Association of Jewish Libraries 2024 Conference San Diego

The Online Jewish Exhibit at the NYPL: Concept and Implementation--Lyudmila Sholokhova
2024 marks a completion of the two-year project dedicated to celebrating a remarkable historical and geographical range of unique materials housed in the oldest Jewish public collection in the United States. The presentation will elucidate the exhibit's concept, with focus on the process of selecting the materials and research involved. It will present the highlights of the nine sections of the exhibit and discuss practical perspectives of the exhibit in the context of the educational and scholarly initiatives at the New York Public Library.

The Richard Plant papers at the New York Public Library--Michelle McCarthy-Behler
Best known for his book, The Pink Triangle (1986), a study of the persecution of LGBTQ community in Nazi Germany, this talk will discuss the life and research process of Richard Plant, a Jewish-German émigré, author and educator, and the network that he amassed of activists, sociologists, writers, and historians to bring this history into the public sphere. His correspondence includes discussion on data from the concentration camps and his efforts to extract more realistic statistics, as well as the intersection of his work with contemporary movements in the US during the 1970s-80s that represent the world's acknowledgement of the atrocities committed against the LGBTQ community in the National Socialist era.

Pepi Littman: Researching a Yiddish Drag King--Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel
This talk explores the life and work of Pepi Littman (1874?-1930), a popular Yiddish singer and actress known for her exuberant performances in male drag, and recently (re)claimed as a queer icon. I will discuss the process of conducting biographical research on Littman and other historical Yiddish artists. The challenges in tracing Pepi’s extraordinary life story include seeking out, gathering, and organizing disparate information; creating a structure for biographical data; and telling a coherent and compelling story with attention to both historical and contemporary context.