Of Learning and Libraries: The Seminary Library at One HundredThe Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of Judaica and Hebraica in the Western Hemisphere; since its establishment one hundred years ago, seekers of knowledge throughtout the world have availed themselves of its vast resources. It was not through mere chance, hoever, that this magnificent collection of manuscripts and rare books came into being. Its existence is owed to the efforts of farsighted Seminary presidents, diligent librarians and supportive members of the community. Leaders such as Solomon Schechter, Cyrus Adler, Louis Finkelstein and Gershon D. Cohen understood that without an adequate library no teaching program of higher Jewish learning could proceed. In turn, they attracted edicated librarian-scholars such as Alexander Marx, Nahum Sarna and Menaham Schmelzer, who diligently organized the Library's officail treasures, making them available not only to faculty and students, but to the general public as well. Moreover, the tradition of concerned philanthropy established in the past by Jacob Schiff, Louis Marshall, Felix Warburg and Judge Mayer Sulzberger, is now being carried on by generous friends of the Library. As we stand on the threshold of the Library's second century, its objectives are as clear today as they were one hundredyears ago; to enable men and women to study, teach and observe the tenets of their Faith. |
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acquisition Adler collection Alexander Marx American Jewish Baron David Baroness Gunzburg Ben-Horin Berlin Bible bibliography bookplate building catalog chairman Chancellor Cohen committee Congregation Conservative Judaism contract Cyrus Adler Deinard depot donated Elkan Enelow faculty Felix Warburg File March-April 1914 fire Genizah Germany graduate Gunzburg collection Gunzburg library Gunzburg to Alexander Hebraica Hebrew books Hebrew Union College Ibid institution Jacob Schiff Jerusalem Jewish community Jewish history Jewish Theological Seminary Jews JTS Archives JTS Marx Archives Judaica Judge Mayer Sulzberger Kohut letter librarian library's literature Louis Finkelstein Louis Ginzberg Louis Marshall Marx's Mayer Sulzberger Museum Number October Petersburg Philadelphia president printed books Professor purchase Rabbi rare books Reform rubles Russian Sabato Morais Sarna Schechter to Judge scholar scholarly Seminary Addresses Seminary library Seminary of America Seminary's served Solomon Schechter Steinschneider Stroock Studies Synagogue Talmud Teachers teaching tion Torah traditional treasures vols volumes wrote Yeshiva Yiddish Zionist