David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library

The Haggadah, a liturgical work used in Jewish homes around the world for the yearly Passover celebration, is the most widely published Jewish liturgical book and has appeared in countless forms over the years. Around 40 pages in length, the Haggadah's traditional text is in Hebrew but is often accompanied by translations into the vernacular or occasionally appears only in the vernacular. Thousands of extant editions have been cataloged, and many more uncatalogued editions come to light each year in addition to new editions which are continually being published. Haggadot have been printed in nearly every country where Jews have lived and in nearly every language Jews have spoken.

The Guide to the Cataloged Collections ... contains information on 5991 archival collections acquired up to 1980 by the Manuscript Department of the William R. Perkins Library, now the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University.

In the mid nineteenth century, publishers printed the lyrics to popular songs, without their tunes, on small sheets called song sheets, handbills, or broadsides. These sheets were often illustrated with a woodcut scene or portrait and sold at gathering places where people sang together.

The Middlesworth Awards were established to encourage and recognize excellence of research, analysis, and writing by Duke University students in the use of primary sources and rare materials held by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library of Duke University.