"From Haven
to Home" Exhibit at the Library of Congress
“From Haven to Home: A Library of Congress Exhibition
Marking 350 Years of Jewish Life in America” opened
on Sept. 9 in the Northwest Gallery of the Library’s
Thomas Jefferson Building. On view through Dec. 18, the exhibition
is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday.
“The Library’s collections are rich in materials
that document the history and culture of America’s Jewish
community,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.
“Letters from George Washington, James Madison, Thomas
Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln to prominent Jewish Americans
and comprehensive collections of materials in a variety of
formats by and about America’s Jews testify to a sympathetic,
creative and reciprocal relationship between America and its
Jewish community.”
“From Haven to Home” marks the anniversary of
the arrival in New Amsterdam (New York City) of 23 Jews fleeing
Recife, Brazil, which passed from Dutch to Portuguese rule
in 1654. The exhibition features more than 150 treasures of
Judaica Americana from the Library’s collections as
well as items on loan from partner institutions on the congressionally
recognized Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American
Jewish History. The members of the Commission are the Library
of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration,
the American Jewish Historical Society and the Jacob Rader
Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives.
Featured items from the Library’s collections that
will be on display include:
- The original letter from the Newport Hebrew Congregation
to George Washington, as well as Washington’s response,
both of which include the famous phrase asserting that the
United States “to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution
no assistance”
- Thomas Jefferson’s 1818 letter to prominent American
Jewish leader Mordecai M. Noah, in which the former president
cautions that “more remains to be done, for altho’
we are free by the law, we are not so in practice”
- Rare colonial maps of Newport and New York showing the
locations of each city’s synagogue, as well as other
houses of worship
- Abraham Lincoln’s notation, penciled on the back
of an envelope, confirming his intent to rescind Grant’s
infamous Order No. 11 banning Jews as a class from areas
of Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi
- Vintage film footage of life on the Lower East Side of
New York City at the turn of the 20th century
- Irving Berlin’s tribute to his adopted home, “God
Bless America,” in his own hand.
Items on loan from the Library’s partner institutions
on the Commission include, from the American Jewish Historical
Society, Emma Lazarus’ handwritten “The New Colossus,”
the 1883 sonnet whose words “Give me your tired, your
poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”
were inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty in 1903;
from the National Archives and Records Administration, the
May 14, 1948, note from President Harry S. Truman recognizing
the State of Israel, with the president’s own handwritten
corrections; and, from the Marcus Center of the American Jewish
Archives, the chilling “Riegner Telegram,” which
alerted Rabbi Stephen Wise in August 1942 of the Nazi plan
to murder with poison gas all the Jews in occupied Europe.
Commission members will also lend items to other exhibitions
commemorating the 350th anniversary that will open in Cincinnati,
New York and Los Angeles between the fall of 2004 and early
February 2006.
A companion book titled From Haven to Home: 350 Years
of Jewish Life in America has been published by the Library
in association with George Braziller Inc. Edited by Michael
W. Grunberger, head of the Library’s Hebraic Section,
this compilation of essays by leading historians provides
insight into the complexities of the American Jewish experience
within the framework of American history and culture. The
240-page publication, with more than 100 color illustrations,
is available for $50 in bookstores nationwide and in the Library’s
Sales Shop. For credit card orders, call (888) 682-3557.
The exhibition, companion volume and a series of public programs
are made possible by a generous grant from the Abby and Emily
Rapoport Trust Fund in the Library of Congress, a fund established
by Bernard and Audre Rapoport of Waco, TX and named in honor
of their granddaughters, to support the Judaic programs of
the Library.
Community Chronicles Project
The Commission is organizing this inovative project to document
the distinctive American Jewish experience on the local level.
Jewish communities, large and small, across America will be
asked to submit significant local records (photographs, correspondence,
rare documents, announcements, charters, near-print and genealogical
materials) which will be used during the 350th Anniversary
and beyond in national exhibits, on our web-site, and as resources
for research and scholarship for generations to come. Further
information will be available on this website beginning late
in the Fall of 2003
Other Projects and Events
• An internet website commemorating 350
years of American Jewish history. In addition to marking this
historical milestone, the website will also serve as a gateway
to the impressive historical resources that currently exist
on the internet.
• A series of public media productions that advance
the public’s awareness of the history of Jewish life
in the American nation.
• A series of educational initiatives, electronic and
in print, that will serve all organizations, institutions
and individuals who are interested in the study and teaching
of American Jewish history
Through the development and presentation of the foregoing
history-based initiatives, the Commission seeks to enhance
all peoples’ understanding of
the uniqueness of American democracy and culture. |
