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A Research Library for Jewish Art

The DFG Project: Expanding and Indexing Our Library’s Holdings

As part of the Funding for Outstanding Research Libraries, the German Research Foundation (DFG) has supported our library project. This has made extensive expansion and indexing of our literature holdings on the visual and applied arts and the visual and material culture of Judaism possible.

Even before the project started, our library stock on these topics was relatively comprehensive. There were however numerous historically predicated gaps that we have been largely able to fill through systematic acquisition. Overall, this project has enabled us to expand our holdings by around 3,550 publications.

In the first phase of the project, we focused initially on searching for and acquiring monographs, anthologies, and exhibition catalogs. The focus of the second project phase was the addition of so-called gray literature, i.e. publications that never reached the book trade. To the collection appeal

All titles that we acquired as part of the project were cataloged according to differentiated subject classification. They are researchable in our OPAC (in German). More on our library system

Moreover we digitized 81 art publications, which are now available in full text and can be found here.

Show OPAC publications (in German)

Even after completion of the project, we are continuing to gradually expand our library collection in the area of fine and applied arts and the visual and material culture of Judaism. This collection focus of national importance aims to contribute in the long term to reestablishing the research tradition in Germany that was interrupted in 1933.

The project was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the Scientific Library Services and Information Systems program from December 2013 to February 2018.

How can I donate objects, photographs, and documents to the museum?

If you would like to support the Jewish Museum Berlin and believe you possess materials that may be of interest to us, contact us!

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How can I conduct research using the museum’s archive, collections, and library?

Our Reading Room is open to the public. You can also research using our library’s holdings and some of our collection’s holdings online. To view additional holdings, please contact the responsible curators.

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Contact

Monika Sommerer
T +49 (0)30 259 93 564
m.sommerer@jmberlin.de

Address

Jewish Museum Berlin
Lindenstraße 9–14
10969 Berlin

View into the aisle between two rows of bookshelves in a library

The Library of the Jewish Museum Berlin

Our Library: Books, films, and more about Jewish art, culture, and history
Library Catalog (OPAC)
Information for Visitors
Reading Room: Opening hours, catalogs, databases, requesting archive material
Registration Form: Register to view rare holdings from our library and documents from our archive
Terms of Use: Requirements for visitors to the archive and library of the Jewish Museum Berlin
Our Library’s Classification Scheme: The focuses and thematic areas according to which our collection is organized and grouped
List of Fees: Prices and rates for services at the reading room of our library and archive
Collections and Projects
Collections on Jewish Art and Culture: Volumes printed by the Soncino Society, the publications of the Centralverein, Hebrew Printing, and special collections on Jewish art and visual culture
The Artur Brauner Collection: Twenty-one films by the successful film producer
Digitizing Book Holdings: Publications of the Soncino Society of Friends of the Jewish Book, 2016
Current page: Enlarging and Indexing Our Holdings in Jewish Art: DFG Project on visual and material culture of Judaism, 2013–2018
Digital Content
Highlights from the Library Collection: A medieval manuscript, a cookbook from 1900, an elaborate Hebrew children’s book and other treasures
Digital Books: A complete list of our digitized books (in German)
Rare Digital Books: Curated selection of valuable digitized material from our holdings
Story Time in Our Library: Why Noah Chose the Dove by Isaac Bashevis Singer, 2023
“Hörmahl:” A Feast for the Ears: Podcast series about Rahel Varn­hagen, Lina Morgen­stern and other women writers, 2021–2022, in German
See also
Judaica Portal: Online database of Judaica holdings at various institutions, including our library’s holdings
Periodicals in the ZDB: Research tool for magazines, newspapers, and databases in German and Austrian libraries
Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (DDB): Our digitized publications accessible via the DDB
AG Jüdische Sammlungen: Website of the Jewish Collections working group (in German)
Library Holdings: Search engine for our online collections (in German)
Literature
Literature for Children and Young Adults

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