Now, I think everyone sees (at least those rare people who haven't had the pleasure of knowing him--it just reminds the rest of us!) why Zachary was selected as the Fanny Goldstein Merit Award recipient this year. And, as he explained in his career timeline where he enumerated just a small sample of his accomplishments, he continues to make significant contributions to the field of Judaic studies.
I’ve had the privilege of knowing Zachary since before I ever considered becoming a librarian. This was while I was a research assistant for Deborah Dash Moore at Yivo in late 1988 and through 1990, first in New York, then “commuting” between the “metropolis” of Stamping Ground, Kentucky (population 704 in 1990) and Yivo in New York, and then remotely while in library school at the University of Kentucky. During that period, Zachary was the Head Librarian at Yivo where he carefully oversaw and curated its unique resources, some of which I got to handle. I consider myself very fortunate to have had such a great role model as a colleague all these years. He is not only a true scholar and the archetypal Judaica librarian, but very approachable and willing to share his time, energy, and knowledge, which is considerable. I think that all of us in AJL as well as researchers in all aspects of Jewish studies are the beneficiaries of Zachary Baker’s wisdom, knowledge, and experience, which he has so generously shared over the decades with all types of researchers and information seekers. Although, of course, it was necessary, I only regret that we won’t be able to gather in Evanston to enjoy hearing his inimitable style of presentation in person. I hope that we will have that benefit at upcoming AJL conferences in the not-too-distant future. *Mazl-tov un shkoyekh,* Zachary! Wishing everyone a safe and Happy Passover! !אַ פֿרײלעכן פּסח Elliot ============================================= Elliot H. Gertel אליהו־צבי גרטל / עלע־הערש גערטל AJL-ALA Liaison Chair, 2020 AJL Fanny Goldstein Merit Award Committee Irving M. Hermelin Curator Emeritus of Judaica The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan [email protected] On Mon, Apr 6, 2020 at 6:39 PM Zachary M Baker via Hasafran < [email protected]> wrote: > Dear Colleagues, > > I had hoped to join you at this year’s AJL Conference in Evanston, which > for understandable reasons has been canceled along with so many other > activities and functions. With Passover imminently upon us, here we all > are, sheltering in place, hoping that this frightful pandemic will soon > pass. > > When Elliot Gertel called to inform me that I am the recipient of the > Fanny Goldstein Merit Award, I was deeply touched — and I am very grateful > to AJL and to the committee members for the recognition. In a subsequent > e-mail exchange, Elliot asked me to send him a few paragraphs that might > summarize my career highlights, for inclusion in the conference program > book. In the end, I sent him a couple of versions: one long and one short. > > Presumptuously and with apologies, I am sharing the long version of my > career summary. Please feel free to jump to the next e-mail in your in-box! > > My first paid library job was during the year following my college > graduation (1972), when I worked as a clerk in the reference department of > the Hennepin County Library, which then served suburban Minneapolis (now > HCL covers both the city and its suburbs). HCL in those days was one of the > most innovative public library systems in the U.S. Its visionary adirector, > Robert Rohlf, hired Maurice (Mitch) Freedman as head of Technical Services; > Mitch, in turn, brought in Sanford (Sandy) Berman as the library’s Head > Cataloger, after Sandy and his family were ejected from Idi Amin’s Uganda > in 1972. One of the librarians with whom I worked in County Reference was > Rosalind (Roz) Reisner, who is now an active member of AJL. > > I put in a second stint at HCL, working my way through library school at > the University of Minnesota (1974-75). As I neared the end of my studies I > wondered what I might do next. A few months before graduation I received a > brochure from the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, announcing course > offerings for its academic unit, the Max Weinreich Center for Advanced > Jewish Studies. One listing particularly caught my eye: Internship in > Judaica Librarianship, co-taught by Dina Abramowicz and Bella Hass > Weinberg. I showed the brochure to Sandy Berman, who encouraged me to > enroll in the internship program — and to inquire about job prospects at > YIVO for an entry-level librarian. In January 1976 I began the internship > and the following June was hired as assistant librarian, to catalog Yiddish > books in the YIVO Library’s Vilna collection. > > It was during my first stint at YIVO (1976-1981) that the genealogical > craze, spurred by the TV series “Roots,” really took off. In that > pre-internet era, with access to Soviet and East European archives still > largely cut off, specialized institutions such as YIVO were important for > family history research. Dina Abramowicz asked me to attend a meeting of > the nascent Jewish Genealogical Society in late 1977 and when I reported > back to her the following morning, she duly delegated the responsibility > for genealogical reference service to me. I began to write for *Toledot: > the Journal of Jewish Genealogy*, whose editors, Arthur Kurzweil and > Steven W. Siegel, encouraged me to update David Bass's bibliography of > Eastern European Jewish memorial books (*yizker-bikher*), which had been > published in *Yad Vashem Studies*. I followed suit, and that bibliography > went through several iterations —including its being included in the two > editions of the anthology *From a Ruined Garden*, edited by Jack > Kugelmass and Jonathan Boyarin (1983 and 1998). > > It was while I was working at the Jewish Public Library in Montreal > (1981-1987) that our Association’s flagship journal, *Judaica > Librarianship*, was launched. Bella Hass Weinberg (founding co-editor, > with Marcia Posner) solicited my participation as the journal’s “Responsa” > columnist. Thus began my longstanding connection with the journal, as > Contributing Editor, Style Editor, and (eventually) Editor-in-Chief. > > Not long after I returned to YIVO in 1987 as Head Librarian, Bella