July 25 Minutes

From YulWiki

[edit] Ketubahs in the Beinecke – 25 July 2008

Julie Cohen, Chris Edwards, Tom Hyry, Rebekah Irwin, Robin Katz, Daniel Lovins, Nanette Stahl & E.C. Schroeder met to discuss a cataloging and digitization project for the collection of ketubahs in the Beinecke Library.

Ketubahs are marriage contracts that provide an interesting entry into Jewish culture and life. These contracts are often illustrated and contain the date, location, names of the bride and groom, the particulars of the marital agreement, and the signatures of the witnesses. They were produced in Jewish communities around the world for hundreds of years. The Beinecke has a growing collection of these documents, due to the collecting efforts of Nanette Stahl.

Cataloging and digitizing will greatly improve access to this collection of material. Benefits include:

• “unlocking” a hidden collection of material for which at best only minimal access is currently provided
• cataloging and digitization will be for both recent acquisitions with call number Hebrew MSS Suppl and earlier acquisitions such as from Sholem Asch’s collection.
• digitization will improve access and will help minimize handling
• digitization will also provide the means for others to help identify the names of participants
• digitization will allow Yale to contribute to the Jewish National and University Library’s union catalog of ketubahs – http://jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/ketubbot/

Next steps:

• Rebekah, Daniel and a member of the Manuscript Unit will create a cataloging standard for the ketubahs. This standard will at a minimum include: title, dimensions, location (if possible), format (i.e. on paper, vellum, etc.), appropriate subject and genre headings, names of bride, groom & witnesses. This will occur sometime in September.
• E.C. will propose this collection for digitization to the Beinecke digitization review committee
• Based on the work that Nanette has done for her exhibit, all ketubahs in Beinecke will be located. Currently it is estimated that there are 100-150 ketubahs at Beinecke.
• Cataloging in Orbis and the Beinecke’s DL will occur through the end of the year. Staff to do need to be identified and may depend on Rebekah’s and Daniel’s availability.
• Scanning by the Beinecke DL photographers will occur once the ketubahs are cataloged.
• Scanned images and metadata will be sent to the Jewish National Library for inclusion in their union catalog of ketubahs.
• In addition to inclusion in the Beinecke and YUL Digitial Library, the Beinecke will include the ketubahs as one of their “digital collections” that it is currently developing.
• Nanette Stahl is currently planning an exhibit of ketubahs for 2009. Priority for cataloging and digitization will be given to ketubahs that will be exhibited.

Rev. 30 July 2008