Student employees in The Ohio State University Libraries Preservation and Digitization Department are making a collection of rare historic Jewish and Hebraic materials accessible to researchers across the world.
For Alex Corpuz, a fourth-year German and Medieval & Renaissance Studies major, the project is intrinsically linked to her studies.
“My professor and mentor Dr. Anna Grotans of the German Department reached out to me and a few more of her students telling us about this opportunity,” said Corpuz. “I had worked with University Libraries’ special collections in a few classes before, so I was really excited to work on this project. Since the majority of the collection is in German, it was also a great way for me to keep up my language skills over the summer when I started.”
The Hebraica and Jewish Studies Collection at The Ohio State University Libraries began in the late 1960s, when the University purchased the contents of a Judaica/Hebraica bookstore in Amsterdam. The ephemera collection, housed at the Rare Books & Manuscripts Library, consists of more than 1,600 items, the majority of which can be found in only a handful of libraries around the world. Many of the items are unique to Ohio State.
“These are publications that you wouldn’t have been able to purchase at a regular bookstore; pamphlets similar to what you might receive today at your local church or your synagogue,” said Joseph Galron-Goldschläger, Jewish Studies Librarian at University Libraries. “In fact, they may have even been viewed like junk mail at the time. Although they had little commercial value, they gave you a picture of the society, of the community at the time of publication.”
“They document the history of the 19th and 20th centuries that didn’t appear in the history books,” he continued. “It’s a rare look into the lives of the people.”
“Over the years, the Rare Books & Manuscripts Library has received numerous requests for scanned copies of the items,” said Amy McCrory, University Libraries’ digitization program manager and Corpuz’s supervisor. “Many of the materials are fragile, most are rare, and some are the only known copies available in any library.”
While some of the items had been previously sent to Google Books for digitization, more than half were unable to be scanned by Google due to their fragility. Thanks to generous funding from the Renee Levine Foundation, the digitization of the materials can now be completed on Ohio State’s campus.
“With the help of our student employees, we are able to do the work right here on campus, with the added benefit of having the materials stabilized in the Conservation department to protect them,” said McCrory, who saw the digitization of the remaining materials as an opportunity to offer educationally purposeful student employment.
“When the student has a good reading ability in the language of the materials, the scanning goes more quickly and with fewer errors. All in all, it's a very satisfying experience for students to see their work completed and viewable on the Internet, and to apply their language skills toward something so valuable for University Libraries and the people who access our collections.”
Corpuz also notes that working with the collection has enriched her academic studies.
“There is, of course, the obvious connection to my German studies in that I am reading a slightly earlier form of the language as I work with the items,” she said. “There are also a number of items that specifically concern the Middle Ages and late Antiquity, so it has allowed me to gather more perspectives on my historical focus. I've also taken a few courses on books as material culture, so directly handling 200-year-old books and pamphlets has enhanced my experience and understanding of those classes.”
“Just by handling the items, I've come to recognize certain patterns of binding that indicate location and sometimes even publisher, I've gotten a lot of practice reading black-letter fonts and I've been learning so much about European-Jewish culture from this time period,” said Corpuz.
Corpuz isn’t the only student employee integral to the digitization of the Hebraica and Jewish Studies Collection. Melina Edic, a recent graduate with a dual degree in anthropology and ancient history and classics, and Eva Rando, a third-year chemistry major, are part of the team that prepares the materials for digitization.
“The work I do on the project relates to stabilization of the materials prior to and after digitization,” said Rando. “For example, I perform tissue repairs, resewing and dry cleaning. The idea is to put the items in a state where they can be digitized without causing further deterioration.”
“There is a lot of overlap between archaeology and conservation, particularly in how materials are carefully examined and preserved,” said Edic, who is currently taking advantage of the university’s extended education program to complete prerequisite courses for graduate school. “My conservation work has made me a better archaeologist, and vice versa. In many cases, it is helpful to examine a book the same way I would examine an artifact or work of art.”
“While most of the Historical Jewish Pamphlets I have worked with have been similar in size and shape,” she continues, “there is a lot of variation in their current conditions and how they were constructed originally. It is interesting to see how certain methods of construction hold up over time, and what damage they can have on the pamphlet.”
Rando also noted that her work with University Libraries coincides with her studies.
“My studies at Ohio State are focused around the three pillars of conservation: chemistry, studio art and history of art,” she said. “My work in the conservation lab ties all of these together and allows me to gain valuable experience for graduate school.”
Edic and Rando both intend to pursue graduate studies in conservation and noted that the work they are completing on this project will provide them with a competitive edge on graduate school applications. McCrory recognizes the benefits of these positions for all three student employees.
“Anyone planning a career in teaching and scholarship should consider working in their university library as a student assistant,” she said. “This kind of job expands and deepens people's understanding of how library collections - both print and digital - are built and managed, which in turn can augment their research skills.”
For Corpuz, the job is rewarding beyond gaining experience and skills.
“Most important to me is for people to know that items like this existed, and that canon isn't the end-all-be-all of history and textual transmission,” she said. “These were items that, in the form of pamphlets, were cheaper and thus more accessible to those who couldn't afford more expensive bound books, let alone decorated ones. I want people to know that the way people talk about themselves and to themselves through texts isn't limited to literature and scholarly work. People have always had less-than-permanent ways of expressing themselves and sharing that expression. That's what this collection is.”
To view the digitized Historic Jewish Pamphlets Collection, visit Internet Archive. For more information about the complete Hebraica and Jewish Studies Collection at University Libraries, visit guides.osu.edu/jdc.
*Pictured items, clockwise from left: "Butter-Verfälschung: Eine dringende Warnung für jeden jüdische Haushalt" (BM710 C3 1891), a warning to Jewish households against consuming margarine; "Neutestamentliche Zeitseschichte" (BS2410 S8 1920 N. II), the second of two volumes containing histories of the Jewish religion in the New Testament-period; "Lehrbuch der mosaischen Religion" (BM565 B42 1826), a teaching book that appears to have been used in the classroom in the year 1828; "Legenden aus dem Talmud" (BM530 F76 1922), a collection of legends from the Talmud.