Treasures from the YIVO Collections
YOUTUBE SERIES
Every Friday throughout 2025, YIVO releases a new video highlighting a book, object, or artifact from its collections. Each short video features a YIVO staff member discussing an item and explaining its historical significance. Subscribe to YIVO's YouTube Channel.
Delve into some of these and other objects from the YIVO Collections in the recently published 100 Objects from the Collections of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
September VideosClick to view |
YIVO Director of Education Ben Kaplan discusses the word lists assembled by Nokhum Stutshkov for the comprehensive Yiddish dictionary project. (September 5, 2025)
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YIVO Director of Collections Stefanie Halpern discusses a songbook from Di Bin youth movement. (September 12, 2025) |
YIVO Public Programs Associate Julia Rothkoff discusses postal stamps commemorating Sholem Aleichem. (September 19, 2025) |
YIVO Sound Archivist Eléonore Biezunski discusses a 78 RPM disc of Zavel Kwartin's "Unsane Tokef." (September 26, 2025) |
August VideosClick to view |
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YIVO Director of Public Programs Alex Weiser discusses a poster promoting the 1939 film, "Tevya." (August 8, 2025) |
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YIVO Accessions and Bund Archivist Leo Greenbaum discusses a "Life is with People" by Mark Zborowski. (August 15, 2025) |
YIVO Archivist & Special Projects Manager Hallel Yadin discusses a benefit book from the Actors' Temple. (August 22, 2025) |
YIVO Reference & Outreach Archivist Ruby Landau-Pincus discussing the first chicken egg laid at the queer Jewish chicken farm, Linke Fligl. (August 29, 2025) |
July VideosClick to view |
YIVO Senior Academic Advisor & Director of Exhibitions Eddy Portnoy discusses a political cartoon by Zuni Maud, which appeared in "Der groyser kundes" in 1924. (July 4, 2025) |
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YIVO Sound Archivist Lorin Sklamberg discusses Mordkhe Gebirtig's notebooks. (July 11, 2025) |
YIVO Archivist & Special Projects Manager Hallel Yadin discusses Kodak slides depicting the everyday life of table tennis champions Tibor Házi Hoffmann and Magda Gal. (July 18, 2025) |
YIVO Sound Archivist Eléonore Biezunski discusses a 1906 wax cylinder recording of a parody of "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree." (July 25, 2025) |
June VideosClick to view |
YIVO Accessions and Bund Archivist Leo Greenbaum discusses a letter from Albert Einstein to journalist Joseph Brainin. (June 6, 2025) |
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YIVO Archivist & Special Projects Manager Hallel Yadin discusses a banner from the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. (June 13, 2025) |
YIVO Director of Education Ben Kaplan discusses magic lantern slides featuring images of Yiddish theater artists. (June 20, 2025) |
YIVO Program Assistant August Kahn discusses a Yiddish Esperanto textbook. (June 27, 2025) |
May VideosClick to view |
(May 2, 2025) |
YIVO Director of Collections Stefanie Halpern discusses a mourning pin for a star of the Yiddish theater. (May 9, 2025) |
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(May 16, 2025) |
YIVO Information Manager in the Archives Vital Zajka discusses a home video from Grodek. (May 23, 2025) |
YIVO Senior Academic Advisor & Director of Exhibitions Eddy Portnoy discusses an early issue of the "Forverts" from 1897. (May 30, 2025) |
April VideosClick to view |
YIVO Archivist & Special Projects Manager Hallel Yadin discusses a Bukhari wedding outfit from the late 1800s. (April 4, 2025) |
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YIVO Program Assistant August Kahn discusses a Haggadah from a displaced persons camp. (April 11, 2025) |
YIVO Public Programs Associate Julia Rothkoff discusses Fania Lewando's "The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook." (April 18, 2025) |
YIVO Learning and Media Center Educator Susannah Trubman discusses Leo Frank's letters to Abraham Cahan, editor of "Forverts." (April 25, 2025) |
March VideosClick to view |
YIVO Director of Education Ben Kaplan discusses Theodor Herzl's diary. (March 7, 2025) |
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YIVO Senior Academic Advisor & Director of Exhibitions Eddy Portnoy discusses a grager crafted around the time of the Holocaust. (March 14, 2025) |
YIVO Public Programs Associate Julia Rothkoff discusses a 1930s receipt booklet from YIVO's building fund. (March 21, 2025) |
YIVO Sound Archivist Eléonore Biezunski discusses a notebook of Yiddish folksongs. (March 28, 2025) |
February VideosClick to view |
YIVO Senior Academic Advisor & Director of Exhibitions Eddy Portnoy discusses puppets from the Modicut Yiddish Puppet Theater. (February 7, 2025). |
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YIVO Head of Archival Processing Yakov Sklar discussing letters from Riva Tcherikower to YIVO co-founder Elias Tcherikower. (February 14, 2025) |
YIVO Executive Director & CEO Jonathan Brent discusses an antisemitic 1922 letter from The Mohonk Mountain House hotel. (February 21, 2025) |
YIVO Public Programs Associate Julia Rothkoff discusses the Yiddish film journal Film Velt. (February 28, 2025) |
January VideosClick to view |
YIVO Executive Director and CEO Jonathan Brent discussing a cigarette box “honoring” the Zaporozhian Cossacks from the YIVO Archives. (January 3, 2025) |
YIVO Senior Academic Advisor & Director of Exhibitions Eddy Portnoy discusses Chaim Grade’s typewriter. (January 10, 2025) |
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Director of the YIVO Archives Stefanie Halpern discusses dolls created in a displaced persons camp in Florence. (January 17, 2025) |
YIVO Director of Public Programs Alex Weiser discussing the Yiddish Manuscript of Sh. An-ski’s The Dybbuk. (January 24, 2025) |
YIVO Director of Education Ben Kaplan discussing YIVO’s standardized Yiddish spelling called “the takones.” (January 31, 2025) |