YIVO Opens In-House Digital Lab: First Collection Digitized

(New York, NY) – On April 11, 2019, YIVO opened its first in-house digital lab. The new lab will coordinate the digitization, online accessibility, and digital preservation of the remaining collections of the Edward Blank Vilna Online Collections Project, as well as all future projects.

YIVO’s in-house lab will allow for digital accessibility of YIVO’s library and archival holdings. 

This move is part of YIVO’s goal to make its collections easily accessible to a global community through online access.

Prior to opening the digital lab, YIVO outsourced digitization projects to contracted vendors.

“Having an in-house digital lab provides YIVO with more flexibility when working on projects and also enables the digitization of smaller projects with fragile materials, such as newspapers,” said Devora Geller, the Digital Preservation Manager. The digital lab team also includes Phil Karolak, the Digital Lab Technician, and Saul Hankin, the Digital Projects Specialist.

The first collection digitized in YIVO’s new lab was Record Group (RG) 85, the papers of Shalom Schwarzbard (1886-1938). After a globally publicized trial in 1927, Schwarzbard, a Russian-born watchmaker, writer, and activist, was acquitted of the 1926 assassination of Simon Petlyura. Petlyura was widely blamed for pogroms against Ukrainian Jews from 1918-21.  The collection includes letters of support during Schwarzbard’s trial, as well as portions of his prison diary and manuscripts of his memoirs. “This is a very fitting collection to be our inaugural collection for the lab,” said Geller.

For more information contact:
Devora Geller
Digital Preservation Manager
(212) 294-6116

The Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections

The Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections project is an international preservation and digitization initiative to reunite YIVO’s prewar library and archival collections located in New York City and Vilnius, Lithuania, through a dedicated web portal. One of the most ambitious preservation and digital initiatives in Jewish history, the Project encompasses up to 12,500 rare or unique volumes and approximately 2 million pages of literary manuscripts, memoirs, diaries, communal records, religious sermons, letters and other materials. Total project costs are estimated at $7 million, of which YIVO has raised $5.9 million to date. vilnacollections.yivo.org

YIVO

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is dedicated to the preservation and study of the history and culture of East European Jewry worldwide. For nearly a century, YIVO has pioneered new forms of Jewish scholarship, research, education, and cultural expression. Our public programs and exhibitions, as well as online and on-site courses, extend our outreach to a global community. The YIVO Archives contains 24 million unique items and YIVO’s Library has over 400,000 volumes—the single largest resource for the study of East European Jewish life in the world. yivo.org / yivo.org/the-whole-story