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Jonathan Brent – YIVO’s Rediscovered Archives in Vilna and New York; and Spotlight Talk: Elliot Matz – Bringing Jewish Life to Lithuania’s “Sturbridge Village”

November 8, 2020 @ 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm EST

– Zoom Meeting

YIVO’s collections include more than 2.5 million documents and 12,000 books that were long thought to be lost and represent over 500 years of Jewish history in Eastern Europe.  The landmark Edward Blank YIVO Vilna project will preserve and digitize these materials, making them available to researchers.  Dr. Jonathan Brent’s talk describes the project and the political and social roles these records play in contemporary Lithuanian society and 21stcentury Jewish identity.

Jonathan Brent
Jonathan Brent

Dr. Jonathan Brent is the Executive Director and CEO of the YIVO Institute of Jewish Research in New York. In 2014, with the cooperation of the government of the Republic of Lithuania, Dr. Brent established the landmark Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections project at the YIVO Institute. He is a Professor of History and Literature at Bard College.

 

Followed by Spotlight Talk:

Elliot Matz – Bringing Jewish Life to Lithuania’s “Sturbridge Village” 

Before World War I, there were thousands of small market towns in Eastern Europe where Christians and Jews  resided.  Today, millions of their descendants are not well served by an existing open-air Museum of Lithuania in the town of Rumsiskes, which all but omits the lives of the former Jewish population.  Elliot Matz speaks about his efforts to remedy this situation by adding a view of Jewish life in these towns to the exposition.

Elliot Matz  is a business executive who has managed complex responsibilities in real estate development, construction and maintenance, for the Brooklyn Navy Yard, CBS, Chemical Bank and other public and private enterprises.  As his family’s genealogist and historian, he has traced his family’s origin to Lithuania and its spread to Canada, England, Israel, Argentina and The Netherlands.


Admission is free for members, $5 for non-members.

Details

Date:
November 8, 2020
Time:
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm EST
Event Categories:
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Venue

– Zoom Meeting
Virtual

Organizer

JGSGB
Phone
866-611-5698
View Organizer Website