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Jewish Heritage Collection: About JHC

Jewish Heritage Collection

Online Research Resources

To view Jewish Heritage Collection archival materials and related sites, click on the links below:

College of Charleston Libraries Discovery Service - Special Collections and Archives

Lowcountry Digital Library: browse this site for a sampling of Jewish Heritage Collection materials. Enter the search terms of your choice, for example: Jewish Heritage Collection Oral Histories; Zionism; Holocaust; William A. Rosenthall.

William A. Rosenthall Collection: in 2007 Special Collections, Addlestone Library, College of Charleston, was pleased to accession the papers of William A. Rosenthall, rabbi, scholar, and collector of Judaica. This site provides collection resources as well as news about uploads of material.

A Synagogue a Day: this tumblr shows images from the William A. Rosenthall collection. Click on “Archive” to see the whole run of images posted to date.

Holocaust Archives: follow this link to see a catalog listing of the collections in our Holocaust Archives, Special Collections, Addlestone Library, College of Charleston.

Holocaust Memorial Quilt: the quilt is housed at the Charleston County Public Library. To view materials from the College of Charleston’s Holocaust Archives, coupled with narratives of Charleston-area survivors, please check out this interactive site that displays the quilt online.

Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life: South Carolina is among the states featured in the institute’s encyclopedia of southern Jewish communities.

Electronic Journals relating to Jewish history and culture can be found in the College of Charleston Library Discovery database. These include American Jewish History; Jewish History; A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies and Gender Issues; Journal of American Ethnic History; Journal of Modern Jewish Studies; Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion; Contemporary Jewry, and others.

American Jewish Archives’ database of First American Jewish Families searchable by name.

 

About JHC

The Jewish Heritage Collection documents the Jewish experience in South Carolina from colonial times to present day. The archives grows out of an active program of collection, field work, and public education that was inaugurated in January 1995 by the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina, the College of Charleston’s Jewish Studies Program, and McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina. Project staff spearheaded research and development of a major museum exhibition, A Portion of the People: Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life, that opened at McKissick in January 2002, beginning a two-year national tour. In 2000 the collection’s scope expanded to include the Holocaust, with contributions from survivors, liberators, and other eyewitnesses with ties to South Carolina. In 2007 Irene Rosenthall, widow of Rabbi William A. Rosenthall, donated her husband’s world-class collection of Judaica, assembled over his lifetime, as well as his professional and research papers.

Located in Special Collections on the third floor of the College of Charleston’s Addlestone Library, the Jewish Heritage Collection includes oral histories, manuscripts, artifacts, photographs, genealogies, memoirs, home movies, and other primary sources. Researchers can access inventories and descriptions of archival materials through the College of Charleston library catalog or the Special Collections homepage. A growing number of collection items and oral histories have been digitized and are available for viewing online at the Lowcountry Digital Library.

Jewish Studies at CofC

The Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program at the College of Charleston is the result of the vision and generosity of Henry and Sylvia Vlosky Yaschik who began the program in 1984 to honor their parents’ commitment to philanthropy and community involvement. The matching endowment from Norman and Gerry Sue Arnold has enabled the Program to significantly expand its offerings.

Jewish Studies at the College of Charleston benefits from having a strong and active Hillel affiliate, our Jewish Student Union. The College of Charleston currently has nearly eight hundred Jewish students and the JSU/Hillel is very active in arranging weekly Shabbat services, dinners, and other events and celebrations to keep students interested in Judaism engaged and interacting with one another.

Jewish Studies at the College also emphasizes community outreach as a hallmark of its program. By sponsoring numerous events, lectures, discussions, and Sunday morning brunches that are open to the public, the Program serves as a bridge between town and gown, between the academic and broader South Carolina community.

In October 2002 the The Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program moved into its new home, the Sylvia Vlosky Yaschik Jewish Studies Center at the corner of Glebe and Wentworth Street. The Center houses the Jewish Student Union/Hillel, faculty members of the Jewish Studies Program, the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs, and the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina. It also offers Arnold Hall, a state-of-the-art meeting and conference room where educational and cultural programs are conducted, benefiting both students and the community at-large. An addition to the Jewish Studies Center opened in 2016, doubling the size of the building, including additional classroom space and Marty's Place, a College of Charleston dining hall offering kosher, vegan and vegetarian options.

Public Historian and Jewish Heritage Collection Coordinator

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Max Daniel
he/him
Contact:
843-953-8603

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