Turning the Page- Director’s Dispatch
Posted by Julie | Filed under Director's Dispatch
The Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest is on the verge of a major milestone in its 27-year history. Over the next few months, the board of directors will consider the extraordinary opportunity to formally gift the Nathan and Teresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives collection to the University of Minnesota Libraries. The invitation by the University to unite our collections in the world-class Elmer L. Andersen Library on the west bank campus is a measure of our maturity as a historical society and the next step in our evolution. Jews make up less than one percent of Minnesota’s population, yet the Jewish community has made a much greater impact than numbers would lead one to believe. To have our story housed shoulder-to-shoulder with other holdings of such a great Minnesota institution as the University is a phenomenal testament to the work of our founders.
Appropriately, a bit of history is in order to understand how this came about. Ten years ago, when JHSUM needed a new home, we were invited to be part of the expanded Barry Family Campus of Minneapolis. Although we were very pleased to be recognized as an important community institution there was room for only half of our collections. Around the same time, through a connection made by Rabbi Bernard Raskas, of blessed memory, former Governor Elmer L. Andersen, of blessed memory, extended an invitation to JHSUM to place the other half of our collections at the library bearing his name. In 2002, JHSUM founders Nathan and Theresa Berman created an endowment for the collections at the Andersen Library, and the archives were named for them as a permanent memorial to their vision. We know our Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archive materials experience continually increasing use daily, by authors, scholars, documentarians, and students from around the world, because they are housed in a state-of-the-art archival space staffed by professional librarians and archivists six days a week, at the University of Minnesota.
Ten years later, along with JHSUM, the University faces funding challenges, leading it to reevaluate how their resources are used. With the passing of Gov. Andersen, our patron, it has become more difficult for the University to justify using scarce resources on a collection they don’t own. Consequently, they have offered JHSUM the opportunity to consolidate the JHSUM holdings now located at the Barry Family Campus with the Berman UMJA at Andersen Library by gifting them to the University Libraries.
The preservation aspect of our three-fold mission—preservation, interpretation, education—takes two-thirds of our budget. To maintain our collections and make them accessible for use we expend funds annually on an archivist salary, archival space rental, equipment and supplies. Like the University and so many other businesses and organizations, the Jewish community faces funding challenges. We have watched our support dwindle year after year. There now are many competing urgent needs. It is financially prudent for our board to consider the University’s offer to steward our history. As trustees of these resources, the board has a responsibility and obligation to create a permanent, safe, accessible place for these materials. If this history is not available, talked about, being used, then the vision of the founders of the JHSUM will be extinguished.
What is the primary advantage to this offer? Precious artifacts and documents, amassed over the past 27 years and representing an investment of hundreds of thousands of community dollars, will be preserved in perpetuity. The University has an infrastructure we could never match, from computers and internet to student archivists who can process in days hundreds of linear feet of new collections that would take months, if not years, for us to accomplish. The collections will have a dedicated archivist connecting our Upper Midwest Jewish stories to users everywhere.
Wendy Pratt Lougee, University Librarian, and Kris Kiesling, head of Andersen Library, know they can’t collect the important story of the Upper Midwest Jewish community alone and are committed to maintaining a close working relationship with JHSUM, relying on our subject matter expertise. We already have rewarding relationships with professors and students at the University, and we only expect them to get stronger.
JHSUM will continue to create exhibits and programming and assist the Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives in collecting materials. Consolidating our archives and making them part of the prestigious University Libraries will allow us to concentrate our scarce resources more effectively, extending our reach and continuing our mission.
Brandeis University Professor Dr. Jonathan Sarna has called us “one of America’s best local Jewish historical societies.” He goes on to say “Thanks, to them, all of us have a far greater appreciation for the texture of Jewish life in the Upper Midwest.” This extraordinary offer from the University of Minnesota Andersen Libraries will allow us to maintain our status as one of the best local historical societies in the country and with your support expand our programming and interpretation.
Katherine Tane
Executive Director
