YIVO - Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut (Vilna). Subgroup: Ethnographic Committee. Records.

Title: YIVO - Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut (Vilna). Subgroup: Ethnographic Committee

Inclusive Dates: 1911-1940

ID: RG 1.2

Extent Information

7'7"; 17 5"lgl; 1 3"lgl; 1 2.5 lgl

Arrangement

Organization: Boxes 1-13 are arranged; Boxes 14-18 are unarranged

Arrangement: The Collection is arranged in 3 series: I) Ethnographic Committee of YIVO (folders 1-73); II) S. Ansky Jewish Historical Ethnographic Society (74-138); III) The Jewish Bureau of the Byelorussian Academy of Science in Minsk (139-171)

Biographical/Historical

The Ethnographic Committee was a subcommittee of the Philological Section of the YIVO Institute in Vilna. Originally, beginning in 1925, the Committee was jointly sponsored by the YIVO and the S. An-Ski Jewish Historical Ethnographic Society in Vilna (founded in 1919 by S. An-Ski and named for him following his death in 1920). The activities of the Ethnographic Committee consisted of collecting folklore materials, preparing and analyzing folklore questionnaires, corresponding with folklore collectors throughout the world, and maintaining a museum. Members of the Ethnographic Committee included S. Bastomski, Dr. Max Weinreich, N. Weinig, Nechama Epstein, Zalman Reisen, N. Chayes. In 1930, the name of the Ethnographic Committee was changed to the Folklore Committee. In 1938 the S. An-Ski Society merged with the YIVO Institute and its ethnographic materials were integrated with the archives of the YIVO Ethnographic Committee. These included records inherited from the Society's predecessor, the Society of Friends of Jewish Antiquity (founded in 1913 by S. An-Ski), as well as some records of the Jewish Historical and Ethnographic Society in St. Petersburg (founded in 1908 by Simon Dubnow). Finally, certain folklore materials from the Jewish Bureau of the White Russian Academy of Sciences in Minsk (founded in 1925 and dissolved in the 1930s) were merged with the YIVO materials during the Nazi occupation in Vilna. The records of the Ethnographic Committee of the YIVO Institute include materials from the above-mentioned organizations. Records of each organization are arranged in a separate series.

Creators

YIVO - Vilna

Subjects (links to similar collections)

Academic Organizations
Culture
CULTURE_
EDUCATION_
Ethnographic Societies
Ethnography
Folklore
Folklore and Ethnography
FOLKLORE AND ETHNOGRAPHY_
Folklore Societies
Folk Music
Historical Societies
MUSIC_
YIDDISH LANGUAGE_
YIVO - Vilna

Forms of Material (links to similar genres)

Documents - Folksongs
Documents - Papers and Manuscripts
Documents - Records

Languages of Materials

Yiddish

Administrative Information

Restrictions: The collection is open to researchers by appointment with the Chief Archivist. Researchers should write to the Chief Archivist at archives@yivo.cjh.org.

Rights:

The images, documents, film footage, audio materials, and texts displayed in any portion of this web site may be copyrighted. Permission to use this web site is given on condition that the user agrees to follow U.S. copyright laws. The user agrees that she or he assumes liability for any copyright violations resulting from unauthorized use of items appearing on this web site and to hold YIVO harmless from any action involving copyright infringement. It is the responsibility of the user to carry out a due diligence search under U.S. c opyright laws to determine the copyright status of items displayed on this web site.

The materials on this web site may be used for personal, research and educational purposes only. Publication (including posting on the Internet and online exhibitions) or any other use without prior authorization is prohibited. To request permission for use of these materials, please apply in writing to: YIVO Archives, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011, archives@yivo.cjh.org.

Restrictions: The collection is open by appointment with the Chief Archivist. Researchers should write to the Chief Archivist at archives@yivo.cjh.org to request an appointment.

Other Note

Inventory: Yiddish, 53 pp., English, 19 pp., typed

Description: Administrative files of the Ethnographic Committee: outlines of plans for the committee; correspondence of the committee with individual collectors; printed questionnaires on Jewish legends, Purim, Passover, Lag B'Omer, Shavuoth, children's folklore, as well as questionnaires on exaggerations and lies. Minutes of joint meetings of YIVO and the An-Ski Society, 1930. Folklore materials: folk plays, Purim plays, Yiddish and Hebrew folk songs, handwritten folktales, jokes, anecdotes, legends. Linguistic material such as notes on Yiddish grammar, Yiddish pronunciation. *S. An-Ski Jewish Historical-Ethnographic Society* Records include letters of Simon Dubnow and other correspondence of the Jewish Historical and Ethnographic Society in St. Petersburg. Minutes, reports, financial records of the Jewish Ethnographic Expedition in the name of Baron Horace Gunzburg, 1912, 1913, 1916. Minutes and correspondence of the Society of Friends of Jewish Antiquity. By-laws and minutes of the S. An-Ski Society, 1925-1938. Reports to Polish authorities about the work of the society. Membership notebook, financial accounts. List of donors and objects donated to the Museum, 1939. Materials relating to the An-Ski Museum, Vilna, 1913-1941, including administrative correspondence. Materials relating to the An-Ski estate, including correspondence regarding An-Ski's will. Correspondence with: individuals and organizations in Poland, Germany, the U.S.; Jewish Community Council of Vilna; German military authorities in Vilna, 1916-1918. Correspondence with various folklore institutes: Gesamtarchiv der Deutschen Juden, Berlin, 1930: Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology; Harvard University; Biblioteka Narodowa (National Library), Warsaw, 1931. Correspondence with various other libraries, cultural institutes, schools, newspapers. Folklore materials: stories, songs, lecture notes. *The Jewish Bureau of the Byelorussian Academy of Science in Minsk* Songs, tales, anecdotes, proverbs, and other folklore materials. Page proofs of Moishe Beregovski's unpublished *Yidish folklor lider*, Volume II, 1938.

View Full Finding Aid View Digital Gallery