The Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Collections Project

The Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Collections Project is an international project to preserve, digitize, and virtually reunite YIVO’s prewar library and archival collections located in New York City and Vilnius, Lithuania, through a dedicated web portal. The project will also digitally reconstruct the historic, private Strashun Library of Vilna, one of the great prewar libraries of Europe. These treasures were looted by the Nazis during World War II. Much was destroyed, but what was rescued is now being cataloged, conserved, and digitized in a 7-year project, a partnership between the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the Lithuanian Central State Archives and the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania.

The project began in 2015 and as of December 2016 has digitized over 8,000 books and over 307,000 pages of documents. The web portal is scheduled to launch in summer 2017 but samples of what is being digitized are available at https://vilnacollections.yivo.org/Featured-Artifacts.

The leading donor to the project at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania is the Good Will Foundation, which has support the work there and in the Lithuanian Central State Archives with a multi-year grant.

1)Rare book from the Strashun private collection at the Martynas Mazvydas National Library of Lithuania that will be conserved and digitized for the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Collections project (Courtesy YIVO Institute for Jewish Research) — 1) Rare book from the Strashun private collection at the Martynas Mazvydas National Library of Lithuania that will be conserved and digitized for the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Collections project (Courtesy YIVO Institute for Jewish Research)

2)Hebrew and Yiddish books at Martynas Mazvydas National Library of Lithuania awaiting cataloging, conservation, and digitization for the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Collections project (Courtesy YIVO Institute for Jewish Research) — 2) Hebrew and Yiddish books at Martynas Mazvydas National Library of Lithuania awaiting cataloging, conservation, and digitization for the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Collections project (Courtesy YIVO Institute for Jewish Research)

YIVO 3 — Hebrew book being conserved at Martynas Mazvydas National Library of Lithuania for the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Collections project (Courtesy YIVO Institute for Jewish Research)

Read more about the project at https://vilnacollections.yivo.org/