Wishing Elliot good health and new experiences as he transitions to this new
phase of his life. He has been true asset to our community!
Suzi Dubin
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
From: Amalia Warshenbrot via Hasafran
Sent: Monday, December 3, 2018 7:26 PM
To: Annette Goldsmith; besny...@umich.edu
Cc: Hasafran
Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Congratulations to Elliot H. Gertel on hisretirement!
I echo the sentiments of Fred and Annette. I have enjoyed d getting to know
Elliot (two Ls and one T. Elliot knows what I mean).
We and The University of Michigan were blessed to have him.
Amalia Warshenbrot
Immediate past president, Association of Jewish Libraries
From: Annette Goldsmith via Hasafran
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2018 9:14 PM
To: besny...@umich.edu
Cc: Hasafran
Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Congratulations to Elliot H. Gertel on hisretirement!
Happy retirement, Elliot! I'm glad to hear that you'll still be active in AJL
and ALA.
Annette
On Mon, Dec 3, 2018 at 2:25 PM Beth Snyder via Hasafran
wrote:
At the end of this calendar year, Elliot H. Gertel will retire from his endowed
position as the Irving M. Hermelin Curator of Judaica, culminating nearly 20
years of dedicated service to the University of Michigan Library. Elliot has
worked for the Library as the Curator of Judaica and liaison to the Jean and
Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, initially as part of the library’s
Near East Division in the Area Programs unit and later, on the International
Studies team.
During his time at the University of Michigan, Elliot has worked tirelessly to
build the Judaica collections and to support faculty, student, community, and
external user research. Since 2014, Elliot has also served as curator of the
Jewish Heritage Collection in the Special Collections Research Center. Under
his stewardship, the Judaica Collections have grown to well over 150,000
titles, with strengths in Modern Hebrew literature, Jewish history, history of
Israel, Judaism, Hebrew Bible, Holocaust studies, and Yiddish studies. Among
Elliot’s noteworthy additions to the collections are the extensive Alterman
Collection of Passover Haggadahs, a number of art books by or about the
celebrated Polish-born Jewish American artist Arthur Szyk, a collection of
Sephardi Biblical commentaries, and numerous rare and antiquarian volumes in
Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and Western languages, along with art books and
portfolios and artifacts.
Elliot’s curatorial expertise has been in evidence in many of the exhibitions
in the Library and those the Frankel Center has featured, including recent
exhibitions on Haggadahs and pushkes (charity boxes) in the latter location.
In 2017, in conjunction with the bicentennial celebration of the University, he
curated a major exhibition in the exhibit space of the Special Collections
Library entitled "Striving to Stimulate Serious Thought: Jewish Scholarly and
Cultural Life at Michigan Across Two Centuries."
Elliot has made lasting contributions to Jewish studies and the community
through research, presentations, and to the profession through multiple roles
in service to the Association of Jewish Libraries, the Jewish information
Committee of the ALA Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table
(EMIERT) of which he has been a longtime chair, and the ALA RUSA Sophie Brody
Medal Committee. He has served in numerous capacities in AJL including as
president of the Research Libraries, Archives, and Special Collections (RAS)
Division and for a number of years as AJL's liaison to ALA. In 1994, he devised
a series of joint AJL/ALA programs, many of these--twelve so far at AJL and ALA
conferences--which he coordinated and chaired.
Elliot’s passion for and expertise in Yiddish have enriched the University of
Michigan. He facilitates a weekly Yiddish conversational group and has taught
Yiddish at the University of Michigan, Florida Atlantic University, and the
University of Kentucky. Jeffrey Veidlinger, Director of the Frankel Center for
Judaic Studies, notes especially that “Elliot has also been an important member
of the Yiddish community here at Michigan, contributing to our global
reputation as a leading center of Yiddish studies.”
While he will be retiring from UM, Elliot plans to continue to be active in AJL
and ALA and attend their meetings and conferences.
Elliot’s last day of work will be December 21st. Please join his colleagues in
wishing him a happy retirement.
--
Beth Snyder
Head, International Studies Technical Services
Assistant Head, International Studies
The University of Michigan Library
__
Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author
and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL)
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