Association of Jewish Libraries 2024 Conference San Diego

Libraries, archives and related organizations have begun working to identify within their collections books stolen from Jewish individuals, families and libraries by Nazi armies or their allies. With the formation of an AJL task force on Nazi-era looted books, we have created a framework for working together on these efforts: to share information and develop best practices, to plan joint ventures and grant applications. This work examines all aspects of library collections, cataloging, record-keeping, with issues of restitution and acquisitions–the focus of the AJL-NLI white paper–as secondary concerns. Here, we present examples of the kinds of work task force member institutions have done in this realm, of how we are working together.

Stamped on History at Brandeis : Identifying Looted Materials in Our Collections--Lou Hartman and Ari Kleinman
Founded in 1948, Brandeis University was among the largest recipients of Nazi-looted books distributed after World War II by the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction Project (JCR). Brandeis Library leadership is committed to retaining these titles. The challenge that faced us: how do we find them? In this paper, two of the key librarians involved present the story of creating and developing workflows for identifying these works and training student workers to assist in the project. In doing this work, we moved towards standards for discoverability, created and maintained practices and documentation, and initiated efforts to network with libraries in similar positions, including the establishment of the AJL Task Force on Nazi Era Looted Books.

Unearthing and Highlighting the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction Collection in the Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University--Elaine Mael
Baltimore Hebrew College (now Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University) received over 4,000 items from the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction. To address the original lack of identification and preservation, BHI initiated a project to locate all JCR materials, enhance existing database records, and capture the markings unique to each item. The library actively pursues grants to further these plans and engages in many educational activities to highlight this collection. It also works closely with the AJL Task Force on Nazi-era looted books to develop best practices for identifying, cataloging, and sharing information about these collections. I plan to present the work already accomplished by BHI and to outline plans for future steps.