Judah L. Magnes Memorial Museum

Founded in 1962, and initially located in Oakland, California, the Judah L. Magnes Museum was the first Jewish museum founded in the western United States. In 1966, Museum supporters helped purchase and then relocate the Museum in the Jeremiah Thaddeus Burke mansion, in Berkeley, which was later declared a historic landmark. The Museum contains a large permanent collection of Jewish ceremonial, graphic, and fine art and an extensive one of Jewish textiles and clothing. It also hosts two libraries and research centers, the Western Jewish History Center and the Harry and Dorothy Blumenthal Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The Blumenthal Library contains over 7,500 books and periodicals in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino; phonograph records and sheet music; manuscripts from India and Arabic-speaking countries; and a large collection of rare prayer books and marriage contracts. As a museum, it also hosts changing exhibitions that illuminate Jewish themes; present the work of Jewish artists in various media; and depict the history of Jewish communities and its individual members throughout the world. One of its largest collections consists of documents and artifacts that record the history of the Jewish community in India.

From the description of Judah L. Magnes Memorial Museum records, 1962-2006. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 71058122