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Category: Jewish American History

Sophie Maslow and the Chanukah Festivals for Israel

Posted by: Melissa Wertheimer

The following is a guest post by Hallie Chametzky. Dance Archivist Libby Smigel introduces Hallie: Hallie Chametzky completed her summer Junior Fellowship with the Music Division in early August. Working with the papers of choreographer and Martha Graham Dance Company member Sophie Maslow, she discovered a wealth of documentation on a significant performance event, the …

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Upcoming Lecture: “The Kishineff Massacre and Domestic Musical Practice in America”

Posted by: Cait Miller

On Tuesday, October 24, the Library of Congress will welcome Dr. Randall E. Goldberg, Director and Associate Professor of Musicology at the Dana School of Music of Youngstown State University, to present on “The Kishineff Massacre and Domestic Musical Practice in America.” As part of the American Musicological Society/Library of Congress Lecture Series, Dr. Goldberg’s …

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Pearl Lang: A Choreographer Between Two Worlds

Posted by: Cait Miller

The following is a guest post from Chava Lansky, one of the Music Division’s Fellows from this past summer. Dance Archivist Libby Smigel introduces her. Meet Chava Lansky, a recent graduate of Barnard College where she wrote a senior thesis on dance autobiographies. With her strong interest in dance history and research on Martha Graham’s …

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Sheet Music Spotlight: Jewish Immigrants in Yiddish popular music

Posted by: Pat Padua

The following is a guest post from retired cataloger Sharon McKinley. May is Jewish American Heritage Month. Over three million Jews, mainly from Eastern Europe, flooded into the United States between 1880 and 1920. Like other large immigrant populations, they crowded into cities such as New York, living in often squalid conditions as they tried …

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Mordecai Seter Centenary

Posted by: Cait Miller

The following is a guest post from Dr. Uri Golomb (Editor, Israel Music Institute) and Dr. Ronit Seter (Jewish Music Research Centre, Hebrew University Jerusalem), both of whom recently visited the Performing Arts Reading Room to explore Mordecai Seter materials in the Music Division’s collections. February 26, 2016 marks the centenary of Mordecai Seter (1916-1994), …

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Sheet Music of the Week: Did Someone Call me Schnorrer Edition

Posted by: Pat Padua

The following blog post was adapted from an essay by Senior Music Specialist Ray White and Digital Conversion Specialist James Wolf. This week the Music Division launches a new online collection of Yiddish American Sheet Music. The Library’s holdings of Yiddish American popular songs include the Irene Heskes Collection of Yiddish American sheet music as well …