Welcome Fall 2013 Interns!

This semester, we are fortunate to have three dedicated interns assisting us with the rehousing, digitizing, and metadata for Rosenthall prints and postcards. We could not be more thrilled with the work they are doing, and we’re excited to be able to introduce them here:

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Philip Putnam

Philip Putnam is a senior at the College of Charleston with double majors in history and historic preservation. Philip has experience working at museums in Charleston, including the Edmondston-Alston House and Charleston Museum. He has worked with archival materials but never digitized them, so he is looking forward to participating in the digitization of the Rosenthall Collection.

Philip has been working on digitizing a portfolio of Eastern European, Hungarian, and Russian synagogues. He selected this postcard as his favorite among those he has digitized so far.

“I chose the Szeged Synagogue as one of my favorite postcards because I have never seen a postcard like this before. The postcard itself does not have a synagogue on the actual front. However, the center of the postcard has a hidden flap that pulls out and shows a long strip with about ten small images. One of those images is the synagogue, but the images also include many other sites around Szeged, Hungary. I believe this postcard is somewhat of a rare thing to see.”

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Brooke Roman

Brooke Roman is a sophomore at the College of Charleston with double majors in history and arts management; she is particularly interested in European history. Brooke is excited to work with such an extensive and unique collection.

Brooke is working on a portfolio of synagogues in the former Czechoslovakia and Italy. She chose this postcard of the Karlsbad Synagogue as her favorite.

“My favorite postcard is one of a color-drawing of the Karlsbad Synagogue in present day Czech Republic.  The postcard is not an actual picture, but the colors the artist used are absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, the synagogue no longer exists, so the postcard at least provides some memory of it.”

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Danielle Ziff

Danielle Ziff is a student in the joint College of Charleston/Citadel master of arts in history program. She is a longtime resident of Charleston and member of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, Rabbi Rosenthall’s synagogue in Charleston.

Danielle is at work on a portfolio of prints and engravings with themes of Moses, the Exodus, and the Ten Commandments; Aaron and the high priests of the Israelites; and dress pertaining to Jewish rituals. She chose these related prints as her favorites.

“One of my favorite prints is this frontispiece to William Hurd’s Religious Ceremonies and Customs of All Nations, published in 1788.  The image contains a symbolic representation of the world’s religious traditions, explained in detail by the text on the accompanying page.”

 Welcome to our interns, and our thanks for all of their work so far!

New Grant, New Faces

In 2012, the College of Charleston’s Special Collections Library was awarded a second CLIR grant to facilitate the processing of the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection. A previous CLIR grant allowed Special Collections to complete processing of Rabbi Rosenthall’s papers and begin efforts to digitize and provide metadata for prints, photographs, and postcards in the Judaica Collection. This new grant has allowed Special Collections to bring in two new archivists, Project Archivist Sarah Glover and Processing Archivist Amy Lazarus, to process Rabbi Rosenthall’s extraordinary collection of Judaica and oversee the continued digitization of items from the collection.

Later this week, we will introduce you to the three wonderful interns who are assisting us in this effort for the semester. But first, please meet our two archivists:

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Project Archivist Sarah Glover

Sarah Glover joins the project as Project Archivist for the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection. Sarah earned her MS in Information with specializations in Archives and Records Management and Preservation of Information from the University of Michigan School of Information in 2012. She also holds undergraduate degrees in English, History, and Jewish Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sarah reads German and speaks and reads Hebrew.

Sarah has previously had the opportunity to work in academic archives and libraries, government archives, historical societies, and museums. She has gained valuable experience working at Jewish institutions such as the Museum at Eldridge Street, American Jewish Historical Society, and Leo Baeck Institute. Before coming to the College of Charleston, Sarah worked at the Leo Baeck Institute on the Institute’s DigiBaeck project, an effort to digitize the entirety of the Institute’s archival holdings. Sarah is excited to bring her background to the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection and thrilled to have the opportunity to work with such an incredible collection of Judaica!

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Processing Archivist Amy Lazarus

Amy Lazarus is excited to join the project as the William A. Rosenthall Judaica Collection processing archivist. She received her MLIS with a specialization in Archives, Preservation and Records Management from the University of Pittsburgh in 2011 and holds a BA in English from the College of the Holy Cross. Over the past four years she has gained extensive processing experience in a variety of institutional settings. Her professional background includes positions at a research library, medical library, museum archives, and a government agency. Additionally, she is an active member of the Society of American Archivists currently involved in the Government Affairs Working Group.

As an undergraduate, Amy was awarded the Kraft-Hiatt Program for Jewish-Christian Understanding Fellowship to study abroad at Hebrew University. Upon her return she continued to take coursework related to Jewish history, developing an active interest in Jewish traditions. Her experiences as an undergraduate led to the ultimate goal of tying her academic interest in Judaism to her work as an archivist. Upon seeing the opportunity to work with such a valuable part of the College of Charleston’s Jewish Heritage Collection, she eagerly pursued the position of processing archivist. She is grateful for the amazing opportunity to encourage appreciation and understanding of Jewish culture through making the William A. Rosenthall collection available to scholars, students, and the general public.