival pages have been digitized and made freely available online.
Our archivists have passed the halfway mark in the largest digitization initiative in YIVO’s history, the Jewish Labor and Political Archives (JLPA). This ambitious eight-year project will preserve and share nearly 3.5 million pages documenting Jewish social and political activism across Europe, Russia, and the United States spanning the years 1870 to 1992. Thanks to generous supporters, more than $6.5 million has already been raised toward the project’s $8.5 million goal, and all gifts designated to the JLPA will be matched by an anonymous foundation.
YIVO will soon begin work on our next archival project: a collaboration with the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine to preserve and digitize records from S. An-ski’s Ethnographic Expedition of 1912–1914, as well as other Jewish cultural materials dating back to the 15th century. S. An-ski’s focus on documenting the daily lives of Ashkenazi Jews was an inspiration to YIVO’s founders in their quest to chronicle the everyday lives of ordinary folk.
Alongside these digitization projects, YIVO offers programs and classes to ensure that Jewish history, language, and culture remain vibrant and accessible for future generations. YIVO’s in-person and virtual lectures, book talks, concerts (including opera), panel discussions, conferences, film screenings, and exhibits offer something for nearly every interest, taste, and background.
YIVO continues to expand its educational mission through the interactive exhibits of the YIVO Bruce and Francesca Cernia Slovin Online Museum and the Shine Online Educational Series, whose next course will focus on the history of the Yiddish language. The recently opened YIVO Learning and Media Center welcomes high school and college groups to explore Jewish history and culture through archival primary source materials. YIVO’s renowned Yiddish instruction includes our flagship YIVO-Bard Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture; seasonal courses teaching Yiddish from beginner to advanced levels; English-language seminars; and the intensive YIVO-Bard Winter Program on Ashkenazi Civilization. In partnership with Bard College, YIVO is also preparing to launch a Master of Arts program in Yiddish Civilization.
As YIVO enters its second century, we remain devoted to expanding educational opportunities at every level and deepening engagement with our ever-growing international community.
With warm regards,
Jonathan Brent |
Melissa S. Cohen |