Israelis*In*America

3.15.2005

Israeli American Library Collection Expanded "For Future Generations"

The nascent collection of Israeli-American archival and library material at UCLA’s Young Research Library received a boost recently, thanks to a donation of printed items that trace the history of Israeli-American community in Los Angeles.

The donation, by publisher and community activist Amnon Peery, includes yearbooks, calendars and documents depicting the formative period of the community, and providing historical perspective to researchers and students interested in this highly entrepreneurial, socially mobile, and diverse ethnic group.

UCLA Middle East bibliographer David Hirsch said that the new materials will enrich the budding collection of primary sources available at the library. “The materials provided by Mr. Peery will help document the social and cultural activities of the Los Angeles Israeli community,” Hirsch said, “and in conjunction with the numerous Israeli newspapers already held by our library should provide an excellent resource for research by UCLA students and scholars.”

Peery hopes that the donated materials will also serve as a legacy to the community’s American-born second generation. “My concern,” said Peery, ”is to preserve local literary material in Hebrew for future generations of Israeli Americansafter all, this is their heritage." Peery added that unfortunately much literary and historical material of the Israeli community in Los Angeles has been lost over the years, which adds a sense of urgency to his mission.

Up till now the collection acquired by Hirsch has ranged from the early issues of the popular Israeli periodicals Anashim and later Koktel, issues of the new Israeli literature magazine Bamah, as well as the local publications Yedi'ot Amerikah, Yisra'el, Shalom L.A., Shavu'a Yisra'eli, newsletters of the Council of Israeli Community and the Los Angeles Israeli Yellow Pages (Dapei LA.)

The Young Research Library also holds a comprehensive array of secondary materials on Israeli Americans including studies by more than 50 authors Among them is the award-winning book by Michigan State University scholar Steven J. Gold, The Israeli Diaspora.

Beyond shedding light on Israeli Americans the materials provide important insights into the broader exploration of Jewish communities in Los Angeles. Such studies include those by UCLA professor of history David Myers, and the examination of contemporary diasporic Hebrew literature being carried out by Professor Lev Hakak from the UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures.

The implications of the new collection do not stop there. Taken as a whole, the campus-wide Israeli American resources at UCLA comprise one of the largest depositories of research materials not only on Israeli Americans, but on Middle Eastern Americans as well. “As the Middle Eastern American community grows in Southern California, so does its significance and impact,” says Jonathan Friedlander, co-founder of MEARO (Middle Eastern American Resources Online.) “The Israeli-American collection represents yet another important facet of this multi-ethnic community.”

-IiA-