Yiddish Studies

Collection Details
Description of Collection
Subjects of the Collection
Collection Material and Size of Collection
Collection Management Information
Collection Catalogue Information
Collection Printed Catalogues
Links to Other Collections

Collection Details

Yiddish Studies held at SOAS Library [Institution record]

Printed guides

Description of Collection

Content description

The whole range of humanities and social sciences are covered, with emphasis on 19th and 20th century Yiddish literature, as well as religious, social, cutural and political issues. Includes 20 boxes of archives, 3,000 volumes, and 100 periodical titles.

History and development

Up to the 1980s, the Library held few Yiddish items. From 1983 onwards, this was transformed mainly through the acquisition of the Stencl archives and library, and books from the Leftwich and Whitechapel Judaica collections. Now constitutes an excellent resource for teaching and research to post-graduate level.

Strengths

19th and 20th century Yiddish language and literature, and Yiddish translations of well known European language literary works. Extensive archival resource in Yiddish literature

General arrangement and access regulations

Printed books and periodicals chiefly on open access. Stencl archives and manuscripts on closed access.

Subjects of the Collection

Regions of Asia

Near & Middle East and North Africa.

Countries

Israel.

Languages of material

English, French, German, Russian, Yiddish.

Subjects

Anthropology, Arts, Economics, Education, Geography, History, Language, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Politics and government, Religion, Science and technology, Sociology, Travel, Women.

Languages as linguistic focus

Yiddish.

Names relevant to the collection:

Stencl, Abraham Nahum, 1897-1983

Collection Material and Size of Collection

Material Types

Archival materials (includes non-published & mixed material), Books, Manuscripts, Serials, Visual materials (includes photographs, prints, drawings, videos & films).

Total size of collection

3,000 volumes, 100 periodical titles (mostly non-current), 20 boxes of archives and manuscripts

Size of collection - vernacular

2,800 volumes, 100 periodical titles (mostly non-current), 20 boxes of archives and manuscripts

Size of collection - western

200 volumes

Collection Management Information

The collection is being actively developed, and the average intake has stayed the same.

Annual intake

10 volumes

Content date range

1800 to present

Interlibrary loan procedure

Collection policy

Since Yiddish has been taught at SOAS, it has been the policy to collect moderately in the area of Yiddish language and literature, especially as Yiddish is essential for understanding the development of the revival of Hebrew.

Retention policy

At present all material is retained with the following exceptions: outdated editions of teaching texts, multiple copies of teaching material no longer used, material for which there is no evident demand, material which has been replaced by microform, unless it is of historic value. Academic advice is normally sought before a decision is taken. Apply to the Director of Library and Information Services for further information.

Collection Catalogue Information

Catalogue

The online library catalogue offers access to all material acquired since 1989 and a substantial part of the material collected prior to that date. Work to add records for the earlier collections from the card catalogue is ongoing and by the end of 2002 all material acquired since 1979 will be included as well as significant parts of the rest of the collection. For those who cannot access the card catalogue on site the Library's catalogues have been published (details below).

Catalogue transliteration schemes

Since 1989 all records have been created using the current Library of Congress transliteration schemes, with the exception of Japanese which uses Modified Hepburn. As records are added to the online catalogue the transliterated records are being updated to these schemes.

Catalogue scripts

The current cataloguing and some of the earlier records for the following languages contain author and title fields in the relevant script: Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Ladino, Persian, Yiddish.

Collection printed catalogues

Library catalogue of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
School of Oriental and African Studies
Boston MA: G.K.Hall & Co., 1963-1978.
3 supplements were published by the same publisher in 1968, 1973 and 1978. IDC published a fifth and final supplement in microfiche for 1978-1989 in 1990.

Guide to archives and manuscript collections in the Library
Seton, Rosemary
London: SOAS, 1994.
Lists entry on p. 26: Stencl, Abraham, Nahum (PP MS 44) Word processed list also available in Special Collections Reading Room.

Yiddish culture in Britain: a guide
Prager, Leonard
Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1990.
Lists the British imprints of all Yiddish titles held by SOAS Library.