Reference Services, Hours & Contact Information
The YIVO ARCHIVES holds manuscripts, private papers, organizational files, photographs, films, posters, artworks, artifacts, and sound recordings; while the YIVO LIBRARY holds books, periodicals, and newspapers.
The YIVO Archives is open to the public, by appointment only, made at least 1 week in advance. Due to the high volume of inquiries it may take up to 1 week to receive a response.
To request permission to access YIVO Archives collections, please contact the appropriate division (see below) at least one week in advance of your visit. In your email, please provide your contact information, the collections you would like to consult, and the day/time you would like to visit. A YIVO archivist will confirm, via email, your permission to access YIVO collections, and you will be added to our appointment log.
Monday through Thursday: 9:30am-6:00pm
Friday: 9:30am-2:00pm
*Monday through Thursday, last call for paging is 4:00pm. Friday, last call for paging is 12:00pm.
The General Archives includes documents, manuscripts, letters and other archival genres of material categorized as papers of individuals, records of organizations, and subject collections.
By appointment, Monday through Thursday: 9:30am-5:00pm
The Photo Archives holds about 150,000 photographs on Jewish life around the world and more than 120 archival films.
By appointment, Monday through Friday
The Max and Frieda Weinstein Archives of YIVO Sound Recordings holds about 20,000 recordings, including 78rpm discs (around 6,500 titles), LPs (over 2,500 albums), cassettes, and compact discs, as well as non-commercial, one-of-a-kind field and private recordings of Yiddish folk, theater and art songs, cantorial music, klezmer, comedy, radio, and spoken word.
By appointment, Monday through Thursday: 9:30am-5:00pm
The Art and Artifacts Collection includes paintings, drawings, rare prints, set designs, costumes, artifacts, and traditional and ceremonial art. There are about 3,000 original art objects.
Materials from the General Archives will be paged after your arrival to the Lillian Goldman Reading Room at the Center for Jewish History. On the day of your scheduled visit you will need to register and request materials through the Center for Jewish History’s online portal. A YIVO archivist will provide you with all relevant forms and deliver your requested materials to the Reading Room. It may take 20-30 minutes after you have placed your request for the materials to be delivered to the Reading Room.
Material from the Photo and Film Archives, Art and Artifacts Collection, and Sound Archives can only be viewed in the YIVO Archives office. An advanced appointment is required.
MICROFILMS:
Microfilm readers are available on a first-come, first-serve basis at the Center for Jewish History’s Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute. During busy times, priority will be given to patrons using microfilm computers to view microfilm. Reference Services staff reserves the right to limit excessive use of microfilm computers when other users are awaiting their turn.
OFF-SITE COLLECTIONS:
Off-site Materials may take up to 3 weeks from time of request to availability and access may not be possible for all materials. A fee may be assessed. For access to
off-site materials in archival collections, please contact archives@yivo.cjh.org. For access to off-site library materials, please contact libraryinquiries@yivo.cjh.org.
REPRODUCTIONS & PERMISSIONS:
Read more about Reproductions & Permissions.
View and/or download the YIVO Reproductions Price List/Access Form.
YIVO LIBRARY
For all questions pertaining to Library materials, which includes books and newspapers and journals contact the Library please contact:
libraryinquiries@yivo.cjh.org
YIVO Library materials are available in the Lillian Goldman Reading Room. The reference collection, consisting of 3,000 titles, is an open-stack collection. The remaining holdings are closed-stack materials.
Lillian Goldman Reading Room
If you would like to consult YIVO archives materials in person in the Lillian Goldman Reading Room at the Center for Jewish History, no appointment is required. Please see our hours of operation. All requests for materials must be made online under your Aeon account; staff cannot complete the paging of items based only on email exchanges. YIVO Archives staff will not bring the materials to the Reading Room until you arrive at the Center, but it will only take about 15-20 minutes, provided that the item is housed onsite and is not out for restoration or digitization, or restricted due to fragility. Please note that paging of materials to the Reading Room ends two hours before closing.
If you would like to donate books to the YIVO Library, please contact libraryinquiries@yivo.cjh.org for more information.
