Image: Signed First Edition of How to Make it in a Man’s World from the library of The American Jewish Historical Society By Melanie J. Meyers, M.S., Senior Librarian for Special Collections, Reference, and Instruction, Lillian Goldman Reading Room, Center For Jewish History Before Sheryl Sandberg told women to Lean In, Letty Cottin Pogrebin (Born June 9, 1939) was giving women the scoop on…
Did you hear about the new Dr. Seuss book “What Pet Should I Get?” released today? In March of 2012 Melanie J. Meyers, M.S. Senior Reference Services Librarian, Special Collections, wrote a piece for the blog on Dr. Seuss books in the collections. 16thstreet: Happy Birthday, Dokter Seuss!by Melanie J. Meyers, M.S., Senior Reference Librarian, Center for Jewish History March 2, 2012 would have…
16thstreet: Happy Birthday, Dokter Seuss!by Melanie J. Meyers, M.S., Senior Reference Librarian, Center for Jewish History March 2, 2012 would have been the 108th birthday of the venerable cartoonist and children’s book author, Doctor Seuss. While Dr. Seuss was not Jewish, his books have a universal appeal that resonates with children (and adults) of all religions and cultures. His political cartoons were among the…
Mapping the Offenbach Archival Depot: A Collaborative Endeavorby Melanie J. Meyers, M.S., Senior Reference Services Librarian, Special Collections, Center for Jewish History Click here to view a map that shows how books looted by the Nazis traveled across Europe. As a reference librarian at the Center for Jewish History, one of my favorite items to show when I am asked to teach and lecture is a…
Translating Charles Darwinby Melanie J. Meyers, M.S., Senior Reference Services Librarian, Special Collections, Center for Jewish History November 24 was the 154th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s most famous work, The Origin of the Species. The full title of the work was On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, but this title was…
It Came From the Stacks: Moby Dickby Melanie J. Meyers, M.S., Senior Reference Services Librarian, Special Collections, Center for Jewish History One of the strengths of the YIVO library collection is the amazing wealth of works translated into various languages, Yiddish or Hebrew in particular. This version of Herman Melville’s classic work Moby Dick (Or, Mobi Diḳ, if you prefer), was printed in Tel Aviv, circa 1951, by…
by Melanie J. Meyers, M.S., Senior Reference Librarian, Center for Jewish History “Each suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night—she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question—’Is this all?’ ”— Betty Friedan, The…
Happy Birthday, Robert Louis Stevenson!by Melanie J. Meyers, M.S., Senior Reference Librarian, Center for Jewish History Robert Louis Stevenson was born yesterday in the year 1850 in Scotland. He was a prolific and popular author in his time, enjoying a great deal of success until he fell out of critical favor after World War II. In the latter part of the 20th century, his…
Happy (Belated) Birthday, Emma Goldman!by Melanie J. Meyers, Senior Reference Services Librarian, Center for Jewish History “No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution… revolution is but thought carried into action.” –Emma Goldman Emma Goldman was an influential political thinker, anarchist and feminist. She was born on June 27, 1869 to an orthodox Jewish family in Kovno, Russia, in what is…
Happy Birthday, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!Detective fiction from the Partner Collectionsby Melanie J. Meyers, M.S., Senior Reference Librarian, Center for Jewish History “My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don’t know.” –from “The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes” (1892) May 22, 1859 was the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes: the most celebrated sleuth…
“But the wild things cried, ‘Oh please don’t go—We’ll eat you up—we love you so!’” —Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) Remembering Maurice Sendakby Melanie J. Meyers, M.S., Senior Reference Librarian, Center for Jewish History Maurice Sendak passed away yesterday, May 8, in Danbury, CT. The legendary children’s author was a born and bred New Yorker, with his Polish-Jewish family hailing from Brooklyn. He was the recipient…