Yosef Yerushalmi papers, 1957-2006, 1957-2006
Summary Information
Abstract
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- MS#1581
- Bib ID:
- 6892527 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- Yerushalmi, Yosef Hayim, 1932-2009
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 40 linear feet (39 record storage cartons, one flat box)
- Language(s):
- English , Yiddish , Italian , German , Portuguese , English , Yiddish , Italian , German , Portuguese , Spanish; Castilian , Hebrew , French .
- Access:
- You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
-
Correspondence between Yerushalmi and Ophra Yerushalmi, Ariel Yerushalmi, and David Meyers will be closed until 2039.
Letters of recommendation and correspondence with Sylvie Ann Goldberg will be closed until 2087.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
Description
Scope and Content
Yosef Yerushalmi was a Jewish historian and a professor of Jewish history, primarily at Harvard University and Columbia University. This collection includes most of his academic records and many of his personal records as well. This includes research, correspondence, and notes.
The collection varies greatly in its constitution. It contains some very personal correspondence, such as an anniversary card from Yerushalmi's father in the late 1960s. It also contains some or Yerushalmi's meticulous personal records, including a journal of his own experience undergoing psychoanalysis and various date books. It has a very full and comprehensive assortment of professional correspondences, including hundreds of hours of meeting minutes for "A Psychoanalytic Study of Anti-Semitism" and all of Yerushalmi's correspondences as the president of the Leo Baeck Institute. The collection has very specific logistical information, even records of transportation for lectures and financial records.
The majority of the materials in the collection are in the form of correspondence. Even much of Yerushalmi's research was correspondent in nature, as he often requested various materials from individuals and archives around the world. The other major component of the collection is Yerushalmi's personal notes. This includes thousands of pages of lecture notes, class notes, and publication drafts. Yerushalmi lectured all around the world, but mainly at universities in the United States and Israel, and most of these speeches are well preserved in the collection. After a long and fruitful teaching career, Yerushalmi produced reams of notes to himself about what to discuss in class. In addition to his personal notes, there are actual tests that he administered to his students in the collection, as well as syllabi and grading sheets. He even saved some student papers and letters of recommendation. Yerushalmi was also a prolific writer, and draft upon draft of his publications lie in the collection.
The publication materials are in a few formats. In terms of linear feet, corrected drafts of manuscripts comprise the bulk of them. For each of the books that Yerushalmi wrote—and he wrote several—there are many versions, often in many languages, sent between him and his editors, with corrections from both entities. Some were reprinted in different editions, which begot even more manuscripts.
In order to produce these works, Yerushalmi relied heavily on research from primary sources for the most part. Much of his research was on the Jewish communities of the Middle Ages, and he saved thousands of photocopied primary documents, as well as photocopies of letters the Freud wrote used as research for Yerushalmi's work Freud's Moses: Judaism Terminable and Interminable.
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Series I: Freud and Psychoanalysis
This subseries contains various forms of research on Freud, specifically Freud's Moses and Monotheism. There are articles on this topic that Yerushalmi has saved, some with Yerushami's notes. There are also photocopies from the Library of Congress of Freud's drafts of the work, in Freud's own handwriting.
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This series contains course materials from Yerushalmi's many years both at Harvard and Columbia. It contains syllabi, readings, lecture materials, exams, etc.
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Series III: Research, Publications, and Lectures
Series III contains Yerushalmi's research notes, drafts of lectures and publications, and notes ans drafts of lectures and addresses presented by Yerushalmi. The files often include correspondence related to publication of the material or travel arrangements related to individual lectures or conference presentations.
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Series IV: Personal and Family Material
Series IV is comprised of Yerushalmi family papers, including scrapbooks and photographs. This series also includes the papers of Yerushalmi's father, Leon Yerushalmi.
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Series V: Correspondence, 1963-2007
Series V is comprised of Yerushalmi's correspondence. The bulk of the series is comprised of professional correspondence including correspondence from Yerushalmi's time as the President of the Leo Baeck Institute and his work with the Jewish Publication Society. The majority of the correspondence is related to his academic career and activities.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in 5 series.
- Series I: Freud and Psychoanalysis
- Subseries I.1: Freud Research
- Subseries I.2: Freud Publications
- Subseries I.3: A Psychoanalytic Study of Anti-Semitism
- Series II: Course Materials
- Series III: Research, Publications, and Lectures
- Subseries III.1: Research for "From Spanish Court to Italian Ghetto"
- Subseries III.2: Research and Publication on Iberia
- Subseries III.3: Haggadoth Research
- Subseries III.4: Zakhor Materials
- Subseries III.5: Various Research and Publications
- Subseries III.6: Lectures
- Series IV: Personal and Family Material
- Series V: Correspondence, 1963-2007
Using the Collection
Restrictions on Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
Correspondence between Yerushalmi and Ophra Yerushalmi, Ariel Yerushalmi, and David Meyers will be closed until 2039.
Letters of recommendation and correspondence with Sylvie Ann Goldberg will be closed until 2087.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Yosef Yerushalmi Papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Accruals
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2008.2009.M003: Source of acquisition--Yosef Yerushalmi. Method of acquisition--Purchase; Date of acquisition--06/13/2008.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
Papers processed Jacob Goldwasser 2012.
Finding aid written Jacob Goldwasser 05/24/2013.
Revision Description
2013-05-30 xml document instance created by Carrie Hintz.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
2024-01-31 Box 40 added. kws
Biographical / Historical
Yosef Yerushalmi, born Joseph Erushalmi, was born May 20, 1932 in Bronx, New York. His father was a Hebrew teacher and scholar. Yerushalmi received his bachelor's degree from Yeshiva University in 1953 before attending the Jewish Theological Seminary. He was ordained as a rabbi in 1957 and earned his doctorate from Columbia University in 1966. He began his scholarly career at Rutgers, then became a professor of Hebrew and Jewish history at Harvard. He left Harvard in 1980 to return to Columbia as the Salo Baron Professor of Jewish History, a position he held until 2008. He was the Director for Columbia's Center for Israel and Jewish Studies and acted as the director of the Leo Baeck Institute in New York City. Yerushalmi married concert pianist Ophra Yerushalmi in 1959 and the couple had one son, Ariel. Yerushalmi died of emphysema in 2009 at the age of 77.
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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