NOVEMBER 2024
der zamler
JPL’S NEWSLETTER FOR ALL THINGS
ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
celebrating jewish book month 2024
Montreal author Mordecai Richler addressing an audience at a Jewish Book Month event at the Jewish Public Library, November 1979. Courtesy the JPL Archives, Photograph Collection, 1255_PR000337.
This year, we've been celebrating Jewish Book Month by highlighting many of our rare books in a series of workshops. So far, Director of Special Collections Eddie Paul has captivated audiences from Jewish day school students, university students, as well as with Judeo-Christian interfaith groups as they meet some of our oldest tomes. We have two free public events coming up this month featuring our rare books, registration links for those can be found below!
upcoming events
Event poster featuring the Rosenberg Rotulus (c. 1835-1837). Courtesy of the JPL Archives, Yudel Rosenberg Fonds, 1383_1.
The Rosenberg Rotulus: A kabbalistic Divinity map
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
2:00pm EST
Côte Saint-Luc Library, 5851 Cavendish Blvd, Côte Saint-Luc, Quebec H4W 2X8
Event in English | In-Person or Livestream
We’re visiting the Côte Saint-Luc Library with an unusual artefact: a kabbalistic parchment owned by Rabbi Yehuda Yudel Rosenberg, a Hasidic rabbi, scholar, scribe, kabbalist, holistic physician, and translator who lived in Montreal from 1919-1935. Come in-person or join us on the livestream to hear Associated Director of Special Collections Eddie Paul as he describes one of our most unique holdings.
Registration required.
Part of the Dr. Michael D. Paul Rare Book Initiative of the Jewish Public Library.
Event poster featuring the Liturgy of the Seventh Sabbath (c.1750-1850). Courtesy of the JPL's Special Collections, Antiq Box 128 178.
By the Book: An expert presentation on rare book conservation
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
6:30pm EST
At Concordia University (EV-3.711), the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Canadian Art
Event in English | In-Person Event Only
Join Conservator Maria Castañeda Delgado as she shares care-taking practices that honour the material traditions of our rarest books. This presentation will shed light on different types of bindings and materials used in a book’s composition, and attendees will learn about the dos and don’ts of responsible repair and see first-hand examples from our Rare Books Collection.
Part of the Dr. Michael D. Paul Rare Book Initiative of the Jewish Public Library.
Event poster featuring an illustration of Claude Lemieux et Sonia Sarah Lipsyc by Ludmila Fishman, February 3, 2010. Courtesy of the JPL Archives, Communauté sépharade unifiée du Québec Fonds, 1481-4-[106]-1.
aleph a quinze ans: une soirée-célébration du don officiel de ses archives aux archives du bpj
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
6:00 - 7:30pm EST
Gelber Conference Centre
5151 Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine
Event in French | In-Person | Post-Event Recording Available
In honor of the CSUQ's donation of the archives and documents of ALEPH Centre d'études juives contemporaines, join us for an evening of conversation between Sonia Sarah Lipsyc, UQAM professor Anne Elaine Cliche, and their invited speakers. Refreshments will be served.
Registration required.
news from the stacks
Ida Bly's softball mitt and sports uniforms have been added to her fonds at the JPL Archives. Pictured here are two of her daughters, Sandra and Leona, seated with Maya and Sam of the JPL Archives team at the time of the archival acquisition.
We have a very exciting new acquisition to the Ida Bly fonds. Sandra and Leona, Ida's daughters, brought us some of their mother's sports uniforms, along with a plethora of stories about this amazing woman. Ida Bly was a softball and basketball player in the 1930s and 1940s who was known for riding her bike around the city long before any of these sports were common for women. We're looking forward to having a practicum student from McGill's Information Studies program process this fonds during their winter semester. Stay tuned for more discoveries on that in a few months' times!
FOR THE RECORD:
A BLOG ABOUT THE WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHERE, AND HOW (OF ARCHIVING)
A peek at the process of slide digitization at the JPL Archives.
The Mad Dash of Digitization
With the swift evolution of technology, many formats are left forgotten, and the hardware and software required to move them into the modern age is rapidly dated and disappearing. Our Digital Outreach Coordinator details the surprising difficulties of digitizing older materials.
current on-site exhibition
Close-up of materials in current exhibition featuring rare books from our Special Collections.
Adopted languages: The Orphans of Offenbach
November - January, 2025
Jewish Public Library, across from circulation desk
In conjunction with our By the Book conservation event this month, we've put together an exhibition that highlights some of our rare books that cover a breadth of languages, time periods, and printing locations. They are also in various states of conservation, and the details of their provenance is not totally known to us aside from arriving through the Offenbach Archival Depot.
yiddish translate-a-thon
N.J. Gotlib's press pass from 1927 in both Lithuanian and Yiddish. Courtesy of the JPL Archives, N.J. Gotlib Fonds, Container 216.
Two weeks ago we hosted another wonderful Yiddish translate-a-thon. One of the notable finds was a press pass from 1927, in Yiddish and Lithuanian, authorizing N.J. Gotlib indefinite access to any persons he hopes to interview for his work with as a journalist with the Jewish Voice.
If you have experience with Yiddish translation and would like to volunteer for this project, please fill out the volunteer form below. For those with other interests in volunteering with the JPL Archives, the form below is open for you, too!
recollections with the jpl podcast
Cover art for recollections with the JPL.
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.
Please click here to support the work of the Jewish Public Library.
subscribe
Not registered for our monthly newsletter, der zamler? Sign up for insights into JPL’s Archives and Special Collections.
Jewish Public Library
5151 Chemin de la Cote-Sainte-Catherine
Montreal, QC, H3W 1M6
Canada