Programs | Education | Exhibitions | Publications
For nearly 100 years, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research has preserved the legacy of one thousand years of Ashkenazi Jewish life. Through our treasured Archives and robust programming and education, YIVO tells the story of what we have cherished, what we have endured, and how we have persisted. It is the story out of which the future of the Jewish people will be built. As the destination for knowledge of Yiddish language, culture, civilization, and its evolution throughout the world, YIVO is essential for keeping this story alive.
YIVO is approaching our Centennial Anniversary. This powerful moment marks the celebration of a historic century of perpetuating Jewish culture. We will mark this milestone with events and announcements throughout the year. Visit this page regularly for the latest updates on events, classes, exhibitions, new products in the YIVO store, and so much more.
Join us in 2025 as we celebrate our first one hundred years and look forward to starting YIVO’s second century.
Treasures from the YIVO Collections
YOUTUBE SERIES
Every Friday throughout 2025, YIVO will release a new video highlighting a book, object, or artifact from its collections. These short videos each feature a YIVO staff member discussing an item and explaining its historical significance. Subscribe to YIVO's YouTube Channel.
Autocracies in the 21st Century
YIVO-BARD WINTER PROGRAM KEYNOTE LECTURE
January 22, 2025 | 1:00pm ET | On Zoom
For the 2025 Winter Program Keynote, Anne Applebaum and Jonathan Brent discuss how autocracies have evolved in the 21st century.
The YIVO Library in New York: Personal Reflections on Its History and Collections
LECTURE
February 19, 2025 | 1:00pm ET | On Zoom
Zachary M. Baker offers personal reflections on the legacy of the YIVO Library, focusing on its collections and leading personalities after its move to New York City in 1940.
The YIVO Sound Archive and the Klezmer Revival
LECTURE
April 24, 2025 | 1:00pm ET | On Zoom
YIVO sound archivist Eléonore Biezunski tells the story of the Max and Frieda Weinstein Archive of YIVO Sound Recordings in relation to the revitalization of klezmer music since the mid-1970s.
The Making of an East European and Holocaust Historian: Lucy S. Dawidowicz and the YIVO in Vilna, New York, and Offenbach
LECTURE
May 19, 2025 | 1:00pm ET | On Zoom
This talk by Nancy Sinkoff will explore the influence of the YIVO on Lucy S. Dawidowicz (1915-1990), a postwar American Jewish public intellectual and historian, who was central to the field that is now called “Holocaust Studies.”
New Trends in YIVO Scholarship
PANEL DISCUSSION
June 11, 2025 | 1:00pm ET | On Zoom
Join YIVO for a panel discussion sharing new research on various historic YIVO initiatives featuring presentations by William Pimlott, Kamil Kijek, and Nicolas Vallois, followed by a conversation led by Jessica Kirzane.
YIVO in America
CONFERENCE
Day 1 | June 22, 2025 | 7:00pm-9:30pm ET | In Person & On Zoom
Day 2 | June 23, 2025 | 10:00am-9:30pm ET | In Person & On Zoom
Join us for a celebration of YIVO’s 100th anniversary with a conference focusing on how YIVO’s founding vision for Jewish social sciences has been realized in America since its headquarters shifted to New York City in 1940.
YIVO Learning and Media Center Grand Opening
Mid-2025
YIVO will open the doors of a new Learning and Media Center soon. In the space, visiting classes will experience archive-based lessons drawing from YIVO's collections, and members of the broader public will be welcome to explore Jewish history and culture.
Hail to the Zamlers: YIVO’s Collections at 100
On view June 22, 2025 – December 31, 2025
Over the course of a century, YIVO’s mission to collect Jewish cultural material has yielded millions of artifacts and documents. Brought to us by Jews of all kinds – from scholars to shoemakers, from rabbis to rabble – these objects are the mute witnesses that tell the tales of Jewish life and culture wherever Jews traveled. This exhibit will display hundreds of these rare items, many of them never before seen.
100 Objects from the Collections of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
Publication Date: June 2025
Delve into Jewish history through 100 unique objects from the YIVO Archives and Library. This gorgeously-illustrated coffee table book contains images and essays which represent modern Jewish history and culture through YIVO's one hundred years of collecting. The volume highlights a variety of manuscripts, photographs, ritual objects, and other ephemera.