Blog

A conversation with Stefanie Halpern about this centennial book highlighting one hundred objects chosen from YIVO’s twenty-four million.

Oct 17, 2025

My search for Stencl over the years has taken me across the globe.

Nov 10, 2024

Baker explores the career of Abraham S. Freidus, a reclusive, pioneering, and Yiddish-theater-loving Judaica librarian. His research reveals the tight nexus that existed a century ago between a small coterie of Eastern European-born Judaica librarians in the United States; their philanthropic patrons of Central European background; and the largely male, Yiddish-speaking readers who frequented the important Jewish libraries of that era.

Mar 07, 2021

Elena Hoffernberg interviews Gerben Zaagsma about his path to studying Yiddish in the Spanish Civil War; the potency and the frustrations of digital research; and the future of digital studies and Yiddish.

Feb 25, 2020

Sholem Asch’s arrival at the small house at 50 Arlozorov Street in the coastal town of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, was to be his final move in over two decades of travels. Six decades later, the house has been carefully restored and reopened as a museum.

Feb 16, 2020

We are interested in pieces that place the recent events at YIVO in the context of discipline-wide trends, historical, economic, scholarly and otherwise, and that help us think through the broader forces that produced this moment and its possible ramifications.

Feb 09, 2020

Saulė Valiūnaitė offers a glimpse into the storied Velfke’s restaurant, a gathering place for Yiddish writers, actors, and artists in interwar Vilne.

Jan 21, 2020

Our new Briv funem arkhiv section will feature short pieces about interesting, significant, funny, or surprising archival finds.

Sep 22, 2019

An interview with Naomi Seidman, Chancellor Jackman Professor of the Humanities at the University of Toronto, and Basya Schechter, musician and founder of Pharoah’s Daughter, who are working on their compelling project called The Bais Yaakov project.

Jun 05, 2019

David Shneer interviews Rob Adler Peckerar and Alexx Shilling about their project to bring embodied artistic interpretation to bear on a linguistic archive.

May 20, 2019