ib singer ib singer ib singer ib singer ib singer - Center for Jewish ...

6
The Center
and the Scholars
by Michael A. Meyer and
Elisheva Carlebach
A
lthough the Center for Jewish History hosts numerous popular
programs for Jewish and general audiences in New
York, its fundamental purpose is to serve the national and international
community of Jewish scholars, especially modern Jewish
historians. We historians had long felt the need for a single institution
that brings together under one roof so many of the archival
and literary resources we require for our work. We also welcomed
the establishment of the Center because of its possibilities for
conducting our research in an
environment conducive to the
scope of our scholarship. Here,
veteran and, especially, younger
scholars are able to interact with
their counterparts studying American,
German, East European or
Sephardic Jewish history. The
results are a mutual fructification
and a synergy that inspire better
scholarship and a deepening of
American Jewish culture.
To explore these possibilities,
and to establish a framework
for furthering them, the Academic
Advisory Council of the Center was
established. Today it consists of
fifteen members who serve on the
faculty and staffs of leading academic
and research institutions,
among them Stanford University,
the University of Pennsylvania,
the University of Michigan, New
York University, the Jewish Theological
Seminary, and the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
We are a diverse group —
seasoned scholars and younger historians,
men and women from various sections of the country who
work in one or another of the fields represented by the Center.
The Council’s principal function is to provide an academic
perspective: to advise, propose, and evaluate. Because we know
the needs of Jewish scholars, we are in a position to suggest to
the Center how to create the best environment for its Reading
Room, make the most effective use of its resources, and create
programs that will win the approval and support of the scholarly
community. Together with the Association for Jewish Studies,
whose national office has recently been established at the Center,
we provide an essential link to the large and growing
community of Jewish scholars.
Toward that end, we have initiated programs that raise the
Center’s profile among our colleagues and in the Jewish world.
For example, shortly after the Center opened, the Council organized
a major academic conference entitled “Centers of Modern
MICHAEL LUPPINO
The Lillian Goldman Reading Room
Jewish Studies,” which drew both university professors and a
general audience. It highlighted the vistas for integrated study
of various aspects of the modern Jewish experience that the Center
laid open before us.
The most remarkable success of the Council lies in its fellowship
and seminar program. Each year a few outstanding
graduate students are selected to receive fellowships that enable
them to pursue their doctoral research at the Center. They utilize
its rich resources, often in more than one of the Center partners’
collections. Fellows’ responsibilities include the delivery of a
research paper at seminars open to all members of the Center
community and conducted by a senior scholar. By attending the
seminars and by presenting their own research to the critical eyes
of others, the fellows develop a capacity for creative criticism and
learn to make effective oral presentations. As they encounter
each other informally during their stay at the Center, the
fellows are able to discuss research
techniques and gain a broader
understanding of fields adjacent to
their own. Thus the Center serves as
an important venue for the training
of future Jewish historians who
will preserve and transmit a living
heritage.
At the regularly held meetings
of the Council, and through
our committees, the Council
explores new opportunities for
enhancing the work of the Center.
We are currently engaged in planning
the Center’s commemoration
of the 350th anniversary of Jewish
settlement in America. We are
discussing a scholar-in-residence
program, which would enable
junior and senior historians to
spend a semester or a year at the
Center in order to consult with
staff and advise the graduate
fellows while pursuing their own
research. We are exploring the
use of video conferences, and an
effective use of prizes to
encourage research and publication.
We are also seeking to learn from other, longer
established institutions, such as Washington’s Holocaust Museum,
about how we can become a bridge connecting archival
treasures, scholars, and the public.
The Center, with its rich and diverse collections of
resources, is an unparalleled venture in the history of Jewish
scholarship. The Academic Council is devoted to transforming
these resources from historical documents and museum artifacts
into writings and presentations that will combine scholarship on
the highest level with relevance to the creative development of
American Jewish culture.
Michael A. Meyer (Hebrew Union College) and Elisheva
Carlebach (Queens College) are co-chairs of the Center’s Academic
Advisory Council