Acquisitions: Rare Collection of Jewish Texts Finds Home at Brown’s Library

From Brown University:

The Brown University Library is now home to a collection of rare illustrated texts that depict how Jewish communities have celebrated the Passover Seder across the globe, spanning more than 400 years and in a wide range of languages.
The Dr. Steven Ungerleider Collection of Haggadot — given to Brown by Ungerleider in honor of his father, Brown Class of 1939 graduate Samuel Ungerleider Jr. — includes Haggadot, the plural form of Haggadah. Each Haggadah functions as a guide that sets forth the order of rituals, blessings and customs of the first two nights of the Passover Seder, which commemorates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt.
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Haggadot in the Ungerleider collection hail from Jewish communities in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and the Near East. Included are Haggadot used in Constantinople in 1505, in Calcutta in 1841 and by Holocaust survivors in displaced persons camps around Munich in 1945 to 46, among many others.
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All of the Haggadot in the Ungerleider collection may be viewed in their original print format in the Special Collections Reading Room at Brown’s John Hay Library, which is open to the public.
Many of the texts are available in digital form, and the Library plans to digitize more material from the collection.
The Corporation of Brown Universityformally accepted the gift of the Ungerleider Collection, valued at more than $2 million, at its May 2018 meeting.

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