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Columbia University Alexander Library for Jewish Studies

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History

Columbia University has been collecting Hebraica and Judaica since its founding in 1754. Hebrew was taught at the university (then Kings’ College) throughout the 18th century. The first big acquisitions of Judaica, however came to the University in the late 19th century, including a major gift of 2500 books and 45 manuscripts from Temple Emanu-el that had been acquired from Frederik Mueller in Amsterdam in 1872. Many additional gifts came to the audience in the following years, including from famed individuals like Oscar Straus, Aaron Wise, and others. Salo Baron’s hire in 1930 brought a dedicated advocate for the library as well. Salo Baron used funding from his chair to acquire about 700 manuscripts for the library in 1932, and continued to acquire materials for the library throughout his decades-long tenure. 
 

In 2008, the Norman E. Alexander Foundation made a substantial gift to the Columbia University Libraries to support Judaica collections, both rare and general, as well as a librarian to serve these collections and their users. Today, there are about 125,000 volumes in the Judaica collection.  Our manuscript collection today houses approximately 1700 manuscripts, more than the combined holdings of the Judaica manuscripts of Harvard, Yale, and the Library of Congress. 

Video Tours

The People in the Books : Hebraica and Judaica Manuscripts

Columbia Collected Judaica for Over 250 Years. We Saw It Firsthand.

Collection Highlights

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Manuscripts

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Rare Books

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General Collection

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Language & Culture Archive of Ashkenazic Jewry

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Programming

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NEA Lecture

Corfu video links

Curatorial shorts

Our Partnership with AJL

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Serving Our Community

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Plans for the Future

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Michelle Margolis, Librarian

headshot of Michelle Margolis

Michelle Margolis
Norman E. Alexander Library for Jewish Studies

Michelle Bio

Contact Us

Tours & Appointments

Support Our Work

Norman E. Alexander Library for Jewish Studies, Columbia University

Michelle Margolis, Librarian
304 International Affairs
420 W. 118th St.
New York, NY 10027
(212) 854-8046
mc3395@columbia.edu

Please support our work with a gift to the Norman E. Alexander Library for Jewish Studies. 

Select this link and when you arrive at a new tab, select the down arrow then select Alexander Library General Support Unrestricted Gift from the dropdown menu.

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