The University of Chicago Library presents "Images of Prayer, Politics and Everyday Life from the Harry and Branka Sondheim Jewish Heritage Collection," in the gallery of the Special Collections Research Center from March 10 to July 6, 2008.
Assembled over many years by Harry Sondheim, a University of Chicago alumnus (A.B.'54, J.D.'57), the collection spans the 16th to the late 20th century and includes early books, prints, drawings, 19th- and 20th-century newspaper and magazine illustrations, and ephemeral items such as New Year's cards and postcards depicting Jewish life and customs. In 2005, Sondheim began to present his collection to the University of Chicago in a series of gifts.
The exhibition is organized around representations of events of the Jewish life cycle — birth, circumcision, naming, marriage and death — and those of the Jewish calendar — the Sabbath, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Simchat Torah, Sukkot and Passover. Sondheim also collected numerous images of Jews at labor and leisure and works by illustrators and artists Bernard Picart, Ben Shahn, Moritz Oppenheim, Ephraim Lilien, Arthur Szyk, Alphonse Lévy and François-Louis Schmied, which are also represented in the exhibition.
Many items in the exhibition bear the evidence of their roles in Jewish life, including postcards with handwritten messages in French, German and English, and Haggadot (Passover prayer books), stained from use at the Seder table.
"The Sondheim collection supports increasing interest in visual culture studies among students and scholars," said Alice Schreyer, Director of the Special Collections Research Center. "Visual representations are now an essential element of understanding how an individual, group or culture portrays itself and is presented by others."
The Sondheim collection complements other Library collections, especially the Ludwig Rosenberger Library of Judaica.
"Harry Sondheim's decision to donate his collection to the University of Chicago is an act of great generosity to his alma mater and reflects his goal for the collection to be an active resource for research and teaching," Schreyer said.
Leora Auslander, Professor of History, Jewish Studies, the History of Culture and Gender Studies in the College and the University, organized the exhibition with graduate student Sara Hume. Auslander will teach a spring-quarter course on modern European Jewish history and culture, which she said will be greatly enhanced by items from the Sondheim collection.
"These materials will provide students with a much richer source base for traditional topics and open new areas for research," said Auslander. "The numerous and diverse representations of the celebrations of major Jewish holidays will add substance to the arguments for innovation and creativity in the diaspora."
Examples of the impact of mass culture on Jewish life will also be used in the course. "Students will have the great privilege of using these objects in class, but also of thoroughly researching items they find particularly intriguing," said Auslander.
Housing the rare book, manuscript and archival collections of the University of Chicago Library, the Special Collections Research Center is located in the Joseph Regenstein Library, 1100 E. 57th St. Admission is free. Exhibition viewing hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Special Collections is closed Saturdays during interims. For further information, contact the Special Collections Research Center at the University of Chicago Library at (773) 702-8705 or visit http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/.
