Dear Safranim, I'm writing in response to Peter Stern's question about Yiddish newspaper indices. There is no index to the American Yiddish press, unfortunately, and the newspapers are largely on microfilm, not digitized. For European Yiddish periodicals there is the excellent "Index of Yiddish Periodicals" from the Jewish National and University Library (Jerusalem).
What the student can do is look for key events (strikes, laws, etc.) in labor history and then check the Yiddish press for those dates. Another strategy is to look at secondary sources and check the bibliography for specific article citations. Without being able to read Yiddish, though, it is better to stick to English sources and/or to get a Yiddish reader to help out. There may also be books in English that contain primary sources together with the translations. The Bintel Brief is a great resource, but does not provide the exact original date of publication for the letters. Another primary source is interviews with people who personally experienced the labor movement. The Yiddish Book Center may have classes available in your area, and there are other Yiddish learning opportunities such as the summer programs at YIVO/Bard, Vilna, and Tel Aviv for starters. I hope this helps. Sincerely, Amanda -- Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel Librarian Dorot Jewish Division, Room 111 The New York Public Library Stephen A. Schwarzman Building 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10018 Reference Desk: 212-930-0601 Fax: 212-642-0141 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.nypl.org/locations/schwarzman/jewish-division Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DorotJewishDivisionNewYorkPublicLibrary Peter Stern, Ph.D. Humanities and Fine Arts Research Services Librarian Du Bois Library University of Massachusetts 154 Hicks Way, Amherst MA 01003-9275 413-545-3967/413 577-1536 (fax) [email protected] http://tinyurl.com/3ktbprn ------------------------------ Message: 8 Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:22:18 -0400 From: Peter Stern <[email protected]> Subject: [ha-Safran] Archive for Yiddish papers? To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <00fb01ce1e7c$fb8098d0$ [email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hello. Pardon me for asking a question to which I am already 99.9% sure of the answer, but I'd like to cover all my bases before replying to a student. Friday I received this email: Hi, my name is ____and I'm a labor studies student currently taking Professor ______ course on the Jewish labor movement. Professor ______ recommended I contact you, because I am looking for archived articles from some of the major yiddish newspapers of the early 20th century, in english translation (Jewish Daily Forward, Freie Arbeiter Stimme, Tageblatt etc.). Do you know of any archives available online or through the library that might have this? She is apparently asking about translations, and cannot read Yiddish. My gut reaction was to say no. I Googled, and found nothing, and then I checked with our resident Yiddish professor, who also said no such archive exists. I know about "A Bintel Brief," and have found another book, "60 years of the Jewish Daily Forward," in our library, plus some articles discussing the role of Jews in American labor movements. So I just want to be 100% sure before I inform her that there isn't any such archive. Thanks for any help! Peter Stern, Ph.D. Humanities and Fine Arts Research Services Librarian Du Bois Library University of Massachusetts 154 Hicks Way, Amherst MA 01003-9275 413-545-3967/413 577-1536 (fax) [email protected] http://tinyurl.com/3ktbprn
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