YIVO's 2024 Roundup
We are most grateful to our members and supporters, whose generous financial support ensured that YIVO was able to continue in its mission to provide enriching content to our global audience. Here are a few highlights from the year:
Education at YIVO
Over 1,000 students from 36 countries signed up for 78 classes taught in person or on Zoom by our incredible faculty. The YIVO-Bard Uriel Weinreich Summer Program took place both in person and online, enabling 75 students from 11 countries and 24 states around the world to participate.
YIVO’s Shine Online Educational Series
In March, YIVO launched Is Anything Okay? The History of Jews and Comedy in America, the fifth course in YIVO’s Shine Online Educational Series. Is Anything Okay? delves into the history of Jewish comedy and its explosive development in the United States. Nearly 4,000 people from 37 countries registered for the new course.
Public Programs
In 2024, we hosted 78 public programs, which had over 29,500 registrations and over 619,000 views on YouTube. Taking place in person and on Zoom, these programs covered a range of Jewish life, history, and culture.
YIVO Bruce and Francesca Cernia Slovin Online Museum
In May, YIVO launched the second exhibition of the digitally-native YIVO Bruce and Francesca Cernia Slovin Online Museum, Yitskhok Rudashevski: A Teenager’s Account of Life and Death in the Vilna Ghetto. The exhibition, available free of charge, explores Jewish life in the Vilna Ghetto (1941-43) through the contemporaneous diary of a teenage boy that was miraculously discovered after World War II and has been preserved in the YIVO Archives in New York City.
Exhibitions
In 2024, we mounted two on-site exhibitions created by Eddy Portnoy, YIVO’s Senior Academic Advisor and Director of Exhibitions. The first, The Instant Art of Morris Katz, explored Guinness world record holder Morris Katz’s background, art, and his unique creative process. The second, Runaway Husbands, Desperate Families: The Story of the National Desertion Bureau (co-presented with The Jewish Board), detailed the story of the National Desertion Bureau with never-before-seen records, documents, and photographs from the organization’s voluminous archives.
Jewish Labor and Political Archives
The Jewish Labor and Political Archives (JLPA) forms the world’s most comprehensive body of material pertaining to Jewish social and political activism in Europe and the United States. YIVO is in the midst of an 8-year project to make these unparalleled materials available for free access online. Of the approximately 3.5 million pages in the collection, 65% were conserved, 35% were processed, and 15% were digitized and made available online.
YIVO Archives and Library
The YIVO Archvies added 46 new record groups this year. Over 2,500 items were paged for researchers from the Archives and Library. YIVO’s digital assets were viewed almost 700,000 times. About 30,000 complimentary reference photos were taken for patrons around the world.
YIVO Learning and Media Center
Through 29 separate events (including visits, presentations, and workshops) during the YIVO Learning and Media Center’s pilot phase, over 800 visitors were introduced to YIVO’s institutional history, YIVO’s Library and Archives, and select aspects of Jewish and Yiddish history and culture.
In 2025, YIVO will be celebrating its Centennial Anniversary! Join us as we celebrate our first one hundred years and look forward to starting YIVO’s second century.