and I > began to edit the *Yiddish Catalog and Authority File of the YIVO Library*, > which was published by G. K. Hall, in 5 volumes, in 1990. We anticipated > that the eventual retrospective conversion of the Library’s catalog would > not entirely supersede this facsimile of the Library’s Yiddish card > catalog. Of my other publications during that period I take special pride > in “The Case of the Soviet Sholem Aleichem: A Bibliographic Detective > Story,” which was published in *The Book Peddler* (as the Yiddish Book > Center’s magazine was then called) and subsequently, in expanded form, in > the *YIVO Annual*, where it bore the title "Sholem Aleichem's 80th > Birthday Observances and the Cultural Mobilization of Soviet Jewry: A Case > Study.” I am also proud of the collaborative work that the YIVO Library and > the Yiddish Book Center did together during those years. > > Perhaps the most important example of that collaboration was the > fact-finding trip that Neil Zagorin, on behalf of the Yiddish Book Center, > and I made to Buenos Aires in November 1994, in the wake of the terrorist > bombing of the AMIA Jewish community building. The New York YIVO’s sister > organization, Fundación IWO, had its headquarters in the AMIA building, and > much of its library and archival collections were damaged or destroyed as a > result of the bombing. Being guided through the ruins firsthand was one of > the most powerfully moving experiences I have ever had. > > My time as YIVO’s Head Librarian coincided with my most active involvement > in the Association of Jewish Libraries, when I served on its Council and > Board in several capacities, including as AJL’s President (1994-1996). > Subsequently, I served as President of AJL’s sister organization, the > Council of Archives and Research Libraries in Jewish Studies - CARLJS > (1998-2002), whose annual meetings took place at AJL’s conferences. > > And it was during those same years that I traveled to Kiev as part of a > YIVO delegation (early 1992), to visit the Vernadsky Library just at the > moment that its incredible collections of Judaica were being opened. In > early 1997 I was part of a survey team commissioned by the Foundation for > Jewish Culture to document the National Library of Lithuania’s Judaica > holdings, in Vilnius, and explore possible avenues of cooperation with that > library. The other members of the team were Herbert Zafren and Pearl Berger. > > Although I have always considered myself a “research librarian,” in was > only during the later phase of my career that I worked in a university > setting, namely, Stanford. I soon came to appreciate just what a privilege > it is to be a subject specialist in a great university library. At > Stanford, I was able to work on several notable acquisitions, including the > Ira Nowinski photograph archive, the Samson-Copenhagen Judaica Collection, > the Eliasaf Robinson Collection on Tel-Aviv, and born-digital portions of > Amos Gitai’s film archive. > > While at Stanford, I edited two book-length publications, *Judaica in the > Slavic Realm, Slavica in the Judaic Realm: Repositories, Collections, > Projects, Publications* (Haworth Information Press, 2003), and *Ira > Nowinski: The Photographer As Witness *(Stanford University Libraries, > 2004), and — somewhat belatedly — produced The Lawrence Marwick > Collection of Copyrighted Yiddish Plays: An Annotated Bibliography > <https://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/marwick/marwickbibliography.pdf> (Library of > Congress, 2004). My collaboration with the Yiddish Book Center continued as > well, in connection with its *1000 Essential Yiddish Books > <https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/digital-yiddish-library/1000-essential-yiddish-books> > *website > (2006). These last two publications, like my “Resources in Yiddish Studies” > research guide (In geveb <https://ingeveb.org/>, 2017), were online-only. > > > I think that it was a combination of just showing up every year (and > occasionally giving a paper or chairing a panel) and also being affiliated > with Stanford University, that led to my serving on the Board of Directors > of the Association for Jewish Studies for ten years (2007-2017), including > four years on its Executive Board, as Secretary-Treasurer (2013-2017). I > feel that my serving on the AJS Board represented recognition by the > field's leading learned society, of the value that librarians and > archivists contribute to Jewish Studies scholarship. > > > From 2010 to 2017 I was privileged to serve as Stanford’s Assistant > University Librarian for Collection Development (Humanities and Social > Sciences). For me, the pain of having to submit and defend annual budget > proposals was more than outbalanced by the opportunity to work with and > learn from an incredible team of subject librarians, whose passion and > devotion to their areas of specialization was every bit as intense as mine > was (and remains), to the Jewish Studies field. > > > Since retiring in early 2018, I have pursued a multi-pronged — and very > enjoyable — research project in an area of particular interest: the history > of the Yiddish theater in South America, especially Argentina. You can find > some of my “findings” on the Digital Yiddish Theatre Project > <https://web.uwm.edu/yiddish-stage/>’s website. > > > חג שמח — Happy Passover! > Zachary > > Zachary M. Baker > [email protected] > [email protected] > > > > > __ > Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual > author > and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries > (AJL) > ================================== > Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: > [email protected] > To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: > https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran > Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] > Ha-Safran Archives: > Current: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html > Earlier Listserver: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html > AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org > -- > Hasafran mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran >
__ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list [email protected] https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
