Archivist: Anat Shimoni

Email: anatshim@tauex.tau.ac.il

Tel: 03-6407040

One of the principle objectives of the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center, founded in 1964, is “to prepare and coordinate research tools for studying the history and culture of the Jewish people in the Diaspora in all lands and historical periods”. The Center’s Archive upholds this principle, housing archival materials of all types which have been amassed through extensive research projects or donated by individuals, communities and institutions around the world. The bulk of the Archive consists of collections of sources related by a particular subject or region. There are also collections donated by different institutions and organizations whose documents are of historical significance, as well as all manner of individual items, most of which were previously in the hands of private owners (such as personal documents, memoirs, letters).

In 2013 the Archive began the process of digitalizing its collections and converting its manual catalogues to a searchable, online format as part of the university libraries’ Aleph system. The Archive’s online catalogue is also available and searchable through the inter-university Data system. The transition to an online catalogue, and the greater accessibility that it offers, has significantly increased the number of visitors and inquiries for material received; from a few each week, there has been an increase to several each day. The visitors and inquiries are from both Israel and abroad, including – among others – scholars from universities in the United States, England, France, Poland and Russia; museums; and Jewish institutions around the world.

Generous support from the Claims Conference has enabled an additional project: the cataloguing of Holocaust-related material in the Archive.

The Archive Catalogue