IIJS’ Norman E. Alexander Librarian for Jewish Studies, Michelle Margolis, chronicled the early history of Jews at Columbia for the University Library page. Her article, “Jews at Columbia: The first hundred years (1754 - 1854), is available online.
Michelle Margolis is the Norman E. Alexander Librarian for Jewish Studies. She is responsible for developing the current library collections, both rare and general, as well as supporting research in Judaic and Israel Studies from around the world and in all languages. Ms. Margolis is also available to help with any level of questions in research of Judaic or Israel studies. Michelle represents the library to students and faculty.
Columbia Libraries’ Judaica collection includes materials from the 10th to the 21st centuries, and represents Jews from across the globe. Columbia’s Judaica manuscript collection is the third largest in the United States. A 2012 exhibition highlighted some of the most important manuscripts in the collection, and an exhibition in 2016 displayed highlights from Columbia’s Yiddish collection. More information about Judaica in the libraries, including subject specific guides to the collection, can be found here.
Click here to read Michelle Margolis’s article on The Columbia University Libraries page.