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W O L P E /O S T R O W L IB R A R Y — U N IV E R S IT Y O F JU D A ISM
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labels, covers and special cancellations, from 1902 until the mid
1960’s.
During the past year, the library received a gift o f 400 vol
umes, a considerable portion o f which dealt with the Arab world
and Palestine before the British Mandate. This collection in
cludes books and research documents concerning Jews active
in the Polish second corps in World War II.
In the nea r fu tu re , the library will be the recipient o f a major
gift o f several thousand volumes in theology, philosophy, and
Bible from the president o f the University, Dr. David Lieber.
GROW ING SUPPORT
As the library grew monetary endowments for special collec
tions began to increase. As a result, the library now boasts special
collections in Medicine, Law, Ethics, Music, Yiddish, Semitic
Languages, Sephardic culture, Sociology o f Israel, Philosophy,
and many o the r areas o f both general and Jewish interest.
Several interesting private donations came to the library over
the years. Irving Jonas, Head Cantor of the renowned congre
gation o f Mainz from 1930-1947, donated his extensive collec
tion o f liturgical materials. Kalman Friedman, Chief Rabbi o f
Florence Italy, donated his collection o f rabbinics in Italian,
many o f the works going back to the 17th and 18th century.
T he Friedman collection contained such works as a 1538 edition
o f
Sefer Hasidim
prin ted in Bologna, the
Mikhlol
o f R. David
Kimchi from Venice, 1545, and many similar works.
The range o f the collection is demonstrated first by the un
usual Judaica and Hebraica items, including such diverse works
as rabbinic memoirs, an extensive collection o f modern schol
arship on the Bible, many works o f talmudic and legal com
mentary, a complete set o f the Nuremberg Trials and the papers
o f the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem . These works exist side by
side with very d iffe ren t items, such as a complete set o f
The
Cross and the Flag
, the periodical founded by the notorious anti-
Semite Gerald L.K. Smith, the 1962
Sovietish Heymland,
and a
growing classics library, with a range o f Latin, Greek and Roman
authors.
A particularly fo rtuna te acquisition was the Maslan Bible col
lection. This 5,000 volume collection includes Bibles o f all sizes
in Hebrew, Syriac, French, German, Chinese, Tagalog, Cher