MAY 2025
der zamler
JPL’S NEWSLETTER FOR ALL THINGS
ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
happy 111th birthday
to the jewish public library!
Sixth Annual Report of the Yidishe-folks-biblyotek and Yidishe folks universitet (YIFO) in 1920. Courtesy the JPL Archives, Jewish Public Library Historical Collection, 1000A-1-[1]-3.
Thank you to the generations of wonderful community members who have supported our library in more ways than we can measure.
Cheers to many more years of learning together, and from each other; of sharing food, stories, and opinions, and continuing to try to make the world a more tolerant and loving place for everyone.
Fundraising ticket for a new Jewish Public Library building, 1952. Courtesy JPL Archives, Jewish Public Library Historical Collection, 1000A-4-[185].
In Memoriam
Rita Briansky Prezament, z”l
1925-2025
Rita Briansky in her art studio, taken by her friend Gaby, 1970s. Courtesy the JPL Archives, Rita Briansky Fonds, 1291_00142.
It is such an honour that Rita Briansky, z”l, chose to donate her material to the Jewish Public Library’s Archives. Rita was prolific beyond belief, painting into her 100th year and an incredible, impactful teacher who will continue to teach us for years to come. We at the Archives will so miss having tea and hearing her speak about her work, entering the sweet world of her colourful canvas-laden apartment. We hope that you will come and visit a part of her legacy here in the JPL Archives. It is a huge resposibility to care-take for her collection of photographs, prints, drawings, paintings and notes, personal papers and research that makes up her life. We are so blessed to have held her trust and so privileged to carry forward her memory. Our heartfelt condolences to her family.
We encourage you to take a look at the exhibition and short film we conducted in 2023 with Rita, linked below, to hear about her practice and the way she approached the world in her own words. There is also a link to her obituary, with space to leave a message for her loved ones.
FOR THE RECORD:
A BLOG ABOUT THE WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHERE, AND HOW (OF ARCHIVING)
Eddie Paul providing a close-up encounter with one of our rarest artifacts after last week’s presentation Etz Chaim, Kabbalistic Divinity Maps, and Golems: The Tree of Life in Safed, Prague, and Montreal, for the Blue Metropolis Festival 2025.
April was a month of closing chapters and starting new ones. The JPL Archives were successful in renewing the contracts of our staff for one year, so we are looking forward to this next year of continuing to process and make accessible more materials held in our archives, as well as create programming for a range of audiences. Eddie Paul spoke to a full house at this year’s edition of the Blue Metropolis Festival. And on that high note, our dearest Associate Director of Special Collections, Eddie Paul, is retiring this month after dedicating more than thirty years of his career to the JPL. We’ve written about his legacy and achievements for this month’s blog post, because they were too numerous to do justice in the short format of a newsletter. For anyone in our communities who has any words they’d like us to share with Eddie, we’ve created a form, linked below, to compile stories and well wishes.
From everyone at the Jewish Public Library and Archives, we wish Eddie Paul a happy, fulfilling retirement, filled with good books and great coffee!
Eddie Paul has announced his retirement after more than 30 years serving the JPL’s communities.
exhibitionS
Close-up of Our Voice After the Unimaginable exhibition on now across from circulation at the Jewish Public Library.
IN COLLABORATION WITH THE MONTREAL HOLOCAUST MUSEUM:
our voice after the unimaginable
APRIL 1, 2025 - JULY 1, 2025
In-House & Virtual Exhibition Launch
Jewish Public Library, across from circulation desk
In commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen and as part of the Paul and Babey Trepman memorial lecture series, the Jewish Public Library Archives and the Montreal Holocaust Museum are pleased to co-present this exhibit. We invite you to learn about the period post-Liberation, and to discover how survivors took to documenting their experiences as a form of healing.
recollections with the jpl podcast
Cover art for recollections with the JPL.
Happy Birthday to recollections with the JPL!
We launched our first episode of recollections with the JPL May 2024, in honour of May Day and the history of labour organizing through Jewish Montreal history. We’ve had over 4000 listens so far, and want to say a huge thank you to all of our listeners!
Der zamler is a Yiddish term meaning “the collector” and is related to the verb zamlen, which means “to gather.” In using this name, we join a long history of people dedicated to gathering and preserving Jewish culture around the world. A heartfelt thank-you goes to Sam Bick for the initial idea and to Anna Fishman Gonshor for providing the cultural context.
All non-archival photography, unless otherwise credited, by staff of the JPL Archives.
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