National Yiddish Book Center

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The National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, on the campus of Hampshire College. It is a cultural institution dedicated to the preservation of books and documents in the Yiddish language. It is a member of Museums10 and is a non-profit institution, and its cultural programs are funded by memberships and grants.

[edit] History

The Center was founded in 1980 by Aaron Lansky. It was the first organization of English-speaking American Jews dedicated to the preservation of Yiddish language and culture; all the major Jewish organizations initially refused to fund or aid it, claiming that Yiddish was a dead language, before the Center's great success provided evidence to the contrary.

[edit] Collections

The Center's extensive Yiddish library consists of 1.5 million donated volumes. Its Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library has digitized the entire collection, making reprints of every title available for purchase. The Center also publishes Pakn Treger, an English-language magazine and offers a prestigious summer internship program for college students interested in learning Yiddish. "Pakn Treger" began as a newsletter, "Book Peddler," but it published work by serious journalists, including film critic Kenneth Turan. In 1995, journalist Jeff Sharlet assumed the editorship and transformed the "Book Peddler" into a serious journal of Jewish culture, "Pakn Treger," colloquial Yiddish for a book peddler. Contributors included J. Hoberman, Harvey Pekar, Joe Sacco, Francine Prose, Ben Katchor, Allegra Goodman, and others. In 1998, Sharlet left and was replaced by editor Nancy Sherman. Since then the magazine publishes less frequently but maintains its high quality with work from writers such as Michael Chabon, Ilan Stavans, and Peter Manseau.