Western Jewish History Center - Information

Information

The Western Jewish History Center is open by appointment only, every Monday-Friday (unless closed due to holiday), 11am-5pm. Although all of its collected materials are non-circulating, its collections are accessible to Museum and community members, bona-fide researchers of all age levels, and Museum staff. A Guide to the Center’s archival collections and oral histories was published in 1987 (ISBN 0-943376-35-1) and is available for purchase and many collections’ inventories to many of its collections can also be examined in person at the Center, mailed directly to researchers, or may be sent out as attachments to email. In addition, many descriptions of its collections may be searched for and examined on the World Wide Web via the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections at the Library of Congress. Inventories to some of its collections may also be examined on the web via the Online Archive of California.

The Center also displays some of its holdings in exhibitions held in and created by the Judah L. Magnes Museum and its staff and, on occasion, in other institutions. From time to time, the Judah L. Magnes Museum has had Case Study exhibitions, exhibitions created specifically to highight the holdings of the Center. To date, Case Study exhibitions have been about "Jewish Freemasons of the West"; "Alfred Henry Jacobs, Architect"; and the "Emanu-El Sisterhood for Personal Service."